Strategic Stakeholder Engagement in APL Forest Management

The Kalfor project addresses the Management of Kalimantan's APL (Non-State-Owned Forest Area) forests, threatened by conversion to palm oil plantations. With jurisdiction over these lands contested among various ministries and no specific legislation for their protection, Kalfor recognized the need for wide stakeholder engagement. This approach involves educating and building consensus among government agencies, local communities, private sector, and academia about the ecological and economic benefits of conserving APL forests. 

Key to this process has been a multi-stakeholder consultation approach, involving diverse groups from government, private sector, civil society, and academia in the development of new regulations. Flexibility in strategy, adapting to political changes, and leveraging local initiatives based on stakeholder interests have been crucial. In Central Kalimantan, for example, Kalfor's adaptable approach facilitated the endorsement of two Governor Decrees for forest conservation. 

Kalfor's experience highlights the importance of building strong, wide stakeholder ownership and commitment at all levels. While the project has surpassed its goal of legally protecting over 644,374 ha of APL forest, challenges remain. Pursuing strategic conservation, especially prioritizing high conservation value forests and ensuring their intactness, is still an ongoing task. At the village level, integrating APL forest management into local development plans has proven effective in aligning conservation with community economic and cultural goals. The project demonstrates that in a complex political, economic, and legal landscape, fostering stakeholder engagement and adaptability is key to successful forest conservation.

Government Liaison

As Community Fisheries operate under a government mandate engaging the local authorities - especially the Fisheries Administration Cantonment and local Commune officials - is critical to the success of any engagement with a CFi. Local authorities need to understand, and support, Conservation International’s engagement with a CFi. First, we meet with the Fisheries Administration at national and local levels, presenting our programme, and identifying potentially suitable CFi’s. These meetings build relationships with senior government officials and obtain information such as local contacts within potential CFi’s. Having established high level support we contact local authorities such as the commune and in briefing them of our approach gain an appreciation of each CFi’s current status, challenges and opportunities.

Establishing the support from senior government officials is an essential first step. Then the local authority’s participation is required as they participate in the planning process and provide official recognition of legal documents associated with CFi development. Ideally the implementation team can build on established links with relevant local authorities. However, they must understand the context within which these local authorities operate and how our CFi development activities enhance the local authorities’ roles and responsibilities. This process needs to be conducted by senior project staff with experience in government relations. 

Early engagement with local authorities is important as their involvement is crucial to the success of any engagement with a CFi. They will also provide the project team with additional information on CFi capacity and increase the likelihood of successful engagement with a CFi.

Marine conservation

Protecting our seas goes beyond just cleaning beaches and prohibiting the extraction of endangered species. Our goal, and that of any responsible society, is to achieve a balance between human development and the conservation of marine ecosystems. For more than three decades, we have been promoting public policies for sustainable fisheries.

This comprehensive vision implies addressing not only the obvious problems, but also working on deeper and more effective measures. Sustainability in fisheries requires a strong commitment to implementing policies that address overfishing, promote selective fishing and adopt environmentally friendly technologies.

The active participation of local communities, fishermen and other stakeholders in the planning and implementation of these policies is essential. Participatory management ensures a more equitable and sustainable approach.

We also recognize the importance of public awareness and education in protecting our oceans. Informing society about the relevance of marine ecosystems, biodiversity and the consequences of our actions is essential to build a culture of respect and responsibility towards the seas.

This collective effort requires the active collaboration of governments, companies, scientists and society in general.

Community and Governance

Effective working group to make decisions for the improvement of the octopus fishery for the benefit of the fishermen's families, based on responsible octopus fishing.

Fishing community, and the supply chain including chefs, stores and restaurants in the region, to raise awareness of the benefits of sustainable octopus fishing.

Dissemination and training on the advantages of complying with the octopus closure is needed.

Collaboration with ANAPAC at national level

ANAPAC is the National Alliance for the Support and Promotion of Indigenous and Community Heritage Areas and Territories.

Membership of ANAPAC helps strengthen governance and the promotion of cultural and spiritual values in the area.

Support from APAC helps promote APAC.

Drone Data

Drones play a pivotal role in the 3LD-Monitoring system, complementing other data collection methods.Drones are essential tools in partner countries to fortify technical skills among local staff. These skills encompass flight planning, navigation and image evaluation. The drone monitoring aims to empower project staff to capture data tailored for photogrammetric analyses, from which crucial geoinformation emerges.

The drone mapping methodology encompasses five stages, with the first two focusing on drone operations:

 

  1. Mapping mission preparation (desktop work)
  2. Mapping mission execution (fieldwork)
  3. Development of Digital Surface Model (DSM) & Orthomosaic generation (desktop work)
  4. Data analysis and refinement (desktop work)
  5. Integration into the prevailing data system (desktop work)

 

Drone data aids in evaluating indicators linked to carbon/biomass, such as mortality rates and forest types. Notably, with the application of allometric equations and proper characterization of the land type, above-ground biomass estimations of trees can be determined.

Drones with pre-set flight planning capability ensure seamless orthophoto creation from individual images. This enables individual snapshots to seamlessly merge into an orthophoto (aerial photograph corrected for distortions, allowing accurate measurements). It's also vital to consider the availability of these drones in the local markets of partner countries. Leveraging local knowledge by involving local academia is paramount in this process. They can provide essential allometric equations, grounded in tree height, that facilitate precise biomass calculations.

Drones generate high resolution images, allowing a detailed overview of land cover changes, tree survival and erosion rates, among others. Combined with field data, drone-based monitoring is strengthened, guaranteeing a sound monitoring.

 

The heterogeneity of trees and vegetation density often hinders a sound extraction of common key points between the images, which is necessary to estimate the heights and other indicators. In this regard, increasing the overlap between images to a minimum of 85 % frontal and side overlap can improve the extraction of key points. Also, increasing the flight height of the drone reduces perspective distortion, which facilitates the detection of visual similarities between overlapping images. However, too much overlapping, i.e., high overlapping percentages result in higher amount of data, making data processing more time intensive.

 

Another aspect already mentioned is the availability of suitable drones in the partner countries. Importing drones to the respective countries is difficult, and bureaucratic barriers persist.

Satellite Data

Satellite data forms the bedrock of the 3LD-Monitoring system, harnessing the capabilities of open-source imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 and LANDSAT satellites. An algorithm, meticulously developed by Remote Sensing Solutions (RSS) GmbH, revolutionizes this process. Users can seamlessly submit the shapefile of their area of interest, prompting the algorithm to automatically fetch and analyze relevant data. A spectrum of robust analyses are conducted including the 5-year vegetation trend using NDVI for assessing vegetation gains or losses, 5-year vegetation moisture analysis through NDWI, and a nuanced 5-year rainfall trend evaluation. Additionally, the algorithm facilitates the visualization of vegetation changes since the inception of the project, bolstering the monitoring framework with dynamic insights. Satellite data, a vital component of the 3LDM-Monitoring system, leverages open-source imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission and LANDSAT satellites. For predefined areas, this data is automatically fetched and analyzed for specific parameters. Key analyses include a 5-year vegetation trend using NDVI as a proxy for vegetation gains or losses, a 5-year vegetation moisture trend through NDWI, and a 5-year rainfall trend. In addition vegetation changes from project start can be visualized.

Effective use of this building block hinges on users drawing and saving areas in GIS platforms like QGIS. Additionally, enhancing the shapefile with project specifics, such as start dates and FLR type, optimizes analysis. Proper training in these skills ensures accurate data input and tailored monitoring, making capacity building in these areas essential if not present.

While satellite data, especially open-source, offers broad insights, its capability for species identification is highly restricted, if not unattainable. This limitation emphasizes the indispensable role of field work in discerning species composition and characteristics. Additionally, understanding the innate constraints of satellite imagery, especially with young tree plantations, reinforces the need for integrating field and drone data to gain a comprehensive view of forest terrains.

Field Data

Satellite and drone images, despite their undeniable contribution for monitoring, they are limited in the initial years of FLR efforts. Data collection at field level is crucial in the first projects years.

 

Data collection at field level is further divided into three participative approaches:

 

  • Permanent sampling plots: Fixed plots, where tree height, DBH, and tree survival rates will be estimated. Permanent sampling plots will be assessed in 3-year interval, due to their high labor and time input.
  • Land use planning: discussion rounds for the assessment of information, as well as identification of endangered species according to the Red List of Threatened Species by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). It is integrated into other land use planning processes, and thus, has not a defined assessment interval.
  • Transects: Identification of floristic and faunistic species, as well as forest structure composition, in an assessment interval of three months

All relevant indicators included in the three participative approaches are collected using the KOBO Toolbox. This software offers suitable conditions and is easy to operate, aligning with the monitoring objectives of the project.

A participative approach is essential in guaranteeing a long-term monitoring of the restored areas. The symbiosis of local knowledge and training/capacity building of local staff and regional partners is the core of this approach. Identifying the needs of the community, organizing discussion rounds, involving the local community in the developing and testing of the monitoring system, encourages consciousness and connection to the restored landscape.

  • Field Data Priority: In early FLR stages, field-level data collection is more effective than relying solely on satellite and drone images.

  • Participative Approaches: Employing participative methods like permanent sampling plots, land use planning, and transects involves local communities and enhances monitoring.

  • Appropriate Technology: Using user-friendly tools like KOBO Toolbox aligns well with project objectives and simplifies data collection.

  • Local Community Engagement: Engaging and training local communities ensures long-term success and fosters a connection to the restored landscapes.