Piloting Community-Based Ecosystem Restoration
Systemic Problem:
Ecosystems are losing their ability to provide environmental services as native forests are cleared for numerous development projects. As the lands are degraded, they are more susceptible to disasters such as fires and floods. Acknowledging the global need to restore the degraded ecosystem, the United Nations has declared 2021–2030 as the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.
However, restoration efforts have a low success rate due to biophysical and socioeconomic forces. Biophysical factors include species, size, age class, planting site characteristics, soil compaction, altered microbial activity, pests, and diseases. The low success rate is also due to insufficient planning, monitoring, and critical maintenance. The success rate of restoration is estimated at 70% globally, and 65% in Indonesia. The success of restoration activities depends on the seedlings, the proper timing of planting, and also maintenance after planting. Planting activities must be carried out in the early rainy season to provide an adequate amount of water for seeds, i.e., between August and September each year. There is a minimum height for the seed, which is a minimum of 50 cm before planting. Furthermore, the restoration sites require intensive and regular maintenance for fertilization and clearing of weeds, such as Imperata sp., to maximize nutrient absorption and achieve a higher survival rate.
Intervention:
Our intervention is to empower local communities as the main actors in ecosystem restoration. The communities can ensure the proper timing for planting and maintenance of the restoration plot to achieve a higher survival rate.
The community-based ecosystem restoration involves several stages, as follows: First, a restoration team consisting of local communities is established by the village head through a village regulation. The team leads the process all the way from the nursery to planting and monitoring. Second, the restoration team then carefully selects restoration sites and ensures a legal basis to carry out planting at the sites. Often, the sites are within state forest areas, so local communities will need licenses from the government. The communities also select species for restoration based on their preferences for ecological, social, and economic purposes. Finally, the restoration should generate social and economic benefits for local communities to be successful. Only then will they continue to maintain the sites.
Location:
Kotawaringin Barat District: Kubu, Sabuai, Mendawai Seberang, Penyombaan, Pandu Sanjaya, and Lada Mandala Jaya villages.
Seruyan District: Bahaur, Tanjung Hanau, Ulak Batu, and Tanjung Rangas villages.
Figure 1. Restoration sites in Seruyan and Kotawaringin Barat districts
Method and Progress:
Establishing the Restoration Team. Prior to the start of a restoration activity, a free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) process is carried out to ensure that villagers are fully informed about ecosystem restoration and that they voluntarily wish to participate in the process. Second, the Village Head issued a decree to establish a restoration team, which consists of five people, including the Village Head, the head of the village council, and three village representatives who manage and implement the ecosystem restoration, including management of the nursery.
The village council is responsible for leading the restoration activities, ensuring each step is in compliance with the guidelines, and coordinating with related parties who support this activity. At the same time, the administration unit is responsible for administrative tasks such as preparing activity reports, and work plans and managing restoration funds. The nursery unit is in charge of implementing and operating nurseries. Then the planting and maintenance unit is responsible for coordinating the implementation of planting, monitoring, and maintenance activities. The restoration team is then provided with manuals for the implementation of the restoration activities.
Site Selection (including Land Tenure). For the site selection, the communities propose several options through community meetings. Then they map the land and assess its legality and the history of disasters at the potential site. If the selected site is located inside the state forests (kawasan hutan), it should be consulted with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry through their forest management unit (FMU). The legal basis for communities to restore land within the state forests is through social forestry (perhutanan sosial). Restoration sites outside the state forest will be discussed with the landowner.
Species Selection. The selection of species for planting is carried out through focus group discussions with local communities representing different groups, e.g., based on gender and age. The proportion of species needed to achieve ecological, economic, and social benefits should be 50, 40, and 10 percent, respectively. Then the community is guided to select the species based on its benefits, land suitability, i.e., in different ecosystems (such as dry lowland, peatland, and mangrove), and availability. The number of tree species will determine the diversity and role of each species in the ecosystem. Select species should be around 20 per hectare to ensure a high biodiversity index, which indicates ecosystem balance and, thus, the environmental services provided to the human population. Some species traits to be considered would include native, fast-growing, and fruit-bearing tree species.
When a minimum of 20 species cannot be achieved, the number of tree species per hectare should be as many as possible to ensure sufficient ecological, economic, and social function. A list of species with their functions from the literature review can be used to allow the local community to select trees for planting. Scoring methods can be applied, in particular, if the proposed tree species are more than required. The final list of selected tree species needs to be discussed with the restoration team to develop a plan for collecting seedlings and planting time.
Planting Pattern. The community was also guided to determine the planting design in the meetings. The community is encouraged to undertake polyculture restoration designs to achieve various yields, such as sap, fruit, wood, and others, which can be combined with ecological plants to support environmental services and increase biodiversity. Further, they are then encouraged to determine the number of plants that are closely related to the spacing. Two options for planting patterns are 6x6 or 8x8 meters, or around 277 and 157 trees planted, respectively. The spacing needs to be adjusted based on the characteristics of the plants and the restoration purpose. Restoration with an agroforestry system requires a wide spacing distance so the crops can fill the gaps.
Nursery. In each village, a semi-permanent nursery (a “flying nursery”) is established to ensure proper treatment and the appropriate age of the seedlings when they are planted. It depends on the number of seedlings and the size of the land to be restored; the nursery size varies from small, e.g., (3 x 4) m2 to large nursery (4 x 20) m2. To ease the seedlings’ maintenance, a nursery is usually located in a place accessible to the village and near a source of water, such as a river.
The restoration team is in charge of nursery construction, where they make use of available wood and add a nursery net to ensure optimum shading for the seedlings’ growth. They are also responsible for ensuring water requirements are fulfilled through:
Manual watering by using a pot or kettle to draw water from the river (e.g., Pematang Limau and Lada Mandala Jaya villages).
Manual watering by using a hose connected to a water pump (e.g., Penyombaan and Pandu Sanjaya villages).
Automatic watering by using a water pipe or plumbing connected to an electrically controlled water pump (e.g., Sabuai Village).
Land Preparation. Most of the lands targeted for restoration are currently covered by bushes and need to be cleared before planting. Two options for land preparation include hand clearing and mechanical clearing.
The hand-clearing method uses traditional and simple agricultural tools, such as axes, choppers, and hoes, for slashing, and is usually implemented for limited-size plots and budgets. It can reduce soil damage, cause less compaction, and prevent disruptions to soil porosity.
The mechanical clearing method uses a mini excavator. It is usually used for sites that are dominated by bush and covered by thin peat, where traditional methods are difficult to apply.
Planting and Maintenance. After land preparation, planting activities begin. Local communities can plant the land themselves with meager compensation for their time, or they can hire labor to help with the planting. After planting, initial monitoring will be carried out for a week to make sure that the number of seedlings and hectares of the planted area meet the agreement. A census will also be undertaken to measure the survival rate of the planted seedlings. The results of the initial monitoring will determine the necessary treatments for seedling maintenance, such as plant replacement, fertilization, and weed eradication. The last activity of this initial monitoring is to establish some permanent lines for the next regular plant monitoring.
Regular Monitoring. Regular monitoring is conducted every three months for at least two consecutive years and every six months thereafter until year five to record the survival rate and growth of the planted trees. This activity will be led by the restoration team and villagers, whose capacity for ecosystem restoration has been developed through a series of training, with assistance from Kaleka's field staff. Plant monitoring is carried out through a survey along the established Line-Point Intercept (LPI) to sample at least 10% of the planted trees (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. An example of a permanent line for planted tree monitoring 
In addition, post-restoration environmental analysis using the environmental carrying capacity assessment methods and camera traps is conducted to assess the long-term impact as tree cover increases, including, for example, enhanced environmental services and the presence of wildlife.
Impact:
During 2022–2023, restoration in Kotawaringin Barat District covered 279.5 hectares with a total of 69,752 trees planted across 12 villages. Monitoring has continued from 2024 to 2025.
During 2022–2024, restoration in Seruyan District covered 276.2 hectares with 54,530 trees planted in 14 villages. In 2024–2025, 13 villages have been identified as potential sites for the next phase of restoration activities.
Lessons Learned:
Restoration needs long-term commitment and support from various parties, including the central and local governments, private sectors, NGOs, and local communities.
Building community awareness and commitment to carrying out each step of restoration activity takes time.
Local communities are the main actors; therefore, restoration activities need to bring short-term economic benefits to them.
Land status and land tenure should be defined at the very beginning to ensure legality.
To meet the planting requirement, seedlings can be obtained from the Watershed. Management Agency, in addition, to building permanent nurseries accessible to targeted restoration sites.
To restore degraded, infertile land such as that in Central Kalimantan, first planting should include a sufficient number of fast-growing species, including legumes, to improve soil fertility.
Careful consideration should be given to riverside areas for restoration to minimize risks from flooding.
Regular monitoring and maintenance need to be undertaken 3–5 years after planting to ensure the survival of planted seedlings.
Partners:
Unilever funded the restoration work in seven villages (Bahaur, Kubu, Penyombaan, Sabuai, Tanjung Hanau, Tanjung Rangas, and Ulak Batu) with a total area of 200 ha.
ASD is funding the restoration work in Mendawai Seberang and Pematang Limau villages. In 2022, a total area of 39 hectares was planted in Mendawai Seberang. In 2023, a total area of 100 hectares will be planted in Pematang Limau village.
CWF funded the restoration work in five villages, namely Kubu, Lada Mandala Jaya, Mendawai Seberang, Pandu Sanjaya, and Sabuai.
CLUA is currently funding five partners of the Kolibri Alliance to carry out restoration work in five provinces.
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