Borneo’s peatland forests are important for rural communities, biodiversity, and as a globally-significant carbon store, but increasing frequency of wildfires is destroying the forest, damaging human health and causing globally-significant greenhouse gas emissions.
This project, which is part of a larger project by Borneo Nature Foundation, will improve ecosystem co-management by government, NGO and community stakeholders, to restore degraded forest, effect community-led sustainable management of currently unprotected forests and develop peat-friendly livelihoods. It will block 8 drainage channels to reduce fire risk by rewetting the peat, equip and train new fire and habitat patrol units, and create 3 nurseries growing at least 150,000 seedlings each year. This will benefit local people, the forest and the wildlife including orangutans, that live there.
The Update
Addressing the root causes of fire in the critical Sebangau region, this project aimed to restore drained and deforested peatlands, encourage behaviour change amongst local communities and tackle fire impacts by improving firefighting capacity and developing fire fighting networks.
As at the end of 2022, there was a 0.73% increase in Orangutan population density on 2021, but an overall 71.0% increase since 2014! Gibbon density has remained stable, and key biodiversity indicators such as butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies have also remained stable, with no major disturbances in the target landscape for a number of years. This is due to increased patrol efforts over 226,000 hectares, and a decreased numbers of fires. Patrol efforts have been stepped up, however, as the 2023 dry season begins, bringing with it the next El Niño event, and increasing the risk of fire dramatically. River channels have been cleared to enable quicker access to fire hotspots, and ariel drones with thermal imaging technology allow teams to cover a much wider area, and spot potential issues more quickly.
Meetings, capacity building, resource support and training sessions have been held amongst local communities involving 15 community fire fighting teams over 14 communities, 191 community members and 87 community firefighting representatives. Discussions have been held with the National Park authorities and local government agencies, resulting in an initial fire contingency plan, detailing procedures, guidelines and emergency responses for handling fires, which has now gone out to public consultation.
11 training events on peatland restoration were held, with up to 37 attendees per session, and work has ensured an additional 8,850 hectares of peatland has been rewetted, bringing the current total to 50,000 hectares. 66 dams have been blocked to help prevent dry season drawdown and stabilise the water table. Waterflow following this work has reduced to just 20-30% of the rate before the blocking work, which is a significant improvement.
3 new community nurseries have been established to support peatland restoration efforts, to add to 15 already in existence. BNF launched its campaign in December 2019 to plant 1 million trees by 2025, and the ultimate aim is to have 25 community nurseries providing 250,000 seedlings annually, generating a sustainable source of income for 200 families. 172,316 trees had been planted by the end of 2022 over 170 hectares, and 2 further restoration sites will be planted in 2023 with a further 250,000 seedlings, half of which will come from community nurseries.
There have been a series of workshops and seminars held, in conjunction with local government agencies and academic institutions to support Indonesian scientists and wildlife experts, promoting excellence in peatland restoration.
19 Social Forestry permits, granting rights to communities to manage their ancestral forests, have been issued as a result of BNF’s support, covering a total of 19,971 hectares. 209 community members in 10 villages have engaged with BNF’s sustainable livelihood projects. 19 training events have involved 355 community members, covering peat-friendly livelihood practices such as bee and honey cultivation, compost production, fish pond development and permaculture methods.
2,222 young people were engaged with BNF’s environmental education activities in 2022, 300 of which were children participating through youth club and school initiatives. The Anak Sebangau was held for the first time in 4 years attracting 457 attendees. Environmental education opportunities were delivered to schools, as well as developed for children in rural areas. There has been a 7% net increase in knowledge and an increase of 42% in pro-environmental behaviour after just once session with Anak Sebangau club members. Another conservation course run by BNF showed similar results, with a 7-8% increase in students’ knowledge. As environmental education is not on the Indonesian National Curriculum, BNF has forged partnerships with regional governments and produced an instruction booklet and training for local teachers to help rectify that.
Image: 2015 fires. Image credit: Bernat Ripoll Capilla & Borneo Nature Foundation
