Safeguarding Protected Forests through Mapping and NTFP (non-timber forest product) harvesting and Community Forest Enterprises - Rights + Resources - Supporting Forest Tenure, Policy, and Market Reforms

Country:

Indonesia

Region:

Asia

Date:

October 3, 2017 - March 31, 2018

Implementor:

Yayasan Hutanriau, Indonesia

Funding Amount:

$9,900

Details:

This SRM-funded initiative responded to the immediate threat to Adat and local communities’ traditional lands and biodiversity posed by the expansion of palm oil in Riau Province on Sumatra. Riau Province is home to over 24 percent of Indonesia’s palm oil plantations and is also the same area that is home to the Sumatran tiger, which is critically endangered. In Indonesia from 2000-2015, 55 percent of forest has been lost within concession areas. This forest-loss has caused Adat and local communities to lose their livelihoods and their traditional lands and forests, as well as the wildlife and plant diversity that has been sustained by the primary forests.

Funding from the SRM provided support to the Air Buluh community and the Bukit Betabuh Forest Reserve which have been the forest custodians for centuries. RRI support provided the resources for the mapping of the management area with Bukit Betabuh in order to complete the main stage in obtaining the Social Forestry permit from the local administration, while developing sustainable crop commodity plans for the jernang that would create an initial border around the community forest land. The proposed activity supported the communities within the Bukit Betabuh Forest Reserve and trained them in the titling processes involved in Social Forestry permits. These activities not only created income-generating activities for the Air Buluh community but allowed them to have rights over their forestlands and help preserve the pristine tiger ecosystem.