Conservation with community in West Sumatra
Local and indigenous communities are often directly dependent on the landscape in which they live for their food, water and cultural well-being. For many generations they have been the guardians of the landscape through their strong bond with nature and a thorough knowledge of how their environment should be maintained. But the protection of nature is increasingly under pressure from the interests of the government, the business world and people from their own communities. This leads to the loss of nature, erosion of traditional governance systems and overexploitation of natural resources on their land.
Local residents who want to combat the loss of their land and overexploitation of nature and natural resources often unite in small community organizations. Like Iswandi, a lifelong resident from a village called Sumpur Kudus in West-Sumatra. He is part of the Village Forest Management Group (VFMG). With others, he patrols the forest he grew up with and sees the positive impact the work of the VFMG has.
These local forest guardians work and live in beautiful landscapes with lots of nature, but in difficult circumstances. Their rights are often not recognized and their knowledge not valued. This lack of recognition is reinforced by their limited access to funds and insufficient visibility at national and international levels.
As part of their Strengthen the Roots program, IUCN NL supports the work of these community conservation efforts through KKI WARSI. I visited them in West Sumatra to document their different projects.
