The Sustainable Forest and Biodiversity Management in Borneo project is funded by the Asian  Development Bank (TA-8331-INO) and implemented by the Republic of Indonesia, Ministry of Environment  and Forestry, Directorate of Ecosystem Services and Conservation Areas (DESCA) with technical  assistance from LTS International, Daemeter Consulting and GOPA. Since January 2016 the project has

been working at two sites in North and West Kalimantan to develop pilot projects for sustainably financed  community forest management.

Over the last 18 months field teams have been working with village communities in Nanga Lauk Village in  Kapuas Hulu District, and Punan Long Adiu Village in Malinau District, to understand the local drivers of  deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss and develop management activities to address  them. In Nanga Lauk project activities are focused on their recently approved Village Forest (Hutan Desa)  and a surrounding area of production forest that the village hopes can also be brought under community  management. The community in Punan Long Adiu has been working since 2012 towards recognition of their  customary community territory and it is hoped that the project can help secure legal recognition of this  area as Hutan Adat.

The two pilot project villages have different deforestation and degradation drivers and distinct management  approaches have been developed to enable the communities to address them. In both villages the  approaches include formalising management rights and applying for licences to enable the communities  to benefit from payments for ecosystem services (PES) and the sale of greenhouse gas emission reduction  certificates, since both project sites have high biodiversity value and the potential to reduce emissions  from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). Both villages will also formalise their village regulations  relating to forest resource use, and deploy forest patrol and monitoring teams to police the area and keep  track of forest condition and key biodiversity indicators.

To provide a link to long term, sustainable finance the villages are both seeking to develop projects certified  by the Plan Vivo Standard, and the Verified Conservation Area Standard. If successful these projects will  be the first to achieve this dual certification, which it is hoped will help to attract finance from funders with  an interest in biodiversity conservation as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and delivering  livelihood benefits to the participating communities. An important milestone towards this aim was reached  this week as both projects received approval of Project Idea Notes from the Plan Vivo Foundation. The  approved documents in English and Bahasa Indonesia can now be accessed through the Plan Vivo website.

Over the coming months the project team will continue to work in both villages developing management  plans and village regulations and providing training and support to initiate forest patrol and monitoring  activities. It is hoped that by the end of the year the project team will be able to hand over full control to the  local project coordinator organisations – PRCF Indonesia for Nanga Lauk and Lembaga Pemerhati dan  Pemberdayaan Dayak Punan Malinau (LP3M) for Punan Long Adiu, who will be able to continue working  with the communities to protect their forests, and access financial support from Verified Conservation  Area funders and the sale of Plan Vivo certificates.

For further information about the projects and how you can support them please contact the team  via info@daemeter.org.

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Figure 1 demonstrates the PIN as presented on the DESCA website, and can also be found  here http://ekowisata.org/steps-towards-sustainable-finance-for-community-forest-management-in-the heart-of-borneo/