Built to Last: A New Model for Forests, Communities and Corporates

Building a Foundation: The Rimba Collective Project Portfolio

It begins with a meticulous project selection process, designed to assess viability over the long term. First, we identify forests that have land management rights in place for a minimum of 20 years. We also look at the number of hectares of forest each prospective project operator can commit to protection or restoration, their prior experience and track record with similar projects, their particular area of expertise (such as biodiversity, reforestation or livelihood development), and their capacity to deliver meaningful results in each of these areas.

Next, after a project has been vetted and approved for inclusion in the portfolio, the project operator progresses to the onboarding phase, which is designed to thoroughly assess the local context. This phase involves evaluating baseline conditions, identifying key challenges and understanding the primary factors influencing the area’s ecological and social dynamics.

Based on these assessments, projects establish tailored goals and KPIs that serve as a strategic roadmap for achieving long-term impact. Throughout onboarding, projects undergo continuous internal monitoring to ensure steady progress in alignment with Climate Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCB); typically spanning several years, this onboarding phase lays the foundation for successful implementation.  

Independent Verification: Credibility and Commitment

Just as corporate investors are evolving beyond the CSR mindset, NGOs and implementors working at ground level also need to rethink their role and relationship to nature financing. For project operators working at ground level, long-term partnership with the Rimba Collective offers myriad benefits, and comes with a clear set of expectations. As Michal Zrust explains, “we say to project operators from the outset: you are a business; we are purchasing an outcome from you and expect you to deliver that impact’”.

In keeping with this business dynamic, payments to projects are performance-based – they are only provided in exchange for verifiable ecosystem outcomes that Rimba Collective partners can claim towards their sustainability commitments. Real credibility is a long-term commitment, and one that requires continuous reinforcement. That is why the Rimba Collective requires periodic, independent, third-party verification of all projects included within the portfolio before they can ‘graduate’ to their implementation phase. To ensure full transparency, all ecosystem outcomes attributable to projects are assessed by Verra according to internationally recognised certification systems such as CCB.

This continuous process requires a long-term commitment. The Rimba Collective is there every step of the way. From vetting to onboarding and from implementation to independent verification, we build our portfolio of projects around the cornerstone of durability.

Business Development: Seeding Enterprises That Last

This emphasis on long-term collaboration can be seen right down to the grassroots level. Here, Rimba Collective funding is channelled into sustainable livelihood development through social forestry business groups, or kelompok usaha perhutanan sosial. These initiatives, often led by local women, create economic opportunities that are directly tied to conservation outcomes.

Something we noticed early on was that many of these communities had been involved in livelihood projects before, which promised much but invariably failed to make a lasting impact. One recent testimonial, which is indicative of widespread disillusionment, comes from Veri Guniarwan, a fish farmer in West Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo):

“Already two or three times before, we received training or support from other NGOs, but it ended before we’d even begun. It was totally ridiculous – if the money runs out halfway through the project, they disappear, and the project is a failure.”

The Rimba Collective has listened and learned from local people like Veri. They tell us that new livelihoods take time, patience and continuous collaboration if they are to take root and grow. And this is why the long-term element of the Rimba Collective is so essential to achieving impact.

In West Kalimantan, our partnership with Tropenbos Indonesia has provided Veri and his community with the long-term assistance they need to build their businesses. Similarly, through our partnership with KBCF in East Kalimantan, we have helped to build sustainable enterprises around NTFPs that can support women’s financial independence. The value of this approach is reflected in its impact on community perspectives. As Ibu Tutik Januarti, leader of a local KUPS, explains:

“What makes this partnership with KBCF and the Rimba Collective different, what makes it special, is its emphasis on long-term collaboration.”

Why Duration Matters

These words from Tutik and Veri speak to a wider truth – one that is clearly understood in rural communities. And their perspective is borne out by the data. In 2013, a report entitled Assessing Community-based Conservation Projects discovered that, across 128 community-based conservation projects worldwide, long-term projects were significantly more likely to achieve simultaneous social, economic and ecological gains. While over 80% of projects delivered at least one positive outcome, only about 32% achieved ‘win–win’ outcomes for both people and nature — and these were strongly correlated with project age (Brooks et al., 2013). This reinforces the need for decades-long commitments rather than short-term interventions.

The report also concluded that recognition of unique community characteristics is integral to effective project design. This can relate to land tenure security, cultural beliefs and institutional norms, or particular economic stressors. Each of these determining factors proved to be critical to the ultimate success (or failure) of those projects. This demonstrates that deeper collaboration with communities is essential to the continued success of a project and the delivery of its expected outcomes.

And yet, despite clear evidence that short-termism is doomed to fail, most conservation funding continues to trickle through in short bursts, typically over a period of 1–5 years. Recent Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) and REDD+ schemes have noted that deforestation rates dropped while incentives flowed, but rebounded after payments ended (Kaczan et al., 2017). Conservation gains were not made permanent without ongoing support, highlighting the fragility of short-term, grant-based funding models. Again, this underlines the need for more ambitious, long-term planning.

The Road Ahead

So what can we learn from this? First and foremost, that nature moves on a different timescale to standard funding cycles. Short-term, grants-based financing runs the risk of removing support networks and eroding hard-won trust in communities, just as behaviour change and ecological recovery are taking root. Similarly, community buy-in is something that can’t be bought – it has to be nurtured, demonstrated and continuously reaffirmed over time. The ‘give and go’ approach of years gone by simply won’t achieve what it sets out to do.

The Rimba Collective doesn’t promise overnight transformation. Instead, we offer something much more radical: a credible pathway to long-term sustainability – a journey that embraces complexity, invests in relationships and delivers verifiable impact at scale. Through long-term, performance-based funding, companies can join a collective effort to conserve and restore forests; supporting biodiversity, climate resilience and local livelihoods in commodity-producing regions, while simultaneously building the resilience of their supply chains.

Over its lifetime, this long-term, large-scale approach will channel US$ 1 billion into forest conservation and restoration in Southeast Asia, thereby helping to restore and protect 1 million ha of forests by 2050 and reducing or avoiding 150 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. All of this takes time, trust and patience. As Michal Zrust says, “this is a marathon, not a sprint.” At the Rimba Collective, we’re ready to go the distance.

The future of conservation depends on durability; of regular, incremental impact over time. With the Rimba Collective, we have the chance to prove that long-term partnerships can deliver lasting change.