East Kalimantan

Location & Total Area

The project site consists of 4 Village Forests located in three districts in East Kalimantan. The Lakan Bilem and Intu Lingau Village Forests (HD) are located on the banks of the Makaham/Kedan Pahu rivers and the village forests are adjacent to the Kelian Dalam Protection Forest which is designated as a habitat reserve for the Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatranensis). Meanwhile, HD Semuntai is located in Paser District, which borders a Palm Oil concession, and faces high land conversion pressure.

What is special about this project 

• Palm oil has never been abandoned by the community due to the availability of a market to sell the production of the oil palm fruit. The existence of a CPO processing factory has attracted people's interest in opening oil palm plantations, including in forest areas.  

• HD Karangan Hilir is located in East Kutai District and its village forest is categorised as Protected Forest due to being a habitat for 35 IUCN Redlist species including the critically endangered Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus).  

• The project focuses on the protection and conservation of the forest ecosystem and its biodiversity as well as improving the livelihoods of the local community and providing sustainable alternatives to existing practices. 

How we add value to this project 

Lakan Bilem, Intu Lingau and Semintau are habitats for three hornbill species, Kelawet Gibbons (Hylobates muelleri) and Sun bear (Helactos malayanus). Lakan Bilem village forest also offers a buffer for the Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatranensis) sanctuary in Hutan Lindung Kelian Dalam​. While Karangan Hilir village forest is a remaining habitat of IUCN  Red  List Critically  Endangered  species of Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus),  Sunda  Pangolin  (Manis javanica),  Siamese Crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis), River Terrapine (Batagur affinis), Painted Terrapine (Batagur borneoensis), Bornean River Turtle (Orlitia borneoensis), Brown Giant Tortoise (Manouria emys) and Helmeted Hornbill (Buceros vigil). Karangan Hilir also includes karst ecosystems which are still understudied but have strong potential to serve as a reservoir for clean water. ​ 

Direct threats of deforestation and degradation of the village forests are forest fire from slash & burn agricultural practices, land use change from palm oil, timber and mining concessions, illegal logging from local wood demands, illegal hunting and unsustainable use of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs). The magnitude of the threats are different in each village forest site. Intu Lingau suffers from forest fires with a total of 25 hotspot detections in the last 12 years within its village forest area. While Semintau is in close proximity to palm oil concessions with one oil palm HGU overlapping with 30% of the area within HD boundaries (283 ha from 939 ha). With increasing fresh fruit bunches, world-wide increase of palm oil price and demand, high acceptance of local community and close proximity of mill to the site, the further expansion of palm oil areas into the forest areas is likely if no intervention is made. ​ 

This project, assisted by the Rimba Collective, will provide a means for Village Forest Management Institution or Lembaga Pengelola Hutan Desa (LPHD)  to:  

• Access alternative sources of finance for capacity building, stipends and equipment for supporting them in effective forest management 

• Establish forest protection, monitoring and restoration 

• Develop biodiversity monitoring and management 

• Develop livelihood activities needed to support the shift from forest-destructive activities to sustainable livelihoods 

• Enhance community awareness of village forests and the surrounding biodiversity