IOI Corporation Berhad (IOIC) partnered with Aidenvironment and Global Environment Centre (GEC) to officially launch the South Ketapang Landscape Initiative on 19 October 2018 at IOI headquarters. Aidenvironment, a foundation which has offices in Bogor and Ketapang, Indonesia, is well known for its expertise in sustainable landscape management while GEC is a non-profit organisation that specialises in community-based peatland management.

Representatives from IOIC, Aidenvironment and GEC at the South Ketapang Landscape Initiative launch at IOI headquarters

The initiative stems from IOIC’s commitment to develop a collaborative way to tackle the most common and critical issues such as peatland management, biodiversity and wildlife protection, flood and fire prevention and control, and community livelihood development within the ecologically diverse South Ketapang landscape.

The South Ketapang landscape, which encompasses 500,000 hectares (ha), includes IOIC’s Indonesian subsidiary PT. SNA’s 40,000 ha (eight percent of the total landscape), 290,000 ha of other oil palm and industrial timber plantations as well as 170,000 ha of fragile and unique ecosystems such as peat forests, peat valleys, savanna-like land, lakes, and riparian forests, which are habitats to rare, threatened and endangered species including orang utan and sun bears, but are prone to frequent fires, flooding and also illegal hunting.

All the stakeholders operating in the area face the same challenges such as water management, biodiversity and wildlife protection, flood and fire prevention, and community livelihood development. Therefore, the initiative seeks to bring together key stakeholders, including private companies, the Indonesian government and local communities, to tackle these interconnected challenges through a well-coordinated effort and on a landscape level. It will involve novel approaches and deliveries such as legally securing high conservation value (HCV) and high carbon stock (HCS) areas, and capitalising on opportunities presented by the Indonesian Land Reform and Social Forestry Policy.

Following the official launch in Kuala Lumpur, the project team (IOIC, Aidenvironment and GEC) went to Ketapang in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, on 27 to 30 November 2018 to discuss the programme implementation with the local stakeholders. The team met with the Natural Resource Conservation Agency (Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam) in Pontianak, the Regional Body for Planning and Development (Badan Perencana Pembangunan Daerah) in Ketapang City, and the district authorities in Kendawangan. This was followed by a fruitful engagement with PT. SNA managers and a stakeholder meeting with local communities and other plantation companies on 29 November 2018 at the PT. SNA Training Centre. The team also visited key conservation areas, including the largest one called Cagar Alam Muara Kendawangan, a 150,000 ha of land and a priority area for the first phase of the initiative.

All the stakeholders expressed keen interest, commitment and mutual agreement at a stakeholder meeting held at PT. SNA.

The initiative will be implemented in stages over five years. It is off to a good start but the journey ahead will be a challenge yet the implementing partners have all required expertise and determination to be able to succeed in this new endeavour.

A visit to Cagar Alam Muara Kendawangan, which is a land of priority for the first phase of the initiative.

The South Ketapang Landscape Initiative stakeholders meeting at PT SKS.