Kementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia
Anna Roesinger/FFI
Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia
Community forests for
climate, people and wildlife
Fauna & Flora International’s Community Forest Ecosystem Services (CFES) programme creates
a direct link between healthy forests and improved well-being of forest-edge communities. The
Indonesia-based program helps communities secure forest rights and manage forests to protect
threatened biodiversity and ecosystem services, creating opportunities to increase the well-being
of all community members, especially women.
A new forest management
approach
Between 1990 and 2010, Indonesia lost over
24 million hectares (ha) of tropical forests
- an area the size of Oregon - representing
one of the highest deforestation rates in
the world. Large-scale conversion to
commercial monocultures, such as acacia
and oil palm, is the primary driver behind
Indonesia’s deforestation. The impacts of
this trend are not only devastating for forestdependent species, such as the Critically
Endangered Sumatran tiger, rhinoceros
and orang-utan, but also for local and/or
indigenous people relying on essential forest
resources and services.
Since 2009, Fauna & Flora International (FFI)
and its local partners have empowered local
communities to shift from a land-use model
involving unrelenting deforestation to a
more ecologically sustainable and socially
just forest management approach. This
work focuses on supporting communities
to secure legally recognised tenure rights
to their customary forest areas, known as
‘Village’ or ‘Community’ Forest.
Linking biodiversity
conservation and community
well-being
The
CFES
programme
empowers
communities to secure rights and
responsibilities over their customary forests
and strengthens local governance and
capacity for sustainable forest management
2
and biodiversity protection. It also drives
improvements in community well-being that
include the most vulnerable, and creates
opportunities for women in traditionally
male-dominated contexts.
Through the Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+)
framework, CFES will channel sustainable
finance from the voluntary carbon market
to communities, rewarding ongoing,
successful forest protection. The programme
is being validated to the Plan Vivo
Standard, www.planvivo.org, a framework
that supports communities to manage their
natural resources more sustainably, with
a focus on generating climate, livelihood
and ecosystem benefits. Communities
are supported in establishing a village
forest management institution and in
the participatory development of a forest
management and use plan (a ‘plan vivo’),
with all elements of the project governed
transparently and equitably at community
level. Payments to communities are made
based on performance, quantified by the
carbon emission reductions achieved
through implementing their plan vivo.
The programme is committed to generating
only the highest quality Plan Vivo REDD+
credits with exceptional community and
biodiversity benefits.
The programme is beginning in three
pilot villages in priority landscapes on the
Indonesian islands of Borneo, Sumatra and
Community forests for climate, people and wildlife
Lombok. FFI is also supporting over 30
additional communities to secure recognised
forest rights and develop management
capacity in these landscapes, and many
of these communities are actively seeking
the opportunity to join CFES. This scaling
up the programme is important to achieve
the greatest possible impacts on forest and
biodiversity conservation, and on local people.
Sharing of REDD+ Benefits
At the community level all benefit-sharing
plans are designed by communities
themselves and will be reviewed annually to
ensure that benefits are shared in the most
impactful way. Funds will be used to continue
activities focused on forest protection and
sustainable livelihoods development that
benefit the whole community, including
vulnerable or marginalised members.
Improvements in community well-being from
project activities will be monitored against a
social well-being baseline, using indicators
selected by the villagers themselves.
Role for buyers of premium
carbon offsets
On behalf of these communities, we are
seeking a multi-year purchase agreement
for Plan Vivo certificates resulting from the
programme. The programme is designed
to scale up and we would welcome a longterm partner(s) eager to support a growing
portfolio of communities. n
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Anna Roesinger/FFI
Community forests for climate,
people and wildlife
Jeremy Holden/FFI
Preserving unique, biodiversity-rich
forests in Sumatra
The community
The traditional Malay community of Durian
Rambun village has been present in the Jambi
highlands since pre-colonial times. Located
in Jambi Province on the island of Sumatra,
these 84 households depend primarily on
agriculture and rubber agroforestry for their
livelihoods. The community has a strong
customary relationship with the forest,
and local traditions encourage sustainable
resource management.
The community also has a strong history
of forest advocacy. In 2009 it joined other
forest-edge-communities, NGOs and the
local district government to campaign
successfully against the proposed conversion
of 80,000+ ha of forest to a pulp and paper
plantation by one of Indonesia’s most
powerful corporations. Until the legal
recognition of the village forest, the area was
highly vulnerable to land conversion.
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Biodiversity and ecosystem
services
Threats to the area
Durian Rambun village forest covers 4,484
ha of lowland tropical forest that borders
Kerinci Seblat National Park, providing a
vital habitat extension for the Sumatran
tiger (Critically Endangered), the Malay
tapir (Endangered), the Sunda slow loris
(Endangered) and the Asiatic wild dog
(Endangered). This area is an extraordinary
repository for many other kinds of wildlife
including 83 mammal species, 91 reptiles and
amphibians and 221 bird species.
As part of the Batang Hari watershed, the
project area’s forests also play a critical
role in sustaining local and regional water
supplies. This watershed protection enables
the community to benefit from running
water and electricity from a 30,000 watt
micro-hydro-power facility, installed through
a central government scheme.
Conversion of forestlands to commercial
forestry
or
agricultural
concessions,
illegal logging and agricultural expansion
are the main drivers of land degradation in
Jambi Province. In Durian Rambun village,
the greatest threat now comes from illegal
expansion of smallholder coffee by migrant
farmers, who move from neighboring
provinces where most land has already
been degraded and cleared. Without
intervention, deforestation will advance
into Durian Rambun village forest, resulting
in substantial loss of mature secondary
and primary forest, with devastating
consequences for both local people and
biodiversity. The project supports the
community of Durian Rambun to ensure that
forest clearance does not proceed into the
project area. u
Community forests for climate, people and wildlife
3
Key Statistics:
Project Area:
4,484 ha
Reducing deforestation and
building sustainable livelihoods
Project Type: REDD+
1.Secure community forest
management and carbon rights
First Crediting Period: 5 years
Third Party Standard: Plan Vivo
Standard
Estimated VERs pa:
Durian Rambun village forest was designated
by the Ministry of Forestry in 2011. In 2013
the project helped the community secure
management rights for the village forest from
the Provincial Governor. This provides the
essential legal basis for community-based
forest management, and for recognition of
community rights to forest carbon.
14,020 tCO2-e
Status:First issuance
expected
Q1 2015
Total Beneficiaries:Approx. 290
individuals
2.Forest protection
Regular patrolling and monitoring of the
village forest by village community teams,
with support from forest rangers from the
District Forestry Authority and National Park,
help ensure forest and biodiversity protection.
3.Building sustainable livelihoods
By supporting sustainable livelihoods,
particularly through improved productivity
and increased market value from existing
agriculture and agroforestry systems, the
programme aims to improve community wellbeing and decrease pressure for new land
clearance. The project will provide planting
materials and training in crop handling
and processing to improve and diversify
crop production in existing rubber-based
agroforestry gardens, upland and rice fields,
secondary forest and fallows. The project will
also help the community profit further from
the value chains of key products, with a focus
on coffee, rubber and jernang (a highly valued
resin sold as a dye to the pharmaceutical,
textile and construction industries).
Sharing REDD+ benefits
Durian Rambun villagers worked together
to design a benefit-sharing plan for income
received from the sale of Verified Emissions
Reductions (VERs), which is structured as follows:
60%
will be allocated to fund all forest
management and sustainable livelihoods
activities, as well as negotiations led by
customary leaders to resolve any disagreements
25%
will be used for social welfare support
(health, education, sport and performing arts),
including assistance to elderly people, orphaned
children and people with disabilities
Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI
15% will assist the construction of communal
4
Community forests for climate, people and wildlife
infrastructure (e.g. for clean water). n
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Anna Roesinger/FFI
Securing the future of forests for
people and wildlife on Borneo
The community
The rural community of Laman Satong,
a village in West Kalimantan, Indonesian
Borneo, comprises about 2,400 indigenous
Dayak people and migrants who settled in
the 1970s. The local economy is primarily
agriculture-based and the majority of
inhabitants are dependent on subsistence
and cash crops for their livelihoods. Upland
and rain-fed rice farming and rubber-based
agroforestry are the two main smallholder
agricultural systems in this area, while fruit
tree crops, such as durian, are also sold at
local markets.
The community has a strong connection with
its remaining forest area. Laman Satong and
neighboring villages rely heavily on their
1,070 ha village forest for water supply, nontimber forest products and the array of other
ecosystem services that it provides. Situated
between Gunung Tarak protection forest and
Gunung Palung National Park, the forest is
surrounded by two palm oil concessions that
now occupy the vast majority of the Laman
Satong administrative area. The community
of Laman Satong fought hard for its right
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to exclude forest in the project area from
the surrounding palm oil plantations, and
instead to protect it under REDD+.
The CFES project is supporting the
community to achieve this goal and deliver
related improvements in local well-being.
For example, to improve forest management,
the project is strengthening villagelevel forest governance and fostering an
increased role for women in decision-making.
Biodiversity and ecosystem
services
Covering two hill-tops and surrounded by
18,000 ha of palm oil concessions, Laman
Satong village forest is all that remains of a
vital ecosystem which provides fresh water,
erosion control and other services to local
inhabitants, while also supporting a variety
of threatened species.
The village forest is dominated by secondary
forest, mixed trees and crops, and scrub.
Once logged for timber or cleared for upland
rice fields, today the forest is protected
from clearing under customary rules. When
a serious fire destroyed part of the forest
in the early 90s, substantially decreasing
water supply, the community learned that
mismanagement of the area can have
damaging impacts on wellbeing. Water
provision is by far the most valuable service
provided by the forest and one that the
communities are determined to preserve.
The area is also an important reservoir for
biodiversity. Its secondary forests and mature
agro-forests are home to many IUCN-listed
species, including the Endangered Bornean
white-bearded gibbon and the Critically
Endangered rusty brown dipterocarp tree.
The forest also contains six hornbill species,
well-known indicators of good forest health,
as well as great argus pheasants, Malayan box
turtles and Southeast Asian soft-shell turtles.
Threats to the forest area
Intense pressure for conversion to plantation
agriculture has driven high deforestation
rates in Kalimantan. The majority of the
Laman Satong village administrative area
(32,600 ha in size) has been allocated for
palm oil development, triggering inevitable u
Community forests for climate, people and wildlife
5
Key Statistics:
Project Area:
1,070 ha
Project Type: REDD+
First Crediting Period: 5 years
Third Party Standard: Plan Vivo
Standard
Estimated VERs pa:
3,720 tCO2-e
Status:First issuance
expected
Q1 2015
Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI
Total Beneficiaries:Approx. 2,900
individuals
conflicts over land between village
inhabitants and those granted concessions
for palm oil production.
FFI collaborated with Laman Satong village
and local NGO partners to develop a REDD+
project that could prevent the critically
important 1,070 ha of remaining forest
from being converted to palm oil. Instead,
the project aims to protect the forest as a
legally-recognised village forest through a
government-granted license that gives the
community the right to sustainably manage
and benefit from the forest area for 35 years.
REDD+ finance is essential to fund the longterm community-based management of the
village forest and ensure that the threat of
conversion continues to be avoided.
Reducing deforestation
and building sustainable
livelihoods
1.Secure community forest and
carbon management rights
With FFI’s support, the community of Laman
Satong has already secured government
recognition of its village forest. The project
is now working to secure the 35-year
village forest management licenses from
the provincial governor, a critical step in
preventing future reallocation of the forest
6
and legally recognising community rights
to forest carbon.
2.Forest protection and
restoration
In addition to addressing the threat
of forest clearance for palm oil, the
project works to protect Laman Satong
village forest from pressure within the
community due to shortages of land.
The project is implementing regular
patrolling and monitoring by village
community teams to ensure forest and
biodiversity protection. It will also provide
saplings of native and naturalised tree
species, planting materials, and guidance
on sapling husbandry to restore loggedover areas, secondary forest and fallow
fields. Enriching these areas with diverse
tree species will help meet demand for
firewood and timber and reduce pressure
for wood extraction from the village forest
and neighbouring forest blocks.
3.Building sustainable livelihoods
With project support, the community has
identified sustainable livelihood activities
that improve agroforestry and agricultural
productivity and increase the benefits
gained from non-wood products, such as
marketable fruits and vegetables. With FFI’s
Community forests for climate, people and wildlife
help, the community is striving to increase
and diversify crop production in existing
rubber-based
agroforestry
gardens,
upland and rain-fed rice fields, and fallows
surrounding the protected forest area.
Investments in diversifying livelihoods
and increasing productivity will increase
financial resilience, further strengthening
the community’s long-term commitment
to its sustainable land-use plan.
Sharing REDD+ benefits
Laman Satong villagers have worked together
to design a community-level benefit-sharing
plan, structured as follows:
70%
will be allocated to fund all forest
management and sustainable livelihoods
activities
15%
will be used to support social
welfare, including assistance (medical and
otherwise) to elderly people, orphaned
children and people with disabilities
10%
will assist local land owners to
purchase seed stocks and agricultural tools
5%
will go to the local indigenous
association to promote local culture, customs
and art. n
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Anna Lyons/FFI
Protecting life-supporting
watersheds in Lombok
The community
Aik Bual is a traditional Sasak village of
1,464 households located in the upstream
watershed forests of Bali’s sister island,
Lombok. Sitting at the foot of Mount Rinjani
volcano and bordering Mount Rinjani
National Park, its community forest is vital
for water regulation, erosion control and
other services. The community depends
on agricultural and forest products such as
bamboo, rattan, bananas, vegetables and
palm sugar.
The community has secured customary
management rights over its forests and
is determined to preserve and enhance
their
important
watershed
services,
and other benefits, through sustainable
management and active reforestation. There
is great potential to expand this approach to
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neighboring villages, bringing much-needed
financing to help communities rehabilitate
degraded lands through agroforestry.
including
the
Critically
Endangered
lesser sulphur crested cockatoo and the
Endangered Sunda pangolin.
Biodiversity and ecosystem
services
Threats to the area
Mount Rinjani National Park and the
rainforest covered foothills of the mountain
play a critical role in Lombok’s climate and
hydrological cycles. Three of Lombok’s
four main watersheds are connected to
Rinjani, making the volcano and its forests
an essential life supporting resource on the
island, particularly for irrigation, industry and
drinking water.
Sixteen mammal species, 94 bird species
and 30 reptiles and amphibians have been
recorded in the project area. About ⅓ of
these are of high conservation value
Watershed degradation is a very serious
threat on Lombok; springs in the upstream
have been drying up due to deforestation
since the 1980s, driven by:
nExpansion of small-holder agriculture
nWood fuel use for households
nWood fuel use for industry and agricultural
commodity processing
nIllegal logging for timber. u
Community forests for climate, people and wildlife
7
Syafrizaldi/FFI
Reducing deforestation
and building sustainable
livelihoods
Park. Twenty-six of these are found in the
project area, but their occurrence is now
sporadic due to past overharvesting.
These species will be the focus of
community agroforestry enrichment, to
enhance forest resources and secure the
buffer zone adjacent to Mount Rinjani
National Park, rehabilitate watershed
function, and increase the productivity
of the community-based agroforestry
system. Forest protection activities are
carried out through periodic patrols
involving community groups, supported
by officials from the District and Provincial
Forest Service as well as from the Rinjani
National Park.
1.Secure community forest
management rights and
capacity
This project is empowering the
community to manage forest resources
effectively for people and conservation
benefits, by establishing appropriate
management rights and institutions.
A customary forest licence has been
obtained and the application for
community-based forest management
rights is underway. These management
rights, under the government approved
Hutan Kemasyarakatan (HKm) system,
are in the final process of being granted
to the community institution for 35
years, which will secure long-term tenure
necessary for project sustainability.
2.Forest restoration and
protection
In Aik Bual, climate benefits will be
measured through increased forest carbon
stocks achieved through protection
and rehabilitation of upper watershed
forests. Twenty-nine valuable and useful
timber and non-timber species have
been identified in Mount Rinjani National
8
Sharing REDD+ benefits
Aik Bual villagers are working to design
a benefit-sharing plan, using the same
participatory approaches as in the other
two sites. n
Key Statistics:
Project Area:
2,517 ha
Project Type: Ecosystem
rehabilitation
First Crediting Period: 5 years
Third Party Standard: Plan Vivo
Standard
3.Building sustainable livelihoods
Estimated VERs pa:
Women will be the focus of smallenterprise development activities, as
they have been traditionally active in
land management and the market for
non-timber forest products. They will be
the primary beneficiaries of livelihood
enhancing activities, receiving training
and
assistance
with
post-harvest
processing for a range of profitable crops,
such as jackfruit, banana, palm sugar,
mangosteen and bamboo, which will
drive improvements in well-being that
benefit their households as a whole.
Status:First issuance
expected
Q2 2015
Community forests for climate, people and wildlife
4,320 tCO2-e
Total Beneficiaries:134
households
with approx.
450 individuals
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