When a community sets up a savings and loans group, it is building something new together: a shared fund, a set of rules, a small working group to run it. It asks people to trust one another and to trust the system they have built. When that trust breaks down, it is the response of the community that is the key, and the difference between short-term conservation and livelihoods interventions and effective, sustainable change for communities and the environment.
Read MoreMangrove and peat swamp forests make up over half of the area of the West Bornean coastal village Mengkalang Jambu. This adds up to less than 3,000 ha, yet community-led SMART patrols record the majority of the proboscis monkey encounters across Kubu Raya district here. Over the past five years, four SMART patrol teams in the district travelled a total of 5,118 km, the equivalent of the distance between Dublin and New York. In the past, these monkeys were seen as pests in certain areas, but with numbers plummeting every year, they became a symbol of pride and diversity in the region.
Read MoreTo mark the 10 years of existence of these important guidelines, we wanted to reflect on what they mean for us as an organization working directly with small-scale fishers. Since 2017, we have worked with small-scale fishers in the Kubu Raya district and more recently with small-scale fishers living inside the Karimata Marine Reserve.
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