Recognizing social forestry's role in bioenergy optimization through geospatial fuzzy-multicriteria analysis

Abstract

Current bioenergy development has emphasized on degraded land, since the sustainability of bioenergy in the forest sector remains a subject of debate related with emissions and deforestation risk. Thus, this study aims to open new perspectives of how degraded land and social forestry can be potentially combined to significantly impact the energy transition and environmental-societal enhancement. Considering sustainability of Bali as a small island with its unique customary governance structure, a model of biomass energy optimization using geospatial fuzzy-multicriteria analysis was developed to select potential green energy source sites. Firstly, potential degraded land and social forestry were mapped to identify potential feedstock, then normalized using Euclidian Distance and Fuzzy Logic based on identified five sustainability criteria. They are availability of raw material, road, port, transmission, and demand proximities. Meanwhile, using identified three restriction criteria, i.e. protected area, slope and land-use restrictions, a restriction map was developed. The two maps were then integrated using Geospatial-based multicriteria analysis, fuzzy logic and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) weighting method, to further identify potential green energy source map. The integration shown a significant increase of 60 % in land availability for bioenergy development. Results of study recognized potential 36,527 ha of degraded land; 21,671 ha of social forestry; and 40 optimal locations for bioenergy facilities, considering various spatial and temporal criteria. To conclude, the identified 120 social forestry sites in Bali involving 78,385 household provide opportunity to a community based socio-economic coupled with revitalizing environment efforts, which lead to massive net zero emissions community participation. Further, the integration of social forestry and degraded land should be highly recommended to policy maker in bioenergy development.