OSW

SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2022

Large-Scale Reforestation Scenario Generation
And Financial Valuation Methodology:
A Case Study in Peninsular Malaysia

Name

Ie Huan Chong

Major

Political Economy, Economics

Class

2022

About

Ie Huan Chong is an Economics major from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He enjoys playing music, learning languages, and cooking new foods.

Signature Work Project Overview

This project seeks to develop the fields of nature-based solutions and nonmarket valuation with the goal of creating an outcome that drives climate change abatement policy. Focusing on the benefits of carbon sequestration from reforestation, this project develops a simple but robust model for conducting reforestation scenario generation with widely available spatial resources on a large geographic scale. Existing models rely on changing land classes with static values or employing extremely specific data for a small geographic scope. This model employs aboveground and belowground carbon density rasters to produce a more specific value while correcting for the lack of specific data using a more robust financial model. A modular feasibility test is then created to identify reforestable areas that are not only of low-carbon storage and with non-distinct land use, but are also in close proximity to other reforestable land. Lastly, a financial model is created which integrates a Chapman-Richards growth curve (to accurate model sequestration path) with a simple Present Value function. Using Malaysia’s publicly available statistics such as planned carbon price, policy interest rate, and estimated valuation period for reforestation (60 years), the model produced a final valuation of $USD 1,643,218,058 with reforestable areas summing to 1,021,137 hectares. These results are intended to drive more specific, regional reforestation feasibility studies and can be employed throughout any region using the same global scale maps.

Signature Work Presentation Video