Evaluering
Evaluation of Habitat and Resource Management Project KKI WARSI and the Rainforest Foundation Norway
Conservation Community Indonesia (KKI) WARSI, was set up in 1992 for joint action by 12 Sumatran NGO concerned with the environment and the rights of indigenous/local communities. In 1997 WARSI began collaboration with Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN) to help save the remaining forest habitat of a semi-nomadic population of forest dwellers known as Orang Rimba. Within a surprisingly short period of time, the government had not only cancelled the plantation that threatened Orang Rimba rights and livelihoods, but in 2000, also formally established Bukit Duabelas National Park over 600 square kilometers of lowland rain forest. The Orang Rimba were entitled to live in the park in accordance with their traditions. Warsi’s efforts in Bukit Duabelas are now primarily focused on achieving workable collaborative management of the national park. The aim is to achieve supportive participation by key stakeholders in managing Bukit Duabelas National Park and its buffer areas in biodiversity conservation and habitat maintenance for the Orang Rimba. In 2008, WARSI expanded the project to a bioregional approach and began to survey the situation for Orang Rimba groups in the rest of Jambi province. The survey is used to gather information and develop recommendations as to which measures are needed to improve the situation for these highly marginalized Orang Rimba groups.