The first research objective was to examine cocoa-related deforestation and estimate carbon stocks and flows associated with cocoa farming in five cocoa-producing provinces in Indonesia. Terra-i, which is a database of land-cover changes since 2004, used multi-source dense remote sensing time-series to automatically classify cocoa within thirty-four districts across Lampung and across West, South, Southeast and Central Sulawesi. Primary and secondary forest loss from 2000 to 2016 was determined by Terra-i and from 1990 to 2000 was determined using forest change indicator maps based on AVHRR data were used (Hansen et al., 2009).
The carbon stock of primary and secondary forest was determined from initial aboveground biomass values published by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Indonesia. Using three primary studies located within Lampung, West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi, a set of allometric equations were developed for aboveground biomass from which carbon stocks were determined. The net carbon was determined by summing the carbon stocks and carbon loss from deforestation.