People Resources and Conservation Foundation (PRCF)

Community-based Training Center for Grassland and Forest Rehabilitation

One of the long-term objectives of the PRCF in the Ransi Panjang region is to foster nature conservation through the involvement of self-reliant communities who enjoy economic sustainability. To foster this objective, we have provided incentives to villagers to rehabilitate degraded forestlands. We have complemented this by providing training and giving technical assistance to strengthen local capacities, and by offering financial support to further community-based activities. The long-term aim at this site is to establish a village-led training center to teach farmers how to rehabilitate degraded forests and grasslands, and how to apply productive land-use alternatives in “alang-alang” areas.

False Gharial Survey

False Gharial is a globally critically endangered crocodilian species that can be found in lowland swamp forests in Sarawak and Kalimantan, Borneo, eastern Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia.  Still, information on the distribution, abundance, and status of the species is absent from many regions, and thus conservation priorities are unclear.

In 2004, we conducted a survey on the distribution of False Gharial in West Kalimantan, with findings documenting the status and distribution of the species in selected survey sites, and describing current threats and potential follow-up conservation management actions at each of the locations.

On the basis of these results, our upcoming activities will include prescriptions for conservation management of the species, with the likely establishment of collaborative management programs at one of the locations pinpointed to hold a significant number of False Gharial, and villagers with a good potential to further community-based conservation of the species.

Mueller Gibbon Conservation Status Review

The Mueller’s gibbon has only rarely been studied, both in the wild and in captivity. It is the least known gibbon species of the genus Hypoblasts.

In late 2008 we conducted a survey at Gunung Nyiut Nature Reserve regarding the known location of gibbons in the reserve landscape, and to assess what threats, such as hunting and habitat destruction, pose the greatest risk to the gibbon population. Our subsequent objective is to identify the conservation status of the Gibbon in the reserve and to prepare a Conservation Strategy and Action Plan to address the needs.

The Strategy and Action Plan will include measures to protect primate species within Gunung Nyiut.  We will carry out participatory resource-use planning to help define Village Development Plans in three pilot villages in the reserve landscape.  These activities will help involve local communities in collaborative management options to protect local populations of gibbons and other endangered primate species.

Ransi Panjang Degraded Lands Rehabilitation Program

Ransi Panjang is a Dayak village established within a mosaic of alang-alang grasslands and remnant gallery forests.  We work here to promote traditional agroforestry practices with a potential to reclaim degraded grassland areas, and undertake forestry activities to enrich household forest gardens, referred to locally as tembawangs.  Through land rehabilitation activities, we have helped fifty village households establish twenty-two hectares of rubber clone plantations.  Further, a Village Self-help Group was established to help farmers organize themselves to market their products, and to address relevant community needs through a savings and loans scheme attached to the village institution. In support of the Self-help Group, we have also provided technical and financial assistance to establish a Clone Rubber Garden with six different clone varieties. This has has helped villagers improve their own plantations and supported the savings and loans scheme through funds coming from clone sale proceeds.