Protecting community livelihoods in a fast changing landscape

About this project

By the end of the project, seven Dayak Ngaju communities in the Rungan-Kahayan landscape of Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, will have significantly strengthened their capacity to organize collectively, advocate for their customary forest rights, and manage their natural resources sustainably. These Indigenous communities—comprising approximately 8,200 people—live in remote forest areas far from political and economic centers. They face ongoing marginalization due to insecure land tenure, limited market access, and exclusion from decision-making processes. Without formal recognition of their land, long-term planning and sustainable livelihood strategies are limited, exposing them to structural poverty and environmental risk. Forests are not only their primary source of food, water, and income but also central to their spiritual and cultural identity, especially for communities that practice the animist-rooted Kaharingan religion. Through this project, seven Dayak Ngaju communities will secure legal rights to 9,150 hectares of forest, enabling them to manage these areas under social forestry permits. They will also adopt sustainable, climate-smart livelihood strategies—including agroforestry, aquaculture, and the development of eco-friendly forest-based enterprises—helping them adapt to climate change and reduce reliance on destructive practices. The project will contribute to measurable environmental outcomes: a 50% reduction in forest loss (from a current baseline of…

Published by

Save the Orangutan · International NGO

Countries

Indonesia, Sweden

Sectors

Forestry development

Implemented by

Yayasan Borneo Nature Indonesia

Published by Save the Orangutan to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), last updated 2 Apr 2026 and imported automatically. IATI identifier: SE-ON-802435-6613-3.

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