Climate Action Indonesia Project #41564

Support 13 villages to save the Bornean Rainforest

by Planet Indonesia

Project Report | Feb 23, 2026
The Borneo Ranger Conference

By Lia Syafitri and Rodiansyah | Technical Leads

In the first of its kind, rangers from 25 patrol teams from across West Kalimantan travelled to the capital of Pontianak to participate in the Boreno Ranger Conference. Celebrating their achievements and sharing their knowledge in a landmark forum.

A pair of Helmeted Hornbills cuts across the sky above the green expanse of Borneo’s rainforest. In coastal waters, fish and crabs thrive beneath dense mangroves, while sea turtles return to sandy shores to lay their eggs, securing the continuity of life for future generations. These moments, often unseen, are signs of healthy functioning ecosystems.

If we look closer, we find the people who make this possible. Moving quietly through forests, along rivers, and across coastal waters, community patrol teams observe, document, and protect wildlife and their habitats. They are the Borneo Rangers, community members standing on the frontline of conservation in West Kalimantan.

Since 2018, Planet Indonesia has partnered with communities to conduct SMART Patrols, a community-based monitoring approach grounded in data and local stewardship. This programme forms a core pillar of efforts to protect six priority species groups in West Kalimantan: Horbills, most importantly the Helmeted Hornbill, the Sunda Pangolin, Sea turtles, Bornean Orangutans, gibbons and proboscis monkeys.

Each month, patrol teams leave their villages to trek and monitor for 7–10 days across forest and coastal areas in demanding conditions. These collective efforts are why hornbills still fly, turtles continue to nest, and coastal waters remain full. They are not only rangers, but parents, young people, women, and men who choose to spend long days and nights protecting the places their communities depend on.

The conference was created to recognise and celebrate their commitment and efforts that often go unnoticed as they work quietly with discipline. In each place, they operate at the line between destruction and protection.

During the conference, awards were presented to eight patrol teams that recorded increased wildlife encounter rates. The awards reflect consistent monitoring and reporting. Rangers remain active on the frontline of habitat and wildlife protection. Patrol teams continue to strengthen data collection and improve patrol quality. The information recorded through these efforts supports accurate biodiversity monitoring and conservation planning.

“Especially for us as Dayak communities, where we live very close to nature. I used to enter the forest carrying a weapon, but now I carry a camera. I am different now, from hunter to guardian. Working together to protect wildlife in their forest habitats,” Antonius Edi, a ranger from Bengkayang shared.

Links:

https://www.planetindonesia.org/news/2025/12/28/borneo-ranger-conference-2025-standing-on-the-frontline-of-community-led-conserv

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Oct 24, 2025
Between Gold and Green: Communities in Melawi

By Dio Purnomo, Randi Wira Aji, Marselinus Jino | Project facilitators

In the heart of Melawi, rivers once ran clear and forests stretched unbroken. Villages here live on the edge of these ecosystems, relying on them for food, water, and survival. But today, those same rivers carry mercury from illegal gold mining, and forests are giving way to expanding palm oil estates. In this part of Kalimantan, communities face a difficult balance: securing livelihoods without losing the land and water that sustain them.

Yet amid these pressures, hope is not absent. In village halls, along riverbanks, and in contested fields, people are building new forms of resilience. From collective governance groups discussing hard questions about land rights, to communities coordinating livelihood initiatives, the people of Melawi are weaving their own answer to the question: How can we thrive without destroying what we depend on?

Gold’s Glitter, River’s Despair

For generations, the Cina River (known locally as Sungai Cina) in Ganjang Village was the community’s lifeline. Its waters were clear, fish abundant, and children played along its banks. That changed in 2020 when illegal gold mining surged, bringing heavy machinery and mercury pollution. Mercury, often used in unregulated artisanal mining, seeps back into the water, contaminating the river that people depend on for daily life.

“One morning, we could still see small fish swimming at the river’s edge”, remembered Eki, a villager from Ganjang. “Now, fish are hard to find, and we don’t dare use the water for our daily needs.”

Arman, a village health worker, has seen the toll firsthand: “Some children have started to suffer skin diseases after bathing in the river.”

Yet mining brings income to a region where options are limited. With gold prices high, even half a gram mined in a day can earn more than weeks of farming. Families rely on it to pay school fees and cover daily needs, but at the cost of their river, their health, and their future.

The Fragile Ground Beneath

In nearby Togan Baru, the struggle is over land. Since 2012, a palm oil company has operated with unclear concession boundaries (known in Indonesia as Hak Guna Usaha, or land-use rights granted by the state). Many villagers, pressured by economic need, sold their plots for as little as $400 to $650 per hectare. What seemed like an opportunity soon turned into a loss: families gave up not just land, but also the security of their space to live and grow.

Efforts to clarify ownership failed in 2020, with much of the community’s land absorbed into company claims. “Part of the company’s concession even includes our farmland and public facilities like the church and the football field,” explained Rabudin, a resident of Tanjung Jati.

Promises of profit-sharing schemes (locally called plasma-inti) have also disappointed. Payments arrive only twice a year and are far below expectations. The result is division: some households tied to company contracts, others resisting, fueling tension and risk of conflict. Without secure rights or transparent governance, communities are left vulnerable and divided.

Weaving Hope Through Collective Governance

Despite these pressures, communities in Melawi are also taking their future into their own hands. In July, villagers of Togan Baru gathered in a modest hall to ask urgent questions: How can we improve our welfare without sacrificing the preservation of nature? How can we access healthcare without having to travel such long distances, when in truth, health is a right for every human being?

From those discussions, the community-led governance body Batu Badak was born. Batu Badak, translated as “Rhino Rock,” comes from a local legend of a rhinoceros-shaped stone by the Melawi River. The rock is seen as a symbol of wisdom, strength, and protection, qualities the community believes should guide their governance. With support from Planet Indonesia, it became a platform for charting a more balanced path forward.

Honorius Perawe, a village official and group member, shared: “I hope this initiative will encourage the economic independence of our village. We cannot only rely on government aid or outsiders; we need to create our own sources of sustainable income.”

For Togan Baru, Batu Badak is more than an institution. It is a collective pledge to build a future where prosperity and conservation stand side by side.

Seeds of Resilience

From the polluted river to contested land and the new village forum, the stories of Melawi show the difficult choices communities face, but also the determination with which they respond. Survival here often means walking a knife’s edge: between earning enough for today and protecting what will sustain tomorrow.

Illegal mining has left the Cina River scarred, yet families depend on it to send their children to school. Palm oil expansion has stripped away land and fractured communities, but people continue to demand clarity and fairness. And in a small hall in Togan Baru, villagers are proving that when they sit together and make decisions collectively, they can begin to chart a path that protects both their livelihoods and the environment.

This is where Planet Indonesia’s model comes alive: not in abstract ideas, but in the lived struggles of communities like those in Melawi. By supporting collective governance, securing rights, and creating alternatives to destructive livelihoods, the balance shifts slowly, unevenly, but decisively.

In Melawi, that balance is still fragile. But in the voices of those who refuse to choose between survival and sustainability, there are seeds of resilience. If nurtured, they will grow into something stronger: a future where rivers run clear again, land is secure, and communities can thrive without sacrificing the ecosystems they call home.

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Jul 8, 2025
The Forest Has a Voice: Using bioacoustics

By Ziva Justinek, Rikardus, and Aurore Maxey | Wildlife Monitoring Team

Team members from Planet Indonesia prepare a bioac

A new chapter in scalable biodiversity monitoring using AI and community-led conservation.

“The rainforest never sleeps, and now, we’re beginning to hear it.”

Something new is unfolding in the forests of Gunung Naning, West Kalimantan. In partnership with conservation technology experts at WildMon, Planet Indonesia is deepening its use of bioacoustic monitoring, this time integrating artificial intelligence to help analyze the forest’s soundscape while continuing to center both science and community knowledge.

This is the first step in a two-year-long monitoring project, a learning process shaped by muddy boots, long hikes, shifting weather, and long conversations under village rooftops.

A New Way of Listening

The thick tropical rainforest of Gunung Naning is home to elusive, culturally important, and threatened species, including orangutans, pangolins, sun bears, hornbills, deer, wild boar, clouded leopard, and even the striking great argus pheasant. With the forest canopy alive with bird and primate calls and the undergrowth stirred by hidden mammals, it’s a landscape that speaks—if you know how to listen.

That’s why Planet Indonesia uses bioacoustic monitoring: a method that uses small, weatherproof recorders to capture the sounds of the forest, searching for acoustic cues of wildlife presence. This approach offers a low-impact, scalable alternative to traditional surveys and provides a clearer picture of wildlife activity over time. The acoustic database and camera trap footage are then fed into a program, here is where artificial intelligence analyses and distinguishes species presence faster and more accurately than we ever could. The results are presented in a dashboard designed by Wildmon with input from our team, easily accessible for all stakeholders who need this data to manage forest landscapes.

This work is testing more than just new tools; it’s exploring how conservation technology can be integrated into socially protected forests through community-led processes. The goal is not just monitoring, but building a model where technology strengthens trust, supports learning, and reinforces long-term community leadership.

Importantly, this is not a top-down rollout of high-tech tools. It’s a collaboration, co-designed with WildMon, and co-implemented with the communities who live in and care for these forests.

Building the Foundation Together

The work began in 2024 with joint planning sessions between Planet Indonesia’s biodiversity team and WildMon’s scientist, Dr. Tomaz Nasciento De Melo, who spent time in both the field and office, training staff.

By early 2025, the project had secured support from government partners, including the Department of Environment, the Conservation Agency, and local Forest Management Units. Community members contributed from the outset, helping to identify suitable locations based on signs of wildlife and customary knowledge of the forest.

“The community knows the paths and sounds of this forest better than anyone,” said Rikardus, Planet Indonesia’s Technical Supervisor for Biodiversity. “Their input was essential in choosing where to place the devices.”

Into the Forest: The First Deployment

The journey for deployment was not easy. Heavy rains made paths slippery and sometimes impassable. Equipment was carried by hand across steep ridges and narrow footpaths. Training community members, ranging from elders to youth, meant slowing down and learning together.

On one of the steeper trails, a team member pointed to scratch marks on a tree, signs the community believed could belong to a sun bear. That’s where they placed a recorder, hoping the forest might confirm what local knowledge had already suggested.

“We had to adapt, especially in teaching how to install devices and fill out monitoring forms,” said one team member. “But that shared learning is what makes this work meaningful.”

In total, 31 bioacoustic recorders and 31 camera traps were deployed during this first trip.

Curiosity, Ownership, and Early Reflections

Local interest grew quickly. Community members asked questions about how the devices worked, whether they would capture human activity, and how long the batteries would last. Crucially, they asked: “Will we get to see the results?”

The answer is yes. From the beginning, this effort has been designed not only to collect data, but to share it back, supporting informed decision-making and forest governance at the community level.

Some villagers, even those not directly involved, began to see the value of the monitoring. “They felt supported in knowing what wildlife still exists in their forests,” said Rikardus. “And they want to protect it.”

For us, technology is not the centerpiece; it’s a tool. What matters most is that it’s used in a way that strengthens local leadership, respects customary knowledge, and reflects what communities want to protect.

Looking Ahead

This is just the beginning. The first round of data will be collected and reviewed in mid-2025, with WildMon leading the analysis and development of AI-based sound identification models. A second deployment is planned for later this year.

But the long-term goal goes far beyond monitoring. Planet Indonesia is working with communities to build a connected landscape of community-managed and customary forests in Kalimantan. Bioacoustics is just one tool in a broader approach grounded in securing rights, setting up local management, strengthening governance, and supporting livelihoods and public health.

In the next part of this series, we’ll share what we begin to hear and what communities are learning from listening to their landscapes.

Dr. Tomaz Nasciento De Melo of WildMon and Rikardu

From forest planning to AI analysis Diagram

Links:

https://www.planetindonesia.org/news/2025/5/22/the-forest-has-a-voice-part-1-tuning-in-to-indonesias-rainforest-soundscape

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