Bridging Production and Protection in Ketapang, West Kalimantan

Since 2018, Bumitama and IDH have worked together in Indonesia implementing the Production–Protection–Inclusion (PPI) Compact approach, which balances productivity, conservation, and community well-being. It focuses on Ketapang District, West Kalimantan, where many Villages are actively engaged in conservation and community initiatives, including tree planting, degraded land rehabilitation, women’s farmer group development, and sustainable agronomy training.

Beyond environmental activities, the collaboration also promotes economic empowerment through training and mentorship. As both organisations continue building on a growing path of collaboration aimed at driving sustainable landscape development, they share real stories form the ground reflecting on the shared journey towards a more sustainable and resilient landscape.

It’s more than a framework; it’s a practical commitment shaped by dialogue, collaboration, and on-the-ground implementation—where progress and environmental responsibility advance side by side.

Three women and their pathways to empowerment

Change doesn’t always arrive with noise or grand gestures. Often, it begins quietly through small steps and simple spaces where people can learn from one another, exchange experiences, and grow with confidence.

Women in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, are strengthening their livelihoods through small-scale agriculture and entrepreneurship supported by village-based training programmes resulting from the IDH-Bumitama partnership. 

The initiative aims to strengthen local economies by combining skills training, access to finance, and market linkages. For participating women, the focus is on building stable income sources and improving long-term economic resilience within their communities. Three women, Ibu Mimin, Yatini, and Karmila, share their inspiring stories—read them or watch them below.

Smallholder farmers in search of fair prices

Despite higher yields, palm price volatility remains a challenge. Farmers face rising fuel and fertiliser costs, long distances to processing mills, and pressure from intermediaries. Even small price differences of five to ten rupiah per kilogram can influence selling decisions.

To address these challenges, farmers are increasingly pursuing formal registration and certification. The Indonesian government has promoted the Cultivation Registration Certificate (STDB) as a prerequisite for fair pricing and market access. The certificate verifies land ownership, confirms that plots do not overlap with forest areas or concessions, and ensures the use of certified seedlings.

Farmers from collectives in Simpang Tiga Sembelangaan participate in Klinik Berdaya Sawit, a capacity-building programme co-developed by Bumitama and IDH. The programme brings together farmers, agronomy experts, and company staff to share practical guidance on oil palm cultivation and market access. Read on how a process that once felt complicated is now clearer, more accessible, and easier to navigate, with the help of Bumitama and IDH—or watch it below.

In BBCP’s living corridor, nature finds its way

With the expansion of farming, and later, industrial-scale palm oil, forests were cleaved apart, with apes marooned in shrinking pockets of green. In Ketapang, through an ambitious undertaking aptly named Bumitama Biodiversity & Community Project (BBCP), Bumitama and IDH are attempting the unlikely: stitching the forest back together.

The forest corridor that has been created through BBCP is a tangible, physical path serving two ends. First, letting orangutans and other wildlife move between forests without crossing oil palm plantations. Second, equipping villagers in adjacent areas to prosper without clashing with nature.

Soon entering its tenth year, BBCP has accumulated encouraging results. More than 100,000 trees have been planted and more than 1,000 hectares of forest revived through its reforestation programme. Read the full story, or watch the video below.

From farmlands to the frontline: fragments on fire

The 2022 fire was one among many that had haunted Sungai Kelik region over the years. In its aftermath, Bumitama approached the villagers with a proposal to form a KTPA (Kelompok Tani Peduli Api—Community-led Fire-aware Farmers’ Group), to ward off future disasters.

Since KTPAs’ establishment across fire-prone villages in 2022, Bumitama has slashed the incidence of fires by 70 percent: from 108 per year during 2015–2021 to just 30 per year for 2022–2024. Together, IDH and Bumitama have been incentivising villages to support KTPAs, recognising that their vigilance is what stands between containment and conflagration.

Read the full story or watch it below.

Achieving conservation through recreation

Nibung Lestari Cascades, tucked among the hills of Dusun Sebuak, is a recent addition to the still rather modest list of tourist sites in Ketapang Regency, Indonesia. Before acquiring its new name in 2022, the waterfall was known only to locals, who simply referred to it by the neighbouring village. Its current name honours the nibung palm (Oncosperma tigillarium), a relative of the coconut whose trunk is armoured in thorns.

The agro-ecotourism destination came into being out of necessity, to protect the forest ecosystem from encroachment by opportunistic farming. 

Preserving high conservation value (HCV) and high carbon stock (HCS) zones—which cover over 11 thousand hectares around company concessions in Ketapang—will be enduring when communities are placed at the centre. For Bumitama and IDH, social inclusion is non-negotiable. 

Read how the collaboration helped create an environment where community members can recognise their potential, strengthen their skills, and start shaping a more sustainable future in the region, or watch the video below.

Cacao’s role in soil revival

Amid the shade of thriving trees, a new source of hope grows through cocoa agroforestry as a way of nurturing forests while supporting local livelihoods. Through the collaboration of Bumitama and IDH, farmers are cultivating cocoa alongside shade trees, enriching the soil and helping maintain forest cover.

The collaboration resulted in a devised range of agroforestry initiatives to rehabilitate fragile and damaged forests, and at the same time empower locals to generate livelihoods from these otherwise underutilised and specially designated areas. Read how the programme designed by IDH and Bumitama provides farmers with various seedlings, fertilisers, training and funding to transform their plots and strengthen the ecosystem—or watch it below.