Ketapang, West Kalimantan – Today, the 15th July 2019, nearly 100 representatives from government, industry, community and civil society met in Kota Ketapang to discuss opportunities to collaborate for sustainable development in South Ketapang landscape. The multi-stakeholder workshop was initiated by the Ketapang Regency government with support from Aidenvironment, Global Environment Center (GEC) and IOI Group.

The South Ketapang Landscape covers 750,000 ha of forests, peatlands, plantations, grasslands and 53 villages in the south of Ketapang district. The area is within the administrative boundaries of four subdistricts namely: Kendawangan, Manis Mata, Air Upas and Singkup. The landscape includes the Muara Kendawangan Nature Reserve of approximately 150,000 ha, one of the largest conservation areas in West Kalimantan Province, several forest protection areas and two lakes. Three-quarters of the villages are classified as underdeveloped (according to “Status Index Desa Membangun 2018” (Village Development Index Status 2018)) and communities’ agricultural productivity is very low. Development is currently driven by seven large oil palm plantation company groups and four Industrial Tree Plantation (HTI) companies whose concession areas comprise about 55% of the total landscape area.

 

Against this background, the South Ketapang Landscape Initiative has been developed and conducted jointly by Aidenvironment Asia, Global Environment Center and IOI Group together with the local government and other stakeholders.  The Initiative builds on IOI’s commitment to address the common environmental and social challenges in the most effective way, on a landscape level and in collaboration with other stakeholders. IOI intends to go beyond just managing and protecting HCV, HCS and peatland areas within their four Ketapang concessions in West Kalimantan. IOI will endeavour to engage with other companies and the government to ensure optimum outcomes at a landscape level.

Bupati (district head) of Ketapang, Martin Rantan, S.H., M.Sos., in his speech presented by Regional Secretary said that “The program aligns with the Ketapang district government’s “Advancing Ketapang towards a prosperous society” vision and supports missions no. 3. Improving the Economy of the Community; no. 5. Community Empowerment and Village Government; and no. 6. Improving Management and Use of Natural Resources in Ketapang district”.

Eric Wakker, co-founder of Aidenvironment Asia, highlighted the importance of this multistakeholder workshop to promote collaboration between various parties in the landscape. “As the land use in the area begins to consolidate, it is crucial for stakeholders to collaborate to ensure there remains diversity in the landscape, be it biological, social or economic”, he said.  

Faizal Parish, Director of the Global Environment Center, highlighted that there is a very high risk of drought and fires in South West Kalimantan in July-November 2019 due to elevated temperatures and significantly reduced rainfall during the period. “Without proper management, the South Ketapang landscape will be even more prone to forest and land fires. Therefore, specific recommendation from this workshop are key to build an integrated action plan to prevent prolonged forest and land fire occurrences and develop a long-term vision for sustainable development”. 

Carl Dagenhart, Head of Stakeholder Engagement at IOI Group, said that the workshop is a milestone in generating stakeholders’ commitment to collaborate on common challenges such as water management, forest fires, flooding, illegal hunting, wildlife protection and also community livelihood development. These issues can only be tackled on a landscape level and through a shared vision and shared effort. IOI Group is strongly committed to the South Ketapang Landscape Initiative. We had made that commitment publicly and we intend to deliver on it. The South Ketapang landscape is a fragile and complicated landscape and everybody understands that working in silo we can’t be effective. We have an opportunity to create a model of a successful landscape initiative in the most challenging environment, the environment that needs such initiative most. The success will depend on how well we manage to organize ourselves. Today’s workshop is an important first step as it will create an organizational framework for our joint efforts, he added.  

Bupati Martin Rantan, further noted on the Initiative that the delivery of sustainable development in the area is too challenging for the government alone and it will be difficult to achieve optimal conditions. He encouraged all stakeholders in the area to collaborate and synergize their efforts with the Green Growth Development Plan and support the sustainable development of Ketapang Regency.