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Indonesia

TBI in Indonesia works towards the improvement and implementation of landscape level conservation planning and the natural resource governance of forested lands allocated to villages and communities in Indonesia, with a current focus on the Ketapang and Kayong Utara districts in West Kalimantan Province.

The Ketapang and Kayong Utara districts have experienced rapid expansion of oil palm plantations and other land-based investments at the expense of forests and peatlands. Oil palm expansion has led to conversion, degradation and fragmentation of forests, with severe consequences for biodiversity, including the endangered Borneo orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). The governance of natural resources in both districts is still challenging, and existing policies, regulations and multi-stakeholder processes have not functioned effectively. The participation of local communities in land-use decision making processes is limited. Unclear land tenure contributes to poor landscape governance, many communities experience tenure insecurity, and conflicts over tenure are common.

In many parts of Indonesia, including in Kayong Utara and Ketapang districts, the establishment of large-scale oil palm plantations, followed by the uncontrolled expansion of smallholders, continues to occur at the expense of forest and peat areas. Through our work in partnership with various landscape actors, we aim to contribute to a climate smart landscape, while also providing a model of climate-smart landscape development that can be applied in other areas of Indonesia.

 What we do:

  • Establish essential ecosystem areas (KEE) to integrate oil palm plantations in the landscape while effectively protecting and connecting High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas.
  • Develop income-earning models that link peatland conservation and restoration with sustainable development.
  • Develop a model for independent oil palm smallholders to improve natural resource governance, based on sound village-level planning, with special attention to the role of women and youth.
  • Support the development of alternative livelihoods in forest-margin communities in the form of sustainable NTFP extraction and forest-ecosystem-service-based entrepreneurship.
  • Together with village and district governments in Ketapang and Kayong Utara districts upscale participatory and (gender-) inclusive natural resource and land-use planning.
  • Facilitate the development of community-forest schemes and improve the capacities of local stakeholders to develop and implement community forest management plans.
  • Build capacity among smallholders and communities to develop their climate-smart ideas into business propositions, and to encourage finance providers (local banks, credit unions but also external investors) to invest in such activities.
  • Contribute to a large scale shared vision of conservation and development priorities in Gunung Tarak Landscape based on the High Conservation Value (HCV) approach.
  • Support Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and communities to coordinate their strategies, and influence government and oil palm companies to establish, conserve and manage high value areas.
  • Strengthen the knowledge and capacities of CSOs, CBOs and government actors on the HCV concept through training, facilitation and technical assistance.
  • Provide technical training and facilitation in alternative livelihoods, spatial planning and other skills to community members.
  • Support local CSOs and community-based organisations to increase their lobbying and advocacy skills.

With whom

Tropenbos International works in Indonesia through its local network partner Tropenbos Indonesia. Visit their website for more information: www.tropenbos-indonesia.org

History

Tropenbos International has been operating in Indonesia since 1987 with a field site in East Kalimantan and from 2007 it has expanded its operation nationwide. In 2017, Tropenbos Indonesia became a legal national entity of Indonesia and a member of the Tropenbos International network.

In the past years the main focus of TBI's work in Indonesia has been the promotion of the High Conservation Value (HCV) approach. TBI has provided policy-relevant and evidence-based information and build the capacities of policy makers and corporate actors on the application of HCV approach for the sustainable management of plantation forests and oil palm plantations in Indonesia. TBI facilitated the establishment of the HCV Network Indonesia and supported HCV Resource Network in the development of HCV guidance at landscape and jurisdictional scale.

TBI has contributed to the preparation of a large-scale government programme for Social Forestry and provides assistance to Village Governments to apply for the Social Forestry permits. At community level, TBI has worked on forestry management by developing alternative livelihoods to reduce communities' dependency on forests.

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17 November 2022

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Latest publicationsShow all

Publication

Integrated landscape approaches for reducing peatland fires in Ketapang District, Indonesia

During years with frequent fires in Indonesia, such as 2015 and 2019, Ketapang District in southwestern West Kalimantan Province received national and international attention. This article presents initial findings and lessons learned from Tropenbos Indonesia’s implementation of the Fire-smart landscape governance programme of the Working Landscapes Programme. The project area is Pawan-Kepulu-Pesaguan landscape in Matan Hilir Selatan sub-district of Ketapang, which covers almost 80,000 ha. The landscape consists of two peatland hydrological units with approximately 50,000 ha of peatlands in their core areas. The area has 20 villages, of which five to six are in peatlands affected by fires. 

Publication

Finance for integrated landscape management. The potential of credit unions in Indonesia to catalyze local rural development. The case of Semandang Jaya Credit Union

This report is part of a series of case studies that provide insights into various mechanisms used to increase access to finance for smallholder farmers, SMEs and communities in their efforts to contribute to sustainable landscapes. The case studies focus on the strategies used by various stakeholders to reduce the risks of selected financial flows for investors, intermediaries and recipients. These case studies follow up on recommendations made by participants in the consultative process on innovative finance for sustainable landscapes. The goal is to provide more evidence of successful strategies in order to increase access to finance for smallholder farmers, SMEs and communities.

This case study focuses on the various types of productive loans provided by the Social Performance Management Unit of the Credit Union Semandang Jaya that are available to finance small-scale farmers and businesses, and analyzes how these are perceived to contribute to landscape objectives and integrated landscape management initiatives in the Ketapang-Kayong Utara landscape in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

 

Publication

Communities’ Adaptation and Vulnerability to Climate Change: Implications for Achieving a Climate-Smart Landscape

Rural landscapes in many parts of Indonesia are rapidly being transformed, due to the expansion of agrocommodity plantations—oil palm in particular. At the same time, communities in those landscapes face declining crop yields and ecosystem degradation as a result of both climate and non-climate factors. We assessed local perceptions on climate stressors, adaptation and vulnerability using focus group discussions in Ketapang, West Kalimantan. We found that the main perceived climatic stressors were extreme and unpredictable seasons, fires, and saltwater intrusion, affecting ecosystem services and agricultural production. Land clearing and forest loss were mentioned as exacerbating non-climatic stressors. Respondents indicated willingness to adapt to these changes by investing in long-term measures, such as tree-planting. To adapt to yield declines, respondents indicated that many farmers shifted from rubber to oil palm. Such adaptation actions benefit households in the short term but may be at odds with long-term adaptation objectives at the landscape level. Finally, we found that perceptions about vulnerability differed between landscapes, and between communities at the landscape level and stakeholders at the district level. This stresses the importance of participatory and inclusive planning and multi-stakeholder processes towards context-based climate action planning to accommodate the differences in contexts and scale, and to reconcile the differences in perceptions. 

Land 2021, 10(8), 816; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10080816

Publication

Agroforestry as Policy Option for Forest-Zone Oil Palm Production in Indonesia

With 15–20% of Indonesian oil palms located, without a legal basis and permits, within the forest zone (‘Kawasan hutan’), international concerns regarding deforestation affect the totality of Indonesian palm oil export. ‘Forest zone oil palm’ (FZ-OP) is a substantive issue that requires analysis and policy change. While spatial details of FZ-OP remain contested, we review literature on (1) the legal basis of the forest zone and its conversion, (2) social stratification in oil palm production (large-scale, plasma and independent growers), and (3) environmental consequences of forest conversion to FZ-OP, before discussing policy options in a range of social and ecological contexts. Policy options range from full regularization (as FZ-OP stands could meet international forest definitions), to conditional acceptance of diversified smallholder plantings in ‘agroforestry concessions’, to gradually phasing out FZ-OP and eviction/destruction. A nuanced and differentiated approach to FZ-OP is needed, as certification of legality along supply chains is vulnerable to illegal levies and corruption. Corporate actors trading internationally can avoid use of uncertified raw materials, effectively shifting blame and depressing farmgate prices for domestic-market palm oil, but this will not return forest conditions or stop further forest conversion. We discuss an agenda for follow-up policy research. 

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