Wood pulp

Indonesia

Total area of natural forest converted to pulpwood plantations within the boundaries of a wood supplier’s concession in the selected year, following the definition of the TreeMap’s Nusantara Atlas (Gaveau et al., 2022). 

This metric represents total deforestation for conversion to pulpwood plantations in a single year, per concession. A subset of the annual deforestation metric, it is restricted to only those areas identified as natural forest one year before the target year and consistent with patterns of expansion of pulpwood plantations in the target year, according to the classification of Gaveau et al. (2022). 

Indonesia - Deforestation for planted pulpwood

Total burned area within the boundaries of a wood supplier’s concession in the selected year, according to data from Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry. Burned areas may include natural forest, eucalyptus or acacia plantations for wood fiber, and other land covers.

This metric estimates the area burned within each concession in the target year. To measure burned area, we rely upon the burned area dataset from MoF. The dataset  has been published yearly since 2015 by MoF and is mapped at 1:250,000 scale on a monthly basis by visual interpretation of the extent of forest and land fires from Landsat-8, Landsat-9 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. The visually identified burned areas are then validated by experts using hotspot data from the Terra-Aqua MODIS Satellite, NOAA 20, S-NPP and Landsat-8 as well as field reports (Endrawanti et al., 2018). It is worth noting that recent research indicates that this data might underestimate the total burned area. For example, Gaveau et al. (2021), present evidence that the 2019 burned area was 90% greater than the area reported by MoF.

Indonesia - Burned areas

Total area burned on peatlands within the boundaries of a wood supplier’s concession in the selected year.

Burned peat refers to peat areas within pulpwood concession boundaries that have been affected by fire, as identified from burned area data (Ministry of Forestry, 2025)

Indonesia - Burned peatlands

The concession area of the industrial timber plantations (HTI - Hutan Tanaman Industri) based on maps from Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry.

Indonesia - Concession area

Total deforestation within a pulpwood concession in a given year.

This metric represents the total deforestation of natural forests, occurring in a single year, within a specific concession. To calculate this metric, Gaveau et al. (2022) combines natural forests (as defined above) with the annual tree cover loss dataset developed by the University of Maryland (Hansen et al., 2013).  The tree cover loss dataset measures the removal of trees (tree height >5 m) if the canopy cover falls below 30%. It does not distinguish between removal of natural forests and planted trees. Collaborators at TreeMap then conduct additional photo interpretation and analysis to filter out errors. The same data sources are used on The TreeMap’s mapping platform The TreeMap’s Nusantara Atlas (2025). The metric is available on Trase Supply Chain’s Sankey diagram for active concessions trading in the target year and for all concessions on the platform’s map tool.

Indonesia - Deforestation inside concession

Total area of natural forest converted to pulpwood plantations within the boundaries of a wood supplier’s concession, measured cumulatively starting from the year after the concession’s license was first issued (or from 2001 for concessions established before 2000) through the selected year. The concession license year is available on the download page.

This metric measures annual deforestation for conversion to pulpwood plantation (Gaveau et al., 2022; The TreeMap, 2025), beginning in the year after a concession was first established. Thus, this metric follows the same definition as Deforestation for pulp per year but uses the concession’s establishment year as the baseline, regardless of later ownership changes. 

Indonesia - Cumulative deforestation for planted pulpwood inside concession since start 

Estimated area of deforestation for wood pulp that occurred on peatlands within the boundaries of a wood supplier’s concession in the selected year.

This metric represents total deforestation for conversion to pulpwood plantations in a single year, per concession occurring on peatlands (Ministry of Agriculture, 2019). 

Indonesia - Peatland deforestation for planted pulpwood

GHG emissions from peat soil burning, calculated as the overlap between burned areas and peatlands within pulpwood concessions in each year, multiplied by an emission factor of 824 tonnes of CO₂-eq per hectare. This factor follows average emission estimates for fire events on peat reported by Rodríguez Vásquez et al., (2021).

This metric represents the GHG emissions from peat burning (tonnes of CO₂-eq) in a single year per concession. The emissions are calculated based on the area of overlap between the burned areas and peat areas (more details above) multiplied by 824 tonnes of CO₂-eq following the average emission factor estimates provided by Rodríguez Vásquez et al., (2021). The value represents an average amount of CO₂-eq per hectare that is released into the atmosphere in a unique event of fire on peat. Rodríguez Vásquez et al., (2021) based their estimate on other studies  from peatlands sites in Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Malaysia where depth of burn, bulk density, and average emissions factors were measured.

Indonesia - Emissions from peatland burning

GHG emissions from peat subsidence are calculated based on the planted area of pulpwood on peat multiplied by an emission factor of 73.4 tCO₂-eq per hectare per year. This factor reflects a constant loss of 20 tonnes of Carbon for every hectare and year due to subsidence after peat drainage, as described by Carlson, Goodman and May-Tobin, (2015) and as recommended by the IPCC's Wetlands Supplement (2013).

The metric represents the (greenhouse gas) emissions from peat subsidence (tonnes of CO₂-eq) in a single year per concession, assigned to the target year. The emissions are calculated based on pulpwood planted area on peat (more details above) inside the concession for the target year. This area is multiplied by an emission factor of 73.4 tCO₂-eq, indicating a constant 20 tonnes of C loss for every hectare and year due to subsidence after peat drainage, as described by Carlson, Goodman and May-Tobin, (2015) and as recommended by the IPCC's Wetlands Supplement (2013).

Indonesia - Emissions from peat subsidence

GHG emissions from land converted to pulpwood plantations in a given year and concession, including both natural forest and non-forest areas. Calculated by multiplying the converted area by estimated carbon stocks per hectare, using above-ground biomass data (Harris et al., 2021) and applying root-to-shoot ratios from Spawn et al. (2020) to estimate below-ground biomass. Kabupaten and province-level values include areas both inside and outside concessions.

GHG emissions from industrial wood pulp land conversion (tonnes of CO₂-eq) were calculated by estimating all of the CO₂-eq potentially emitted due to annual land use change to pulpwood plantation, including both from natural forest and non-forest land cover. (as defined in Gaveau et al. (2022)), estimated within a given year and concession. This metric is calculated by multiplying the area converted each year to pulpwood plantation by an estimate of the carbon stock contained in each hectare of converted land independent of the fact whether than converted land was before forest or non-forest as we assumed that the carbon stock density map will account for the difference in carbon stocks between forest and non-forest.. Carbon stocks represent the total carbon stored in above- and below-ground biomass, but does not include carbon stocks in the soil. We create local estimates of above-ground woody biomass density (carbon stocks per hectare) using data from Harris  et al. (2021). Below-ground biomass density was estimated based on Harris et al. (2021)’s above-ground biomass density and the ratio of below-ground to above-ground biomass derived from Spawn et al. (2010). To convert biomass to carbon density, we used conversion factors of 0.47 t C t-1 for aboveground and 0.39 t C -1 for belowground, respectively (Diop et al., 2016). Carbon is converted into CO₂-eq emissions by multiplying by a factor of 44/12 ( or 3.67), based on the ratio between the molecular weight of C and CO₂ following IPCC (2014).

Indonesia - Gross land-use change emissions

Net GHG emissions from land-use change were calculated as the difference between gross emissions from wood pulp deforestation and carbon sequestration from new pulpwood plantations. Values may be negative if pulpwood plantations are established on non-forest land.

Net greenhouse gas emissions from industrial pulpwood plantation were calculated as the difference between gross emissions from pulpwood plantation expansion and carbon sequestration in new industrial pulpwood plantations. Carbon sequestration was estimated by multiplying the area of new industrial oil palm plantations in the target year by the biomass carbon stock of industrial pulpwood plantations across a plantation's full rotation. Based on research by Deshmukh et al., (2023), we assume that fully mature pulp plantations will, on average, store 42.4 tC/ha. We then adjust this maximum to estimate the average biomass within the plantation over its full rotation, as described by CFA & Quantis, (2022). This adjustment reflects the fact that perennial plantation systems are cyclical - while the plantation will contain lesser or greater stocks of carbon in individual years, the average across the full rotation can serve as a useful estimate of the carbon impact of land use change into long-term plantation forestry. Carbon stocks were converted to CO₂-equivalent emissions using a factor of 3.67 (IPCC, 2014).

Indonesia - Net land-use change emissions

Total area of peatlands within the boundaries of the wood supplier’s concession area

Peatland areas were derived from Indonesia's official peat map, produced by the Indonesian Center for Agricultural Land Resources Research and Development within the Ministry of Agriculture (2019).

Indonesia - Peatland area

Total area of industrial acacia or eucalyptus plantations located on peat within a wood supplier’s concession, as detected by remote sensing analysis. A six-year lag is applied to reflect when plantations become productive and actively contribute to trade flows.

Pulpwood planted area on peat is the area of peatland within  concessions that has been planted with pulpwood species, as defined by Gaveau et al.(2022), i.e. a subset of the total peat area. Trase identifies peatlands using Indonesia's official peatland map, which was produced by the Indonesian Centre for Agricultural Land Resources Research and Development (Balai Besar Penelitian dan Pengembangan Sumberdaya Lahan Pertanian in Indonesian) within the Ministry of Agriculture (Indonesian Center for Agricultural Land Resources Research and Development, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Government of Indonesia, 2019).

Indonesia - Planted area on peatlands

Area of remaining natural forest in the concession, following the definition of The TreeMap’s Nusantara Atlas (Gaveau et al., 2021).

Natural forest area is the total area of remaining forest derived from Gaveau et al.(2022). Gaveau et al. (2022) combine primary forest cover in 2000 (Margono et al., 2014), and the global forest change data developed at the University of Maryland (Hansen et al., 2013). This definition of ‘forest’ excludes young regenerating forests, agroforests, scrublands, tree plantations, agricultural lands, grasslands, and non-vegetated areas (Gaveau et al., 2022). 

Indonesia - Natural forest

Net total GHG emissions from peatland subsidence, peat burning, land conversion and deforestation for wood pulp, accounting for the carbon sequestration of the new pulpwood plantations.

This metric estimates the major sources of GHG emissions from pulpwood plantations in Indonesia: subsidence on drained peatlands, fire on peatlands, and land use change, i.e., the clearing of vegetation (forest and non-forest) to establish pulpwood plantations. The GHG sequestration from new plantations was also estimated and incorporated into the net GHG emissions reported by Trase.

Indonesia - Total GhG emissions

Total area of industrial acacia or eucalyptus plantations within a wood supplier’s concession, as detected by remote sensing analysis. A six-year lag is applied to reflect when plantations become productive and actively contribute to trade flows. Kabupaten and province-level values include areas both inside and outside concessions.

Pulpwood plantation area represents the extent of productive industrial pulpwood, most commonly Acacia mangium and Acacia crassicarpa. It was calculated using data provided by Gaveau et al. (2022), who mapped the annual expansion of industrial pulpwood plantations by visually inspecting a time series of cloud-free Landsat composites from 2000 to 2024. They also referred to indicative maps of pulpwood concessions and reviewed various online and press reports to identify the locations of these plantations. Because the mapped expansion year reflects the establishment rather than the mature stage contributing to trade flows, we applied a six-year lag between the detected expansion and the calculation of active pulpwood plantation area. For example, deforestation detected in 2016 for pulpwood production is interpreted as a productive plantation in 2022. The boundaries of the plantations were delineated at a 1:50,000 scale based on expert photo interpretation. Beyond spectral information, the visual interpretation also incorporated the structure of the landscape. Pulpwood plantations typically appear as long linear or rectangular blocks located near harvesting trails, with lower density than that of other forestry crops such as oil palm. The final mapped area includes recently harvested, immature, and mature stands, as well as failed plantations. Scattered community plantations were not reported, as they are more difficult to detect through remote sensing. 

Indonesia - Planted area for pulpwood

Estimated deforestation for the pulpwood harvest, assuming a six-year delay between forest clearing, planting and harvest. Historical deforestation defines all deforestation occurring within the 10 years prior to planting (from 16 to 6 years before harvest) as driven by the commodity.

This metric estimates how much historical deforestation is associated with the wood pulp supply chain. The metric specifically focuses on areas where the establishment of pulpwood plantations are estimated to be mature enough to be harvested in the target year, considering the year of deforestation detection for pulpwood expansion. We use a retrospective approach, aggregating the deforestation across ten years, with a six-year lag between the first detection of deforestation and the year of harvest (also the year of export). By setting these parameters we are assuming that the plantations will be ready for harvesting, and consequently start to contribute to the volume traded in the sixth year after the deforestation event for new plantations. For example, the total area of land that was classified as forest in 2003, but had been converted to pulpwood plantations by 2014, would be considered as areas of deforestation directly connected to the wood pulp trade in 2020.

Indonesia - Embedded in pulp trade

Production of pulpwood in cubic metres based on official pulp mill reports of woodfiber sources.

Pulpwood supply was mapped using annual industrial wood supply plans (Rencana Pemenuhan Bahan Baku Industri, RPBBI) submitted by Indonesia’s six active pulp mills and one wood chip mill to the Ministry of Forestry (MoF). These reports list suppliers, supplier types, and volumes in cubic metres. Two suppliers holding Land Conversion Permits (Izin Pemanfaatan Kayu, IPK) were classified as sourcing from natural forests. About 96% of pulpwood between 2015–2024 originated from industrial wood fibre plantation concessions (Hutan Tanaman Industri, HTI). Concession boundaries were identified from MoF’s Forest Utilization License dataset (2022–2025). Additional concessions linked to the Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Group were included due to potential pulpwood expansion. Imports, traders, and community suppliers were aggregated as reported in the RPBBI. 

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