Context

The province of West Kalimantan in Indonesia spans a surface area of 14.7 million hectares. Although deforestation in the past decades has been significant, there are still large areas of forest (almost 5 million hectares) and peatland (1.7 million hectares). The forests and peatlands of West Kalimantan are important carbon stocks. Moreover, its forests are home to endemic and endangered species such as the Bornean orangutan and the Proboscis monkey. The program focuses on the districts Kayong Utara, Ketapang, and Kubu Raya.

Market transformation

Through convening a Green Growth Plan with the district government, creating PPI Compacts in the area and linking them via Verified Sourcing Areas to the market we aim to: intensify land use, create alternative livelihoods for forest dependent people and conserve 190,000 hectares of HCV/HCS forest and peatland, restore 10,000 hectares of forest and peatland, improve sustainable agricultural production on 45,000 hectares, and improve livelihoods of 10,000 smallholders and community members.

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Impact Focus

KPI progress 2017

  • Changes in Business Practices

    Private Investment Ratio Target 2020 1
    Target 2017 1
    Result 2017 1
    Companies in adjacent concessions are actively working together on forest and peatland protection and restoration. They will reduce their production areas and develop alternative business models with communities. They do this within and beyond the scope of their concessions, and will set land aside for protection, endorsed by the local government (not “using” your concession is illegal in Indonesia). Restoration company PT EKL and forestry company PT KLIA changed their operation plans to restore their mangrove swamps, in favor of a proboscis monkey corridor in the WWF project. Forestry company PT BSN changed its operational plan, to set aside a part of its production area to protect peatland. IDH convened 10 palm oil and forestry companies to provide input on green growth, in the district-level Essential Ecosystem Zone (Kawasan Ekosistem Esensial, KEE) action plans. We researched and tested peat forestry conservation and restoration best management practices, and how to generate income from ecosystem restoration. The project supports changes in commercial land-use allocations, identifying areas for production, protection and restoration. Palm oil grower Bumitama featured its biodiversity corridor/landscape project with IDH in its 2016 Annual Sustainability Report.
  • Changes in Sector Governance

    Changes in Environmental Policies Target 2020 3
    Target 2017 1
    Result 2017 3
    Companies in adjacent concessions are actively working together on forest and peatland protection and restoration. They will reduce their production areas and develop alternative business models with communities. They do this within and beyond the scope of their concessions, and will set land aside for protection, endorsed by the local government (not “using” your concession is illegal in Indonesia). Restoration company PT EKL and forestry company PT KLIA changed their operation plans to restore their mangrove swamps, in favor of a proboscis monkey corridor in the WWF project. Forestry company PT BSN changed its operational plan, to set aside a part of its production area to protect peatland. IDH convened 10 palm oil and forestry companies to provide input on green growth, in the district-level Essential Ecosystem Zone (Kawasan Ekosistem Esensial, KEE) action plans. We researched and tested peat forestry conservation and restoration best management practices, and how to generate income from ecosystem restoration. The project supports changes in commercial land-use allocations, identifying areas for production, protection and restoration. Palm oil grower Bumitama featured its biodiversity corridor/landscape project with IDH in its 2016 Annual Sustainability Report.
  • Field Level Impact

    # hectares under sustainable development Target 2020 45,000
    Target 2017 (not set) 0
    Result 20,200
    IDH co-funded five field-level projects with forestry and palm oil companies and local communities, piloting PPI innovations, covering more than 110,000 hectares of mangrove and (peat) forest. We drive a multi-stakeholder platform in the Kubu Raya district to help protect and restore a critical biodiversity corridor, and enhance communities’ livelihoods in cooperation with timber, mangrove and acacia companies and NTFP production. In the Ketapang district, we co-fund a project implemented by Bumitama Gunajaya Agro and Aidenvironment to rehabilitate and manage a wildlife corridor for orangutans and other species between the two forest areas with the neighboring concessions, improving smallholder productivity and providing alternative livelihoods In Kayong Utara district, we work with palm oil plantation company PT PAS, aiming to conserve 12,000 hectares of HCVAs within three concessions with a total area of 42,899 hectares. PT PAS works on social conflict management with villages adjacent to the HCVAs, securing a legal status for the area (for example, as KEE), and the development of business models to reduce the conservation costs (selling carbon and biogas installations). In Kubu Raya, IDH works with five forestry concessions in a 320,000-hectare area, supported by the NGO Kemitraan, to cooperate on fire prevention and biodiversity conservation. In Kubu Raya district, Padang Tikar, IDH works with NGO Sampan to develop village forests as a model to protect 76,000 hectares of peat and mangrove forest, and create sustainable livelihood opportunities. We developed fishery, coconut charcoal, and honey as alternative sources of livelihood. IDH and Sampan are in the process covering another 40,000 hectares of village forest in the same district

Basically, IDH helped us to design a program that can be economically sustainable for the next 35 years. And theyconnected us to companies and international markets for the forest village products.

Denni Nurdwiansyah, Director of Sampan

Relevant SDGs

Gender focus

In the Village Forest Project, most of the financial training sessions were attended by women. As a result, all family members in the villages are now part of the business activities developed.

Lessons Learned

he PPI Compact approach proved to be challenging in some sub-landscapes in West Kalimantan where critical parts of the ecosystem are covered by oil palm or timber concessions that are dormant, for sale, or subject to legal investigation. This requires a pragmatic approach allowing us to start field-level implementation with a subset of front-running stakeholders. The first business models and best practices for sustainable plantation on peat, alternative livelihoods for rural and forest communities, forest protection, and peatland restoration are emerging. However, more analysis and longer-term monitoring is required to evaluate whether the models are financially sustainable, as well as replicable to other areas in Indonesia.
IDH is well positioned to convene government stakeholders at both local and national level. This is important, because initiatives taken in West Kalimantan can serve as test cases for national policies on land reform, HCV protection on private land, and sustainable peatland management. Until 2016, we carried out mostly field-level projects, co-funded by companies. Now we see the bigger picture and work together with the Indonesian government, so that we can work towards systemic change.

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