Chainsaw amnesty in Borneo
Borneo was once covered in lush, dense rainforests, but they are rapidly disappearing. The Southeast Asian island, roughly three times the size of the UK, has lost half its forest cover since the 1930s, destroying precious habitat for wildlife such as the critically endangered orangutan, as well as valuable carbon stores.
A non-profit called Health in Harmony (HIH) is asking farmers to hand in their chainsaws in return for money, and a chance to set up an alternative livelihood.
Borneo is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, and it is estimated that up to 10% of its land is taken up by industrial palm oil and logging operations. But deforestation isn’t just about large-scale tree clearance; some of those behind the logging are small-scale farmers, cutting trees as a sideline to make ends meet.
Buyback and healthcare
HIH launched its chainsaw buyback scheme in 2017, under the group’s Indonesian name, Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI). Farmers who illegally log and sell the wood to timber companies are given around $200 for their chainsaws, as well as up to $450 in financial support for them to set up an alternative, sustainable livelihood, such as opening a shop, organic farming and even beekeeping.
The scheme also involves addressing the root causes of the problem. According to HIH, many of the farmers who turn to logging do so because they need the money for basics like healthcare.
“They live far from the healthcare clinics, and they see logging as a place where they can get quick cash,” explained Mahardika “Dika” Putra, conservation program manager at HIH. “If they need this amount of money, they cut this amount of trees.
“We asked what solutions they think they need to live in harmony with the forest and they said, ‘high quality, affordable healthcare, and training in organic farming.’”
HIH works with communities near the Gunung Palung National Park, in the west of the island on the Indonesian side. The park is protected and logging is illegal, but a door-to-door survey conducted by HIH in 2007 found that around 1,450 households in the area relied on logging as their primary income.
Key to HIH’s work is a community-designed program to improve access to healthcare, and in 2007 it opened a medical center near the national park. Putra said that there has been a 67% drop in infant mortality in the area as a result. But the way that people can pay for this care is just as important.
“Even if they don’t have cash, they can pay with seedlings, manure (and) rice husk,” Putra explained. “These can then go back into our reforestation program, or our sustainable farming program.”
The medical center also offers discounts to villages that show they have reduced their illegal logging.
In 2020, researchers from Stanford University analyzed the impact of the clinic and the accompanying conservation, education and alternative livelihood programs. They concluded that deforestation had fallen by 70% in the 10 years after it opened – equivalent to protecting more than 27.4 square kilometers (10.6 square miles) of rainforest.
Problems with palm oil
Household logging has also reduced by 90%, according to HIH. Since 2017, 279 loggers have handed in their chainsaws, it said, which has protected an estimated 107,000 trees, including 15,000 old growth trees. But the lucrative palm oil industry still poses a threat.
Even after they hand in their chainsaws, Putra said that if loggers give up their trade without a suitable replacement, they may choose to grow palm oil on their own rice paddies “without proper knowledge of how to do so.”
Despite its potential for high earnings, a lack of expertise can leave those who turn to palm oil with ruined farms and incomes, and it can wreak havoc on the local environment, according to Putra.
“The palms need a lot of water,” he said. “They need quick nutrition, so they use expensive chemical fertilizers.
“The water you use from the nearby river, it’s now impacted by the chemicals – the fish in the river is impacted. Once you plant palm oil, it’s there for 30 years – and not to mention, there are price fluctuations – it’s not always high.”
“Through our community education program, we encourage the community to make a better choice before they change their rice paddy fields to palm oil,” he added. “Then they still have food to eat, harvest a yield a few times a year instead of waiting five years for palm oil to grow.”
In harmony with local communities
In 2022, ASRI won a prestigious Ashden Award for Natural Climate Solutions and in 2023 it was named a top Innovator in the Forest and Health Challenge, run by the World Economic Forum’s innovation platform Uplink.
Last year, HIH also won the Keeling Curve Prize for Social and Cultural Pathways, run by the Global Warming Mitigation Project. Its founder and executive director, Jacquelyn Francis, says that “Health in Harmony demonstrated how valuable rainforests are for indigenous communities.” She added: “Their name says it all: there is more climate health when it is in harmony with natural systems.”
Dr Skylar Hopkins, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University and an expert in ecology and conservation, who is independent of HIH, has researched “win-win” conservation solutions, which look at strategies to conserve wildlife but also support local communities.
She believes that efforts such as working to improve local healthcare alongside helping the environment can help get buy-in from local communities, as well as attracting investment from donors.
Hopkins said that scientists researching the impact of environmental protection schemes are often unaware of how these programs impact local communities – which is where grassroots NGOs can help.
“We (scientists) need to collaborate with these NGOs who work very closely with communities and bridge this disconnect,” she said.
For HIH, the focus on working with local communities is key to its work. “I think what I’m most proud of, working with this organization, is that we’re not deciding for them (local communities),” said Putra. “We’re changing the way you can support these communities. It means that we recognize their voices and help with what is most needed.”
