Project description

Title: Kayan Mentarang National Park (KMNP) Management
Commissioned by: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)
Country: Indonesia
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Forestry
Overall term: December 2005 to November 2010

Context

Kayan Mentarang National Park (KMNP), on the border with Malaysia in northeastern Kalimantan, has an area of 1.4 million hectares (roughly the size of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein) and is Indonesia’s largest protected rainforest and one of the largest untouched rain forests in Southeast Asia. On its periphery, the natural resources are under extreme pressure. The bordering communities want to use the park’s resources commercially, but lack the markets for local sustainably produced products. The national park and with it the vital resources of the indigenous population are under threat, primarily by external commercial logging interests, but also by plans to transform the forests into farmland.  At the same time, local authorities do not have enough trained personnel or financial and material resources to address the needs of the local population and involve them in managing the national park.

The World Wildlife Fund For Nature (WWF) of Indonesia has been active on the ground for years, running programmes for the preservation and sustainable use of the natural resources that aim especially to support the villagers in their land use planning. Kayan Mentarang National Park was hence chosen by the Indonesian forestry ministry for a five-year model project on joint park management.

Objective

The biological diversity and natural resources in Kayan Mentarang National Park are protected thanks to joint park management.

Approach

The GTZ project supports the Ministry of Forestry and WWF Indonesia with a financial contribution in developing a model for sustainable national park management. Through advisory services and training for park administrators, ways are explored to create a self-sustaining financing mechanism, improve the livelihoods of the local population, and develop a joint monitoring system for sustainable national park management. The lessons learned in the course of the project are to be analysed and prepared for presentation to the public at large.

Results achieved so far

The project has created the basic political prerequisites for successful implementation of the model project.

In the past Indonesian national parks were centrally managed by the forest ministry in Jakarta. Local authorities and the local population were not involved in managing the park. The principle of joint management supported by the project represents a paradigm change.

An operational and financial agreement that was jointly prepared by the Ministry of Forestry and WWF Indonesia and a joint declaration on joint national park management represent the necessary basis of trust for transparent and decentralised national park management.

Further information

• Website of the World Wildlife Fund For Nature (WWF), Indonesia
  Presentation of the “Heart of Borneo” Initiative for the preservation of rainforests in Inner Borneo. The adjacent countries are Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam.
  www.panda.org/...