"We Are Ready": Empowering Women and Developing Sustainable Livelihoods in East Kalimantan

In East Kalimantan, Indonesia’s new capital city (called ‘Nusantara’) is steadily rising like an island of concrete in a sea of green plantations. Just an hour’s drive away, in Semuntai Village, a different kind of development is also underway. Here, as elsewhere in Indonesia, the Rimba Collective is pushing back the tide of deforestation in production landscapes by giving local people the means to earn a living from businesses that work with nature, not against it. Together with a local partner, the Kawal Borneo Community Foundation (KBCF), the Rimba Collective has made a 25-year funding commitment to ensure these efforts not only take root, but continue to grow over time.

In the gardens of Semuntai, women from a local Social Forestry Business Group (KUPS) are chatting and joking together as they weed the flower beds, pick fruits and prune dead leaves from medicinal plants. This group, called KUPS Tanaman Obat, comprises 15 members, all women, who grow herbal remedies for everything from cuts and scrapes to body odor, period pains, indigestion, diabetes and even cancer. In addition to supporting local health and economic development, their work has a clear emphasis on sustainable landscape management.

“Whenever we open new land for cultivation, we prioritise disused land in our members’ gardens and in neighbouring residential areas,” explains the group’s chairperson, Ibu Tutik Januarti (more commonly referred to as ‘mami’). “This has the double benefit of widening our collaboration in the community, while also leaving the forest untouched.” The group refuses to use pesticides and, as a result, the gardens are brimming with colourful plants and their pollinators. A neighbouring KUPS supported by KBCF produces honey, and their stingless bees are regular visitors here.

Opening doors, broadening horizons

Bees are not the only ones to benefit from connectivity between KUPS in Semuntai. “This group is opening doors for women,” explains Tutik. “Most of the women here used to stay at home. They only knew how to wash clothes, cook and take care of their children. But after they joined the KUPS, they found a community they can be a part of, a profession that can help them develop their skills and achieve economic independence.” It is this emphasis on collective learning that Tutik prizes most highly. As she puts it, “knowledge is more valuable than money.”

After being established in January 2023, KUPS Tanaman Obat received startup support from KBCF which included essential materials like seeds, a greenhouse and an electric oven. With funding from the Rimba Collective, KBCF continues to support their growth through regular mentoring and skills development. “What makes this partnership with KBCF different, what makes it special, is its emphasis on long-term collaboration,” she says. “Every second, every minute, every hour of every day, we want to build our knowledge. That's why we really need and appreciate the regular mentoring we receive from KBCF.”

One of the KBCF project’s expected outcomes is that women in project areas develop an increased sense of self-worth, improving over time their decision-making agency and their capacity to influence social change in their family groups and neighbourhoods. Critical to this process is women’s self-organisation and economic empowerment. To that end, the benefits associated with project activities are monitored against baselines through regular surveys and self-assessment. LPHD Samuntai has a dedicated Women's Empowerment and Participation Division, with a coordinator (Dewi Susanti) entrusted with the facilitation and monitoring of local women’s development through capacity-building activities such as marketing and product development.

Stingless bees from the neigbouring KUPS are regular visitors to Ibu Tutik's gardens, helping to pollinate medicinal plants such as these air mata pengantin ('bridal tears') flowers, which can improve digestion and blood circulation (photo: Chris Alexander)

KUPS Tanaman Obat in Semuntai is run by a team of 15 local women, who care for each of the plants by hand (photo: Chris Alexander)

In return, the allotment enables these women to learn new skills, increase their financial independence and develop a tightly knit community around sustainable, local produce (photo: Chris Alexander)

One of many herbal remedies produced at KUPS Tanaman Obat, which can be used as a natural ointment for cuts and scrapes (Photo: Chris Alexander)

The group choose not to use pesticides, and their gardens are filled with pollinators like bees, butterflies and beetles (photo: Chris Alexander)

“It will be a long process,” says Ibu Tutik, “we will need help with innovations in product development and to develop a broader awareness of our brand.” Through long-term collaboration with KBCF and with funding from the Rimba Collective, Tutik and her group are already on their way. “My goal is to build a factory,” she says, “which can upscale our operations and expand the benefits to lives and livelihoods here in Semuntai.” In addition to bricks, mortar and machinery, Tutik believes her dream will be built on long-term partnerships and constant knowledge development. “Whoever wants to work with us to help reach these goals, we are ready.”

Reducing pressure on the forest, growing local businesses

The Semuntai village forest (Hutan Desa) covers 939 hectares. Initial landscape surveys conducted by KBCF have revealed that around 30 percent of this land (283 ha) is vulnerable to encroachment from neighbouring concession areas and illegal land clearance by local communities. KBCF is working closely with the local village forest management institution (LPHD) on prevention, through patrols and education, and also alleviating pressure by developing alternative livelihood projects around non-timber forest products (NTFPs) such as palm sugar, herbal medicines and forest honey.

Semuntai in Paser District is one of four village forest areas in East Kalimantan where funding from the Rimba Collective is being put to good use by KBCF. The other three are Lakan Bilem, on the banks of the Makaham River; Intu Lingau, which is next to the Kedan Pahu River; and Karangan Hilir, in East Kutai District. Common threats to forests in these areas include fires caused by slash-and-burn farming; land use changes connected to palm oil, timber and mining concessions; illegal logging to meet local demand for timber; poaching of wild animals; and the unsustainable use of NTFPs.

With help from the Rimba Collective, KBCF plans to regenerate forests across the four Hutan Desa in East Kalimantan by planting over 120,000 seedlings over the project lifespan. During that time, KUPS activities are expected to impact 1,653 households, benefiting a total of 8,481 individuals through improved livelihood opportunities. This includes 1,000 local women like Ibu Tutik and her team, empowered through training and the provision of materials that can help their businesses to grow.

A watershed moment for social forestry

Just down the road from Ibu Tutik’s plantation, another social forestry business group illustrates the benefits that material support from KBCF can bring to local businesses and the broader landscape. KUPS Gula Aren produces organic palm sugar, which is grown and processed on site. The group is made up of 17 members, including 10 men and seven women from the local area. The group was formed in 2001, but only recently began to overcome the challenges associated with palm sugar production.

“Before, the biggest threat to our operations, and to the wider region, was illegal land clearance,” explains Pak Herudi, who is the head of the KUPS. “We thought our forest would soon disappear completely. Thank God, since KBCF arrived in 2022 and began working with the local village government, land clearing has been prohibited and the condition has started to change for the better now.” Local agroforestry workers like Herudi are acutely aware of changes to their environment, and concerned about the impacts wider trends can have at the local level. “We are feeling the effects of climate change in Semuntai,” he explains. “The seasons are getting more unpredictable, and temperature fluctuations are growing more extreme with each year that passes.”

Herudi believes the best way to mitigate these impacts is through regeneration of the landscape, through agriculture that goes hand in hand with environmental protection. “We all have a responsibility to guard the forests and the karst mountains of this region, and prevent land clearance that could harm the environment.” Central to this process is collaboration with the local LPHD, who are monitoring the forest and working to preserve the ecosystem services it provides to local communities. To that end, KBCF has already committed to protecting and restoring 18,111 hectares of forest areas across the four project villages.

The process of sugar production takes around 5–6 years, from planting seeds and nurturing the plants until they flower, then tapping the trees for their sap and processing it into dried sugar that is ready for packaging and sale. This process demands patience, but also relies on a stable, productive landscape to be a viable source of income (photo: Chris Alexander)

Funding support from the Rimba Collective has provided local women like Ibu Dewi Susanti (right) with the training and the machinery they need prepare their products for sale (photo: Chris Alexander)

The process involves collecting the resin, which is cooled into a triangular block and wrapped in leaves. Next, this resin is cooked into a paste, then carefully dried, crushed and sieved by hand until it becomes granulated (photo: Chris Alexander)

Ibu Salinah (left), Ibu Dewi Susanti (middle) and Pak Herudi (right) from the Gula Aren KUPS group in Semuntai, East Kalimantan (photos: Chris Alexander)

Creating a more comprehensive picture of ecosystem health

Pak Usdar is the Chairman of the LPHD in Semuntai, a group of 15 members (30 including administrators) that was formed in 2018 and partnered with KBCF in 2020. Located just next door to the KUPS Gula Aren processing plant, the LPHD is based in a brand-new office building, which was built with funding from the Rimba Collective. From this HQ, Usdar and his team coordinate a range of activities, including forest patrols, restoration projects, biodiversity surveys, capacity building in the community and ecotourism. The LPHD has three patrol teams, who take turns spending 6 days at a time in the forest, two or three times a month. This provides round-the-clock coverage and helps prevent encroachment, logging and poaching, while also enabling the LPHD to build a more comprehensive picture of local ecosystem health through regular monitoring.

“We use camera traps to monitor biodiversity in the forest,” explains Usdar, adding that these cameras and patrols have recently gathered evidence of various rare and endangered species in the surrounding landscape, including Bornean orangutan, sun bear, Sunda clouded leopard, proboscis monkeys, rhinoceros hornbill and helmeted hornbill. “There are many plants that are endemic here too, which can only be found in Kalimantan,” says Usdar. Regarding the new ecotourism programme, the LPHD has been encouraging visitors to join patrols and replanting activities, while also showcasing natural wonders such as a local waterfall. His team recently opened a new access road into the Hutan Desa, to replace a network of existing trails and prevent the unregulated opening of more inroads – having one track instead of many, thereby reducing traffic to a single trickle rather than multiple streams.

It is this emphasis on balance between development and preservation that Usdar and his team are striving to achieve. With the construction of Indonesia’s new capital city unfolding just a few miles down the road, he expects many more people to move here in search of work in the years to come. This will make protection and sustainable management of the remaining forests increasingly more important.

With funding from the Rimba Collective, KBCF will plant over 120,000 trees across four Hutan Desa in East Kalimantan over the project lifespan (photo: Chris Alexander)

“Every hour of every day, we want to build our knowledge. That's why we really need and appreciate the regular mentoring we receive from KBCF.” – Ibu Tutik Januarti, KUPS Tanaman Obat (photo: Chris Alexander)

“We all have a responsibility to guard the forests and prevent land clearance that could harm the environment.” - Pak Herudi, KUPS Gula Aren (photo: Chris Alexander)

“A garden behind the house”: building sustainable futures in East Kalimantan

With the eyes of the world on Nusantara, Pak Usdar believes the emphasis on sustainable urban development can also be applied to rural restoration in Semuntai. “Our forest is like a garden behind the house,” he says. “It must be carefully monitored and maintained.” When imagining the next chapter in this story, Usdar believes the nation’s current capital offers a cautionary tale. “Just look at Jakarta now, where there are so many buildings and no forest in sight. That’s not the future we want for Kalimantan.”

He sees Rimba Collective funding and KBCF support as the cornerstones of conservation in Semuntai. “This funding support has allowed us to create something from nothing,” he says. “We are building something here which has the potential to operate independently and manage the forest sustainably for another 25 years after the current project is completed.”

From medicinal plants and palm sugar to forest patrols and ecotourism, social forestry projects supported by KBCF are already taking root in East Kalimantan. With a new capital city rising just down the road, these projects are also breaking new ground. Funding from the Rimba Collective will be critical to the journey ahead, helping to ensure the garden behind the house remains green and continues to grow.

This article is the second in a two-part series exploring the positive impacts of long-term, community-led restoration and livelihood projects in East Kalimantan, implemented by the Kawal Borneo Community Foundation (KBCF) with funding from the Rimba Collective.

To read the first story in this series, please click here.

About the Rimba Collective

The Rimba Collective is an innovative, long-term collaboration between leading consumer goods manufacturers, NGOs and forest-dependent communities in Southeast Asia. Our aim is to protect landscapes, livelihoods and biodiversity through a portfolio of high-quality conservation and restoration projects. Over the next 30 years, this approach will achieve lasting, long-term impact at scale, with over 550,000 hectares of rich forest landscapes protected and 32,000 local livelihoods improved.

To find out more, and to join the Rimba Collective, please get in touch.