Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Project (Indonesia)
Project Overview
The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Project is protecting 65,000 hectares of tropical peat swamp forest, which is home to a rich array of species including the endangered organgutan and is culturally connected to the local community.
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers of palm oil, and there has been continued pressure to increase this production which puts forests like that of Rimba Raya under threat of destruction.
In 2007, the Project Area was under imminent threat of planned deforestation; the area was gazetted by the provincial governmental to be converted into four palm oil estates. This area has now officially been re-designated as a Conservation Forest resulting from infiniteEARTH’s successful bid to win the approval of Indonesia’s first “Ecosystem Conservation & Restoration” concession license.
The project is also protecting the integrity of the adjacent world-renowned Tanjung Puting National Park, by creating a phyiscal buffer zone across the ~90km eastern border of the park. The carbon stocks and biodiversity of the forest are protected by a comprehensive monitoring system, fire and logging patrols, and ongoing ecological surveys.
In addition to conserving biodiversity and a precious forest ecosystem, the project is designed with community and social co-benefits at its core. The project is helping increase access to clean drinking water, create more equal job opportunities,healthcare clinics, education programs and materials, creation of community centres and the provision of renewable energy. The local community has been integral to the planning and development of the project since its inception.
Project objectives:
- CLIMATE- Ensuring the integrity of the climate through avoided deforestation and conservation
- COMMUNITY- Developing and enhancing the local community through education, health and capacity building
- BIODIVERSITY- Preserving the biodiversity through preservation of endangered species
Project impact highlights:
- 130 million tonnes of CO2-e sequestered from the atmosphere, equivalent of removing one million cars from the world’s highways every year for the next 30 years.
- 65 Endangered, Threatened or Vulnerable species protected, including the Bornean Orangutan, the Proboscis Monkey, the Bornean Agile Gibbon, the Asian Sun Bear, the Sunda Pangolin and the Clouded Leopard.
- 15,091 hectares of peat swamp prevented from conversion to oil palm plantation.
- 1,900 clean water filtration systems distributed to all local households to ensure sanitation and protect the vulnerable local community, especially children from lethal, waterborne diseases.
- 100% households and community centers provided with solar power.
- 200,000 native species, cash crop producing trees planted by 6 community owned and managed CoOps.
- 98% in Rimba Raya villagers that are self-employed in an award winning Shrimp Paste Community Enterprise are women.
Learn more about the project:
- Rimba Raya Project Overview Brochure
- Rimba Raya Project Fact Sheet
- Video of project snapshots- InfiniteEARTH
All images on this page are sourced from the website of Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Project.
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