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Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project

Protecting and restoring tropical forest in Sabah, Malaysia

MalaysiaImproved Forest Management

Buyer Protection

Counts towards net zero

Awarded an A rating Removal & Avoidance

Project Overview

Developed by Permian

#83,381

Protected hectares of tropical forest ecosystems in the Tongod and Kinabatangan districts

#3,000

Local community members from two village clusters benefit from this project

Joint highest-rated IFM project on the Sylvera platform

The Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project is delivering on three core objectives:

Climate: Protect and restore the carbon-rich forest, whilst preventing the emissions from the planned deforestation and forest degradation of the area. This will help mitigate the global climate crisis.

Community: Improve the lives, well-being and sustainable economic opportunities of the communities living around the forest area.

Conservation: Monitor and research species and ecosystem health and safeguard habitats to increase the chances for tropical forest biodiversity to thrive.

The project is assessed against the science-based and globally recognised Verra Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Verra Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) standard to both demonstrate the project’s scientific rigour and to enable it to generate income from Verified Carbon Units (VCUs), or carbon credits.

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What is Improved Forest Management?

Improved Forest Management (IFM) means managing existing forests more carefully—thinning less, extending harvest cycles and protecting sensitive stands—so that trees grow larger and store extra carbon. Registries require 100-year monitoring to make sure the carbon stays locked away.

Research

US Forest IFM Potential (USFS Brief)

Technical note on carbon benefits from extended harvest rotations.

Project Certifications and Claims

Verra

The project is listed on the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) registry for Methodology VM0010 (project number: 2609).

AI Quality Framework

Senken follows a 500+ datapoint AI Quality Framework to select and onboard project developers. Only 5% of the projects we assess score high enough to make it into customer portfolios.

Socioeconomic Impact

The project’s protected forest area has no human habitation. Approximately 10 kilometers north and northeast of the protected area are two village communities, the Kuamut and the Karamuak. Engagement with these indigenous communities was led by Pacos Trust, a Sabah-based NGO, through extensive Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) workshops. These sessions provided detailed information and addressed community questions about the project and its partners. With the communities’ full consent, the project team has worked closely with the Kuamut and Karamuak to jointly design social development programs tailored to their needs. The project is an important local employer, supporting sustainable business development and helping improve health, education, and wellbeing through community-led initiatives.

Environmental Impact

The project combats climate change by preventing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Protecting and regenerating the forest locks in carbon and increases sequestration. Once heavily logged, the area is now a strict class 1 protection forest, eliminating commercial logging and guarding against illegal logging, encroachment, and fires. This protection preserves critical tropical habitats and boosts biodiversity. The project supports 29 mammal and 12 bird species listed as rare or endangered by the IUCN. Efforts focus on forest protection and hunting control, supporting elephants, banteng, orangutans, and endangered birds like the helmeted hornbill, Bornean peacock pheasant, and storm’s stork.

Senken's Take

Spanning one of the last remaining intact lowland rainforests in Malaysian Borneo, the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project delivers exceptional climate, biodiversity, and community impact. By preventing deforestation and restoring degraded areas, it safeguards critical habitats for endangered species such as orangutans, Bornean banteng, and hornbills, while generating high-integrity, Verra-certified carbon credits.

Built on a pioneering public–private partnership, the project channels finance into long-term forest protection and locally led development, ensuring both environmental permanence and socio-economic resilience. For companies seeking measurable climate impact and alignment with global biodiversity goals, Kuamut represents a rare opportunity to support a truly world-class nature-based solution.

Groundbreaking public–private conservation partnership

Empowers communities through local-led development