How rattan farmers in Borneo are saving the forest and orangutans
Today, only around half of Borneo’s original rainforest cover remains. Indigenous Dayak communities could hold the key to its survival, with traditional rattan production a lifeline for local people, the forest and wildlife. In Central Kalimantan in Indonesia, WWF and IKEA are working with them for people and planet.
About 200 kilometres long and 10 kilometres wide, the existing corridor between two national parks is vulnerable, surrounded by palm oil plantations and containing a number of areas currently earmarked for logging. Orangutans can survive in logged forests if fruit trees remain intact but further loss and fragmentation of the forest risks isolating separate groups, making habitat protection outside the parks essential.
“We want to promote a well management of the remaining rainforest in the Katingan Corridor,” says Sendy WWF Indonesia. “The plan is to secure a ‘wildlife corridor’ which enables orangutans and other wildlife to travel freely between different areas of forest, helping maintain genetic diversity.”
Working in partnership with local Dayak communities, as well as the government and the private sector, WWF and IKEA’s ambitious plan is to ensure the corridor survives, continuing to provide access to food, water and mating partners for orangutans and other wildlife. By helping communities develop sustainable local enterprise that benefits them, the partnership is also helping to keep the forest standing.
Get informed
Press images
© Matthieu Paley Aerial view of the limit between palm oil plantation and the jungle. Visiting vast Palm oil plantation in Central Kalimantan.
© Matthieu Paley Pak Super collecting rattan in the jungle with his relative. Pak Super, a 31-year-old rattan farmer and community activist is from the village of Tumbang Hiran. It is surrounded by palm oil plantations and whilst he supports a mix of different types of agriculture in the area, he feels strongly that the […]
© Matthieu Paley Women make baskets out of rattan in the village of Tumbang Hiran.
© Matthieu Paley Pak Super going fishing with his rattan basket. Pak Super, a 31-year-old rattan farmer and community activist is from the village of Tumbang Hiran. It is surrounded by palm oil plantations and whilst he supports a mix of different types of agriculture in the area, he feels strongly that the palm oil […]
© Matthieu Paley Women make baskets out of rattan in the village of Tumbang Hiran.
Pak Super going fishing with his rattan basket.
Pak Super, a 31-year-old rattan farmer and community activist is from the village of Tumbang Hiran. It is surrounded by palm oil plantations and whilst he supports a mix of different types of agriculture in the area, he feels strongly that the palm oil expansion is out of control. He has witnessed first hand the destruction of the rainforest caused by the proliferation of palm oil concessions in the area and the impacts this has had on his community.
