Forest conservation and indigenous people : a case study of the Kalimantan Forest Climate Partnership (KFCP), a Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) project, and the effects on the Dayak Indonesian in Central Kalimantan, the Kapuas River region

Abstract

Incentive-based forest conservation is rapidly being popularized as a means of protecting the global forests from deforestation and degradation. International climate mitigation projects, in the attempt to offset carbon emissions, have targeted forest-dependent people to assist in conservation projects. Issues arise with how such incentive-based forests conservation projects are affecting forest-dependent people. This research examined the Kalimantan Forest Conservation Program (KFCP), a Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) project taking place in the Kapuas River Region, Indonesia with an in-depth look at how the KFCP project is affecting the Dayak people’s lives and livelihoods. Interviews were conducted in Indonesia in January 2012, with indigenous rights groups and government officials; interviews were also conducted in three villages within the KFCP project site.