Community-Based Sustainable Forest Management for Livelihood Improvement in Ketapang District, West Kalimantan Province
Indonesia - 03 June, 2023
Village Forests, especially in peatland ecosystems, have vital roles to protect the ecosystems. In addition to meeting all the criteria as ‘high conservation value areas’ (HCVA), Village Forest areas are often the only remaining peatswamp forest with the peat depth of more than 3 meters, while the surrounding areas have been fully degraded or utilised for agriculture.
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Since December 2022, Tropenbos Indonesia (TI) has been supporting the community-based forest management under four Village Forest (Hutan Desa) in Ketapang District, West Kalimantan. Three of the Village Forest areas are peatswamp forest in Matan Hilir Selatan Sub-district and one being mineral forest ecosystem in Nanga Tayab Sub-district.
Village forest in a peat ecosystem in South Matan Hilir Sub-district
To be eligible for the annual fund, the communities under the management of LPHDs (Village Forest Management Bodies) must demonstrate successful implementation of the jointly developed activity plans. Independent verification by a third party will be carried out annually to ensure that performance indicators have been achieved, as the basis for the annual payments. To support the implementation of performance-based program, Tropenbos Indonesia has facilitated community to collect Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standard (CCB Standard) data for forest protection and restoration in the four Village Forests. CCB data is collected for the development of sustainable forest management program. A program that has met the CCB Standard means that it has implemented best practices to reliably reduce greenhouse gas emissions while bringing positive benefits to local communities, so that the goals of the Social Forestry Program in the Village Forests can be achieved.
In addition, within the first-year implementation, TI has been implementing capacity building and infrastructure supports as the foundation for the LPHDs and the communities to improve forest governance and forest management.
Village Forest on Mineral Land in Nanga Tayab Sub-district
These Village Forest areas are important for biodiversity conservation, as they host rare and endangered wildlife and plant species such as Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), Pangolins (Pholidota sp), bears (Helarctos malayanus), Proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus) and various types of pitcher plants (Nepenthes sp.). Illegal gold mining, poaching, illegal logging, land clearing for oil palm plantations and peat fires are the imminent threats to the sustainability of the forests, and thus the biodiversity values. Therefore, strengthened capacities of the local communities and the Village Forest institutions are required to be able to withstand the threats as well as manage the forest sustainably.
The successful attainment of the long-term funding for these Village Forests was part of the exit strategies of TI’s two running programs on developing climate smart landscapes, namely Working Landscape (2019 - 2023) and Mobilizing More 4 Climate (2020 – 2024). Towards the programs’ completion, sustainable use of forests and trees for people and climate promoted by the programs is expected to be well implemented in the landscapes; therefore, long-term financing scheme to support the communities is key.
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