Steps towards sustainable finance for community forest management in the Heart of Borneo

The Sustainable Forest and Biodiversity Management in Borneo project is funded by the Asian Development Bank (TA-8331-INO) and implemented by the Republic of Indonesia, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Directorate of Ecosystem Services and Conservation Areas (DESCA) with technical assistance from LTS International, Daemeter Consulting and GOPA. Since January 2016 the project has been working at two sites in North and West Kalimantan to develop pilot projects for sustainably financed community forest management.

 

Over the last 18 months field teams have been working with village communities in Nanga Lauk Village in Kapuas Hulu District, and Punan Long Adiu Village in Malinau District, to understand the local drivers of deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss and develop management activities to address them. In Nanga Lauk project activities are focused on their recently approved Village Forest (Hutan Desa) and a surrounding area of production forest that the village hopes can also be brought under community management. The community in Punan Long Adiu has been working since 2012 towards recognition of their customary community territory and it is hoped that the project can help secure legal recognition of this area as Hutan Adat.

 

Pak Piang Irang, Punan Long Adiu Village Head, inside the Punan Adiu Customary Community Territory. Photographer: Andri Tambunan, 2016.

 

The two pilot project villages have different deforestation and degradation drivers and distinct management approaches have been developed to enable the communities to address them. In both villages the approaches include formalising management rights and applying for licences to enable the communities to benefit from payments for ecosystem services (PES) and the sale of greenhouse gas emission reduction certificates, since both project sites have high biodiversity value and the potential to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). Both villages will also formalise their village regulations relating to forest resource use, and deploy forest patrol and monitoring teams to police the area and keep track of forest condition and key biodiversity indicators.

 

To provide a link to long term, sustainable finance the villages are both seeking to develop projects certified by the Plan Vivo Standard, and the Verified Conservation Area Standard. If successful these projects will be the first to achieve this dual certification, which it is hoped will help to attract finance from funders with an interest in biodiversity conservation as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and delivering livelihood benefits to the participating communities. An important milestone towards this aim was reached this week as both projects received approval of Project Idea Notes from the Plan Vivo Foundation. The approved documents in English and Bahasa Indonesia can now be accessed through the Plan Vivo website.

 

Over the coming months the project team will continue to work in both villages developing management plans and village regulations, and providing training and support to initiate forest patrol and monitoring activities. It is hoped that by the end of the year the project team will be able to hand over full control to the local project coordinator organisations - PRCF Indonesia for Nanga Lauk and Lembaga Pemerhati dan Pemberdayaan Dayak Punan Malinau (LP3M) for Punan Long Adiu, who will be able to continue working with the communities to protect their forests, and access financial support from Verified Conservation Area funders and the sale of Plan Vivo certificates.

 

For further information about the projects and how you can support them please contact the team via info@daemeter.org.