The Power of Long-term Partnerships: Changing Lives and Landscapes in West Kalimantan

“Bees are messengers of the forest,” explains Muhammad, standing in a glade near Pematang Gadung Village in Ketapang, West Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Dotted all around him are homemade hives that hum with stingless bees, perched on wooden posts like letterboxes in a neighbourhood of shady trees. “They tell us if the forest is healthy, or if it’s in trouble,” he continues. “The size of the colony, the amount of honey it can produce, even the quality of the honey itself; it’s all connected to the health of the forest.”

Muhammad is one of several fishermen and farmers in Pematang Gadung who have recently taken up beekeeping and discovered the benefits a healthy forest can bring. The honey from his hives translates to money in his pocket, but is also providing other, unexpected benefits to the local community in terms of education, employment and unity.

With practical support from Tropenbos Indonesia and funding from the Rimba Collective, sustainable livelihoods like Muhammad’s new beekeeping operation are steadily growing in popularity among local people, helping raise their standards of living while also reducing pressure on the forest.

Tropenbos Indonesia in the Gunung Tarak Landscape

Muhammad’s bees form part of a wider social forestry initiative from Tropenbos Indonesia, called the ‘Sustainable Community-based Forest Stewardship and Livelihood Improvement in Ketapang District’ programme. Spanning more than 8,000 hectares in the Gunung Tarak Landscape (a high-conservation value area), the project focuses on village forests (hutan desa) in four villages: Sungai Pelang, Sungai Besar, Pematang Gadung and Pangkalan Telok.

The region has been struggling for years with flooding and forest fires caused by illegal logging, mining operations and slash-and-burn land clearance for plantations. The key to addressing these issues lies in a combination of community-led forest management and livelihood development projects. Tropenbos Indonesia is supporting reforestation programmes by Village Forest Management Institutions (LPHD) and helping them establish Social Forestry Business Groups (KUPS) around chicken farms, smallholdings, horticulture, fisheries and beekeeping. For the communities of Ketapang, these projects are already showing signs of progress.

The Gunung Tarak Landscape is a high-conservation value area where the health of rivers and forests is directly connected to the well-being of local communities (photo: Chris Alexander)

Pak Supardi, coordinator of the LPHD in Pematang Gadung, has been helping Tropenbos Indonesia establish new, community-led business operations based around NTFPs.

This includes bee farms, operated by local women like Ibu Fatmawati; and fishponds. (photos: Chris Alexander)

From ecosystem to economy, stories of success

“The most positive impact I’ve seen so far is we can communicate more directly and more effectively within the community,” explains Supardi, Human Resources Coordinator at the LPHD for Pematang Gadung. “We are also seeing young people becoming interested in beekeeping and fish farming – they are beginning to recognise the health benefits of honey, and the economic rewards activities like beekeeping and aquaculture can bring.”

To upscale this process, Tropenbos assesses the potential for new community livelihoods based on non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Then, working with the LPHD, they form new KUPS or expand existing groups, helping them prepare work plans and feasibility studies connected to funding estimates. After that, members can access training in entrepreneurship, business development and marketing to improve the efficiency of project activities.

“From Tropenbos, we got the knowledge we need to succeed”

In neighbouring Sungai Besar Village, several local farmers already had fishponds before Tropenbos and the LPHD arrived, but struggled to make a living from them. One of them is Veri Guniarwan, a 45-year-old farmer from Pontianak who has lived in Sungai Besar for more than 20 years. In that time, he has tried to build fish farms with his neighbours, but found it difficult.

“This was because we didn’t understand how to look after the fish properly,” he admits. “The water quality, the size and quantity of feed to give the fish, and the appropriate depth for the ponds. But after we formed this group and began collaborating with Tropenbos, we’ve been able to access training from LP2MKP (the Institute for the Development and Empowerment of Marine and Fisheries Communities). This has supported our economic development, and given us the information and knowledge we needed to succeed.” Today, the KUPS Veri belongs to has grown to around 40 people.

Veri Guniarwan is one of 40 people in Sungai Besar Village to have joined and developed a fishpond operation supported by Tropenbos Indonesia, with funding from the Rimba Collective (photo: Chris Alexander)

Monitoring progress, delivering results

To monitor progress among the growing number of KUPS groups in Ketapang, Tropenbos gauges the baseline socio-economic conditions of each community through reporting that is verified according to Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) standards. Regular surveys are conducted to track changes in household income among communities participating in project activities, along with interviews to assess the qualitative impact of the project.

Tropenbos Targets:

- - - - 1,267 households benefitting from project activities
        
        785 women engaged in KUPS groups
        
        824 children with improved access to education

“I want my children to have a better life than their parents”

One of the most important demographic groups engaged in these surveys is women. Tropenbos conducts interviews with local women in KUPS groups to gauge their sense of self-worth, their agency and their capacity to influence social change for themselves and others, including economic and socio-political decision-making. These interviews have so far revealed some promising results.

Ratnawati is a 37-year-old housewife who lives in Sungai Besar with her husband and their two children. “Sometimes, for people like me who already have a family,” she says, “it's difficult to get involved in activities outside the house – you have to ask permission from your husband.” KUPS activities offer a safe and supportive public forum that brings women together. “Before, we would rarely meet up and work together, but now we can gather, share knowledge and engage in activities with each other,” she explains.

For children too, Tropenbos is working to improve opportunities, both in terms of access to and quality of education. This includes transportation for remote communities, investments in education infrastructure and teaching resources, and scholarships for higher education. “My hope,” says Ratnawati, “is that this project will continue long into the future, so my children can access knowledge and develop their experience. I want them to have a better life than their parents.”

For women like Ratnawati, long-term livelihood opportunities provide a sense of community, financial independence and a better life for her children (photo: Chris Alexander)

Long-term progress vs. short-term promises

As farmers and forest workers, people here are used to working in long timeframes – seasons, years, even decades at a time. Most families have been here for generations and feel a connection to the land, just as their ancestors did. Women like Ratnawati talk about their actions as a form of contingency planning for their own children; farmers and fishermen like Veri and Muhammad are willing to be patient, so long as they feel they’re moving forwards. Many are wary of short-term promises.

“Already two or three times before,” says Veri, “we received training or support from other NGOs about ecotourism, 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.” He says that with Tropenbos and the Rimba Collective, it’s been a different story so far. “We already have the knowledge we need to continue our journey. My hope is that Tropenbos will continue to support us for many years to come.” With the current collaboration set to run for the next 25 years, Heri’s hopes for the future are well founded.

Back at the bee farm in Pematang Gadung, Muhammad says the best approach is to “slowly raise the local economy and keep things moving forwards.” He is one of many who are ready and willing to work on these changes together over time, for their own economic development and for the good of the environment. “We have to take care of these lands, because they are the lungs of the Earth,” he adds. “In caring for this area, I’m very grateful we have Tropenbos, the LPHD and the hutan desa. We couldn’t do this without them.”

In the villages of Ketapang District, where bees are forest messengers, local people are listening to the stories that nature has to tell. Here, after many years of degraded lands and broken promises, they are ready to turn the page and write a new chapter in the story of the Gunung Tarak Landscape.

The long-term funding model favoured by the Rimba Collective has the potential to meaningfully impact landscapes and livelihoods in West Kalimantan (photo: Chris Alexander)

This article is the second in a two-part series exploring the positive impacts of long-term, community-led restoration and livelihood projects in the Ketapang District of West Kalimantan, implemented by Tropenbos Indonesia and with funding from the Rimba Collective.

To read the first story, please click here.