EC funded project - ‘Conservation and sustainable management of lowland forests of south Central Kalimantan'

This webpage is devoted to our EC funded project ‘Conservation and sustainable management of lowland forests of south Central Kalimantan'

Reports of the EC project - that the Orangutan Foundation implemented in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve from 2007-2011 in collaboration with our local NGO partner Yayorin and the Indonesian Government’s Bureau for Conservation of Natural Resources for Central Kalimantan (BKSDA-Kalteng) - are now available. Anyone who is interested in reading the project reports can download them from the links below.

• Project Summary
• OF Final Narrative Report Jan 2007-Dec 2011
• Annexes to Final Narrative Report 2007-2011
  
• Project Evaluation Report (Lessons Learned)
  

Context: Unsustainable forest management practices

Deforestation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, loss of biodiversity, drought and flooding. In Central Kalimantan, deforestation precedes land clearance for plantations and agriculture by burning, whilst repeated burning creates infertile soils. This project will address these problems through stakeholder participation in the conservation and sustainable management of the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve, whilst simultaneously promoting sustainable livelihood practices.


Objectives: Maintaining functioning tropical forests ecosystems

This project focuses on the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, and has three specific objectives:

• Strengthen the protected area network of Central Kalimantan
• Improve the capacity of stakeholders to sustainably manage and mutually benefit from the protected area network
• Establish income-generating mechanisms that support forest conservation

"The communities around the Reserve begin to change their behaviour from slash and burning agriculture to permanent system. Also they love to plant trees now. 40 hectares of empty land will be plant for natural rubber tree in Tanjung Putri village."


Togu Simorangkir, Director, Yayorin (the Indonesian Orangutan Foundation)

Impact: Main achievements so far

The project has facilitated an agreement between the local government, the central government, and two plantation companies, to respect a 500 m strip around the outer boundaries of the Reserve as a buffer zone in which there will be no forest conversion activities or oil palm development.

• The project has generated local government support for 8,142 ha of adjoining production forest land not to be converted, but to be proposed as a community forest conservation area.
• A major decline in illegal logging within the Reserve has been achieved through the construction of three additional guard posts at strategic entry points into the Reserve along rivers and increasing the frequency and effectiveness of patrolling from guard posts.
• Local support for Reserve management activities has been achieved through raising awareness on the function of the Reserve and providing permits to local community members for sustainable fishing practices.
• Co-operation of the surrounding rural communities for forest conservation has been achieved through education and awareness programmes and sustainable livelihood demonstration projects.

Testimonial: Conservation and sustainable management of lowland forests of south Central Kalimantan

This project is helping to improve the sustainable management of the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve and improve the livelihoods of local communities in the surrounding area.

Measures taken by the project so far:

• preventing illegal logging
• mitigating and preventing wildcat fires
• reforesting degraded areas and enhancing natural regeneration
• protecting the habitat of forest seed dispersers – especially bats and birds
• lobbying for an area of production forest to become community conservation forest
• generating local agreements with oil palm plantation companies on retaining standing forest as buffer zones around the reserve
• proving to local farmers how composting can increase agro-forestry yields through demonstration projects, thereby minimising imported fertiliser use.

The project’s support for increased patrols from strategically-sited guard posts has brought illegal logging under control.	Fires are still a threat. Whilst elsewhere it is for land clearing, here scrub is sometimes repeatedly burned to produce young shoots for nocturnal deer shooting.
The project is enhancing natural regeneration through both minimising obstacles to regeneration and enrichment planting in selected areas.	Primates and other mammals act as seed dispersers within the Reserve, whilst birds and bats also act as dispersers between the network of reserves in the region.

European Commission