Karst Villages of East Kutai SIGAP Program

The SIGAP approach has also been implemented in forest-edge villages in the neighbouring district of East Kutai, East Kalimantan province. In 2022, assistance was provided to five villages in Sangkulirang sub-district (2 villages) and Karangan sub-district (3 villages). 

Read: Community’s Role in Preserving Turtles in Sabu Raijua

In 2024, support was extended to ten villages in Karangan (7 villages), Kaubun (2 villages), and Sangkulirang (1 village). These villages are vital parts of the Sangkulirang Mangkalihat karst landscape, which remains forested and rich in biodiversity.

Some of these villages have already been designated for social forestry (village forests, community forests - HKm), while others are in the process of applying for such designations. Funding support from YKAN was provided for village facilitation organised by the BIKAL Foundation and SIGAP training conducted by the Nastari Foundation. The focus of village capacity strengthening includes village development planning (RPJM, RKP), land use planning and village territorial mapping, village profiling, village information systems, and business planning (eco-tourism, non-timber forest products).

This series of facilitation and local training activities also fosters synergy between village development plans and district development plans, which had previously been a significant barrier to the distribution of village development funds. The land use maps illustrate the natural resource assets owned by the villages, along with the challenges of protection and opportunities for utilisation, which subsequently serve as references in village development planning.