Forest Carbon and EUDR in West Kalimantan

Updated 2026-11-02 · 3 min read · By the akar.earth specialist team

Forest carbon in West Kalimantan: Gunung Palung, Danau Sentarum and Betung Kerihun, Kapuas peat and mangroves, palm oil, rubber and EUDR exposure.

West Kalimantan combines large peat swamps, extensive mangroves and upland rainforest along the Malaysian border, so it suits almost every forest carbon project type: peat REDD+, mangrove conservation, upland REDD+ and rubber agroforestry. Its EUDR exposure is high, driven by palm oil, rubber and plantation wood.

Forest and land cover profile

West Kalimantan covers the western part of Borneo. The Kapuas, Indonesia’s longest river, flows from the mountains on the Sarawak border through the interior to the coast near Pontianak.

Key forest areas include:

• Betung Kerihun National Park in the Kapuas headwaters: hill and montane rainforest, part of the Heart of Borneo, connected across the border to protected areas in Sarawak.
• Danau Sentarum National Park: seasonal lakes and swamp forest that flood and drain each year, a Ramsar wetland.
• Gunung Palung National Park in Ketapang: from peat swamp and lowland forest to montane forest, with an important orangutan population.
• Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park, shared with Central Kalimantan.

Lowland dipterocarp forest once covered much of the interior. Large areas have been logged and converted to oil palm, pulpwood and rubber.

Peat and mangroves

West Kalimantan has extensive peat, especially in Kubu Raya, Ketapang and along the lower Kapuas. Much has been drained for plantations and agriculture, and the province is a national peat restoration priority. Peat fires affect Pontianak in dry years.

Kubu Raya also holds one of the larger mangrove areas in Kalimantan, in the Kapuas delta. These mangroves are threatened by pond conversion and logging. Mangrove conservation and restoration fit here, with VM0033 as the main methodology.

Main commodities and deforestation drivers

• Oil palm: West Kalimantan is one of Indonesia’s largest palm oil provinces, with estates, plasma schemes and independent smallholders.
• Rubber: Dayak and Malay smallholders have grown rubber for generations, often in jungle rubber mixed with forest trees.
• Pulpwood and timber: plantation forestry and selective logging concessions.
• Bauxite: mining in several districts.
• Illipe nut (tengkawang), fruit and other forest products: from tembawang forest gardens.

Drivers of loss include plantation expansion (including on peat), fire, logging and mining.

Which carbon project types fit

For avoided deforestation, VM0048 now sets baselines using jurisdictional allocation; see the REDD+ hub. For peat-specific issues see peatland REDD+.

EUDR exposure

• Palm oil: mills draw from estates and thousands of smallholders. Every plot needs geolocation; plots over 4 hectares need polygons. Fruit from plots on peat or in forest estate without a licence fails legality checks. See EUDR and palm oil.
• Rubber: smallholder rubber from jungle rubber and monoculture gardens travels through dealers to crumb rubber factories in Pontianak. Jungle rubber may look like forest on satellite images, which complicates deforestation checks. See EUDR and rubber.
• Wood: pulpwood and timber need harvest-area geolocation.

Customary land and social forestry

Dayak communities hold customary land claims across the interior, and their tembawang gardens, rubber gardens and forests are often mapped as forest estate or overlap plantation permits. Several customary forests (hutan adat) and many village forests (hutan desa), including on peat, have been formally recognised.

Permenhut 6/2026 names customary forests and social forestry groups as legitimate carbon participants. In West Kalimantan this means Dayak communities with recognised forests can lead or co-own projects, provided FPIC and benefit-sharing are met. See customary forest carbon.

Border and Heart of Borneo context

Kapuas Hulu borders Sarawak, and its forests are part of the Heart of Borneo initiative. Cross-border wildlife corridors and shared river systems mean that projects near the border can contribute to landscape-scale conservation. Leakage across the border should be considered in REDD+ design.

Practical next steps

Screen sites against peat maps, forest estate status, permits and customary claims, and check ten years of land cover. Our feasibility and eligibility service covers this. Compare with Central Kalimantan and the island province of Riau Islands, and see the forest carbon hub.