Planet Indonesia.
Empowering communities to develop sustainable livelihoods
The Trafigura Foundation is supporting the conservation of at-risk ecosystems in West Kalimantan by assisting local communities to make their livelihoods more diverse, sustainable and resilient.
The challenge
Millions of people in Indonesia rely on the country’s biodiversity-rich ecosystems for their subsistence and livelihoods. But many of these land and seascapes, and the people who live within them, are threatened by environmental degradation driven by socioeconomic inequalities.
Lacking basic services, rural communities turn to overexploited natural resources, whose conservation becomes almost impossible in the face of poverty and marginalisation, trapping people in a cycle that reduces their resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change impacts and economic shocks.
The solution
In West Kalimantan Province, Planet Indonesia has developed a community-led governance model to enable people and nature to thrive. It is based on the creation of village-level governance institutions that provide services to help people establish sustainable livelihoods coupled with conservation commitments.
Services include healthcare, education and access to capital to invest in household needs and economic activities, as well as technical assistance and incentives to safeguard and restore mangroves and forest lands, enhance soil fertility and lift sustainable fishery yields.
Partnership impact
The Trafigura Foundation partnered with Planet Indonesia to help households in 18 villages in West Kalimantan to diversify their livelihoods and increase their economic resilience by giving them access to capital to create new income-generating activities.
Groups of farmers received training and shared knowledge on regenerative agriculture and agroforestry techniques, and assistance to restore native species. Small-scale fishers got support for periodic fishery closures and training in sustainable practices to sustain fish populations and boost yields.
Our partnership (2021-2023) has:
- Supported 24 local governance institutions
- Generated USD 155,000 in community-managed funds
- Enabled a 30% rise in small-scale fishery yields
