The roles of high conservation value area to support biodiversity conservation in Indonesia

Oil palm plantations are often considered as one of the causes of the decline in biodiversity. Conversion of forest land to oil palm is the main factor. However, legally, land conversion can be carried out and oil palm plantation companies have also protected areas that have high conservation value, including important animal habitats. The purpose of this study is to assess the role of high conservation value areas in the conservation of biodiversity. The study was conducted on several oil palm plantations in Indonesia by conducting a literature review of high conservation value documents on several oil palm plantation companies. High conservation value areas in oil palm plantations are determined based on the presence of endangered and protected animals such as proboscis monkeys and orangutans. With the stipulation of the area as a HCV area, the presence of these animals becomes more concerned because the company has the responsibility to monitor the presence of these animals. In addition, the company also conducts socialization to the community and workers to take care of these animals. The existence of the HCV area also indirectly supports the government’s program in this case is the establishment of an Essential Ecosystem Area that functions to protect important animals outside the conservation area.


Introduction
Indonesia is a country known as a megabiodiversity country.Indonesia ranks 2 nd as a megabiodiversity country after Brazil.Indonesia has 720 species of mammals (13% of the world's species and 270 of which are endemic), 1,605 bird species (16% of the world's species, 386 of endemic species), 723 of reptiles (8% of the world's species, 328 of endemic species), 385 of them.amphibians (6% of the world's species, 204 endemic species) and 1,900 butterflies (10% of the world's species) [1].The potential for biodiversity is inseparable from the threat of extinction.The threat of extinction of biodiversity both at the species, habitat, and ecosystem level in Indonesia is the highest in the world [2].There are currently 583 endangered species or the second highest in the world.Indonesia has the highest number of endangered mammals with 191 species and the second highest number of 1243 (2023) 012002 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1243/1/012002 2 endangered birds with 160 species.The threat of extinction occurs because of the high rate of deforestation in Indonesia.
One of the major issues related to the high rate of deforestation in Indonesia is the conversion of forests to oil palm plantations.The land suitable for oil palm in Indonesia has been planted with 70 million ha, of which 24.9 million ha is under forest concessions [3].Most of the forest area conversion in Indonesia is allocated to oil palm plantations [4].The issue of deforestation by oil palm plantations has become a hot issue in the European Union in the last three years [5].Based on several studies, forest conversion into oil palm plantations is a source of forest degradation and deforestation, even oil palm expansion is the "main drivers" of deforestation in Indonesia [4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16].
The expansion of oil palm plantations is the main cause of deforestation and biodiversity decline in Indonesia [6,14,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27].Studies [28,29] show that conversion from primary and secondary forests to oil palm plantations reduces plant species richness of birds by about 73-77%.[30] also showed that primary and secondary forest to oil palm plantations reduced the species richness of butterflies by about 79-83%.
On the other hand, oil palm plantation companies have been asked to meet several standards related to sustainable oil palm plantation management, both from the government (Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil/ISPO) and from international (Rountable Sustainable Palm Oil-RSPO).With the implementation of the certification, the conversion of forests to oil palm plantations can be reduced.In addition, one of the criteria for the conversion system is the protection of biodiversity.The purpose of the study is to assess the function of HCV high conservation areas for biodiversity conservation in Indonesia.

Method
The research was conducted in September 2022 through a desk study.Desk study is carried out by collecting data and materials related to the carrying capacity of tourism at the study site.According to [31], literature study is very important because research cannot be separated from scientific literature related to theoretical studies and other references such as values, norms and developing culture.Documents used in the desk study include HCV and regulations related to the certification system for oil palm plantations, the establishment of corridors, and essential ecosystem areas.The data is collected from various documents, both books, journals, reports and the internet.

Development of oil palm plantations in Indonesia
Indonesia is currently the country with the largest oil palm area in the world as well as the largest palm oil producer.The total area of oil palm plantations in Indonesia is 14,456,611 ha consisting of 54.94% large private companies (7,942,335 ha), 4.27% large state companies (617,501 ha) and 40.79% smallholder plantations (5,896.755 ha).From this area, TM is 80.01% (11,856.414ha), TBM is 14.76% (2,134,168 ha) and TTM/TR is 3.22% (466,029 ha).The islands of Sumatra (7,944,520 ha) and Kalimantan (5,820,406 ha) are the islands with the largest oil palm plantations in Indonesia.[32] With the increase in the area of oil palm land in Indonesia, Indonesia's CPO production continues to increase (Figure 2).Based on [33], every year Indonesia's CPO has increased by 11.13% since 1980.This increase in production makes Indonesia one of the largest palm oil producing countries.Exports of crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivative products throughout 2019 reached 36.17 million tons, followed by Middle Eastern countries such as India and Pakistan.In the 2010-2019 period, the export value of Indonesian palm oil in the form of CPO and its derivatives tends to fluctuate with an average decline rate of 1.57%/year.This of course makes palm oil as one of the foreign exchange earners for the country (Figure 3).

Conservation of biodiversity in sustainable oil palm plantations
The concept of sustainable oil palm plantations emerged because of the many rejections and assumptions that stated that oil palm was unsustainable.In the concept of agriculture, [34] states that sustainable agriculture "The management and conservation of the natural resource base and orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generation.Such development (in agriculture, forestry, and fishing) conserves land, water, plant, and animal genetics resources is environmentally non-degrading, technical appropriate, economically viable, and social acceptable".Furthermore, based on the multifunctional theory of agriculture, one of the four functions is a green function [35] which consists of managing and maintaining landscape facilities, managing wildlife, creating wildlife habitats, as well as animal welfare, maintaining biodiversity.
Biodiversity conservation is one of the concerns in the development of sustainable oil palm plantations.The purpose of implementing this standard is to reduce the impact of oil palm development on the rate of wildlife extinction.Sustainability standards need to be established as part of neutralizing the ecological/environmental impacts of oil palm plantation expansion.In an effort to reduce the impact of damage to the development of oil palm plantations, national certification bodies such as ISPO (Indonesian on Sustainable Palm Oil) and international certification bodies such as RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) have been established.ISPO and RSPO exist as an effort to respond to various environmental and social problems in various palm oil producing countries by promoting sustainable palm oil production [36].In oil palm plantations that are ISPO and RSPO certified, one of the conditions is to provide part of the land as a high conservation value (HCV) area [37].
In Indonesia, ISPO (Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil) was proposed as an initiative to reduce environmental risks from the expansion of oil palm land.ISPO has actually been established by the Indonesian government through Presidential Decree No. 44 of 2020 concerning the Indonesian Sustainable Oil Palm Plantation Certification System and Minister of Agriculture No. 38 of 2020 regarding the implementation of sustainable palm oil plantation certification.The purpose of this certification system is to ensure and improve the management and development of oil palm plantations in accordance with ISPO principles and criteria, to increase the acceptability and competitiveness of Indonesian oil palm plantations in national and international markets, and to accelerate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.One of the 7 principles of ISPO is the management of the environment, natural resources and biodiversity (3rd principle, 2 criteria and 3 indicators).Meanwhile, at the RSPO there are 2 principles, namely principles 5 and 7. Principle 5: Responsibility to the environment, KSDA and Conservation.Principle 7: Responsible new plantings (respect local land and conserve primary forest and peat), However, so far the RSPO as an instrument for managing palm oil production is still voluntary, so it has not been effective enough to reduce the overall risk.Meanwhile, ISPO is mandatory.Facts show that until 2017, the number of independent oil palm smallholder cooperatives that followed ISPO certification was no more than 10 cooperatives out of hundreds of cooperatives throughout Indonesia.This is not only due to the non-binding nature of ISPO certification, but also because oil palm smallholders are actually not ready to implement the principles in ISPO certification.As of March 2021, 755 certificates have been issued covering an area of 5.8 million ha, consisting of 5.45 million ha of large private plantations, 320 thousand ha of large state plantations and 12.7 thousand ha of smallholder plantations [38].
In both ISPO and RSPO oil palm plantation managers are asked not to clear areas that have important functions for biodiversity which include: Areas of Important Biodiversity Levels (HCV 1), Landscape Areas Important for Natural Ecological Dynamics (HCVs)), Areas Having Endangered or Endangered Ecosystems (HCV 3).With the designation of high conservation value areas, the palm oil company will not clear or convert the land it manages into oil palm, but instead the company will protect these areas.HCV areas that are in contact with each other can act as a corridor connecting two populations.

The role of HCVA in biodiversity conservation in Indonesia
One of the efforts made by the government to protect biodiversity is to establish conservation areas.However, the conservation area that has been determined is deemed not optimal in supporting the preservation of wildlife, especially for wildlife that has a very wide home range.This ineffectiveness occurs because the area around the conservation area has changed its function into settlements, plantation forests and oil palm plantations.For example, according to [39] wild orangutans are found outside conservation areas, mostly in production forest areas managed by HPH/HTI and/or protected forests.Meanwhile, according to [40] 70% of the population of protected animals in Kalimantan are outside conservation areas such as in production forests and oil palm plantations.Furthermore, based on the results of the gap analysis of the ecological representation of conservation in Indonesia in 2010, the habitat of endangered wildlife is estimated to be around 80% still outside the conservation area.Based on these facts, it shows that the existing conservation area has not been able to protect all the 1243 (2023) 012002 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1243/1/0120026 species in it, although it is quite effective in reducing the rate of habitat destruction when compared to unprotected areas [41].For this reason, it is necessary to build a corridor between one conservation area and another by involving multistakeholders.
Oil palm plantations are one of the parties that can play a role in supporting the formation of corridors.Oil palm plantations, with their certification systems, both the national certification system (ISPO) and the international system (RSPO) are required to protect the environment.In both systems, private parties such as oil palm plantations are required to protect High Conservation Value areas.High Conservation Value is the values contained in an area, both environmental and social, such as wildlife habitats, water catchment protected areas or archaeological (cultural) sites where these values are considered as very significant values or very important locally, regionally or globally [42].High Conservation Value (HCV) requires oil palm plantations to protect remaining forested areas.In HCV, oil palm plantations have an obligation to protect areas that have functions for biodiversity that are part of HCV 1-3.The area with high conservation value (HCV) that is maintained nationally from 52 million hectares to 70 million hectares (2024) [43].
Some of the collaborations carried out include Palm Oil Plantation and Bos Foundation, namely [44]: • Through a partnership with a palm oil company, PT.Nusaraya Agro Sawit (PT.NAS) BOS Foundation built an 82-hectare pre-release island in Muara Wahau, East Kalimantan • Orangutan saving, rehabilitation and health Continue to manage 2,089 ha of Salat Island through a partnership with PT.Sumbermas Sarana Sawit (PT SSMS) • Orangutan habitat outside the conservation area.Initial survey of orangutan populations and vegetation in High Conservation Value (HCV) areas from the palm oil company PT.Susantri Permai owned by Genting Plantation Nusantara in Kapuas Regency, Central Kalimantan, we identified 22-25 orangutans; and at PT. United Agro Lestari, we identified 4-5 orangutans • Partners and donors Meanwhile, Tropenbos Indonesia encourages the Landscape HCV approach.The Landscape HCV approach can be a tool to formulate collaborative and inclusive conservation and protection efforts both inside and outside forest areas at the landscape scale.Landscape HCVs can be applied at the provincial and district levels as part of the KLHS (Environmental Assessment Strategies), identification of KEE (Essential Ecosystem Areas) and can be a component of Policy, Program and Planning (P3) studies.Several oil palm groups are also committed to protecting the biodiversity in their areas, especially animals with rare, threatened and protected status.For example, DSN Group strictly prohibits employees from hunting, distributing, trading, breeding, injuring or killing all types of species in DSN Group plantations, except hunting carried out by local communities with the aim of meeting food needs, as long as it does not cause a decline in the population of that species.The guidelines are set forth in the "Conservation of Protected Animals and Plants" procedures.The socialization of the procedures and lists is carried out in several ways, namely by installing warning boards and pictures of protected animals, face-to-face socialization to employees, students, and the community around the plantation.In addition, PT is also constantly monitoring and in 2021 testing the installation of camera traps in HCV.

Conclusion
Oil palm plantation companies can contribute to biodiversity conservation.This form of contribution can be done independently or in collaboration with other stakeholders.Several best practices for biodiversity conservation involving oil palm plantations have been carried out by the BOS Foundation and Tropen Bos Indonesia (TBI).Based on existing best practices, Oil palm plantation companies can support biodiversity conservation in various collaborative schemes.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Distribution of oil palm plantations in Indonesia[32] With the increase in the area of oil palm land in Indonesia, Indonesia's CPO production continues to increase (Figure2).Based on[33], every year Indonesia's CPO has increased by 11.13% since 1980.This increase in production makes Indonesia one of the largest palm oil producing countries.Exports of crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivative products throughout 2019 reached 36.17 million tons, followed by Middle Eastern countries such as India and Pakistan.In the 2010-2019 period, the export value of Indonesian palm oil in the form of CPO and its derivatives tends to fluctuate with an average decline rate of 1.57%/year.This of course makes palm oil as one of the foreign exchange earners for the country (Figure3).

Figure 3 .
Figure 3.The role of palm oil in Indonesia's foreign exchange[33]

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Partnership to Build Orangutan Corridor Ecosystem Essential Areas (Kawasan Ekosistem Esensial/KEE) for orangutan corridor in Ketapang DistrictThe initiative.This is the result of a unique collaboration between civil society, private sector and district government oil-palm plantation companies.i.e.PT.KAL of ANJ Group/18,000 ha) and PT.Gemilang Makmur Subur/GMS of Bumitama Group/5,000 ha)[45]

Figure 5 . 8 Figure 6 .
Figure 5. Aerial Photo of the Essential Ecosystem Area of the Orangutan Wildlife Corridor on the Putri River-Mount Tarak-Gunung Palung, Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan Province.This Kee area is an Hcv area from Pt Kal and Pt Bga which was voluntarily proposed as an essential ecosystem area for wildlife corridors to protect orangutan habitats [46]

Table 1 .
diversity of wildlife in several oil palm plantations The concept of sustainable development based on Law 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management, is a conscious and planned effort that combines environmental, social and economic aspects into development strategies to ensure the integrity of the environment as well as the safety, ability, welfare, and quality of life of generations.present and future generations.Meanwhile, based on the Minister of Agriculture Regulation No. 19 of 2011, what is meant by sustainable development is a business system in the field of oil palm plantations that is economically viable, socially feasible, and environmentally friendly based on the prevailing laws and regulations in Indonesia.