On-the-ground Snapshots: SIIA visits Pangkalan Kerinci

Snapshots

Researchers from the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) visited us in Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau on August 24-26. Their visit was to establish a stronger understanding of the measures taken and challenges faced by RGE-managed business groups in environmental stewardship and fire prevention. See below for some of the snapshots taken on the ground… and also in the air.

Challenges on the Ground

Following their visit to Riau, SIIA published a commentary in The Jakarta Post, which focused on the efforts in fire management. They highlighted examples of “promising approaches” to better land management and fire prevention in the face of challenges such as land encroachment:

• The “Ring Approach”. Also known as the “ring concept” plantation, this approach involves the use of plantation forests to encircle and provide a protective “ring” around designated conservation forests. 
• The Fire-Free Village Programme. This is the multistakeholder community-focused incentive-based programme aimed at preventing land and forest fires. It includes programmes that raise awareness in fire prevention, management and sustainable no-burn alternatives to land-clearing. (More on the Fire-Free Village Programme)
• More responsible land management. The government is taking steps to end further peatland plantation development, while private companies take on the responsible of water management in existing plantations on peatland to reduce the risk of fire outbreaks. (More on land management)

(The images and captions below are reproduced with permission from SIIA. You may follow SIIA on Facebook.)

The company constructs dams and bypasses using sandbags. The sandbags are adjusted before the rainy season to maintain an adequate water level in the acacia plantations. APRIL’s lowland management expert Dr John Bathgate explains the science.

APRIL implements “ring plantations” as a way to protect conservation forest from encroachment and degradation. An acacia plantation is established around the core conservation forest area, creating a buffer zone. This prevents illegal logging and human encroachment.

Empty fruit bunches are spread between oil palm trees as fertilisers. This reduces the use of chemical fertilisers by 50%.

In Riau, fires tend to arise from encroachment on idle land. Without forests, the humidity is lower and temperatures are higher. This makes it easier for encroachers to set fires which then become widespread.
In the photo: one of the idle plots of land which are typically implicated in fires.

Apart from the mill, SIIA researchers, APRIL staff and the village head also visited a historic Istana nearby, which was recently rebuilt.

All captions are from SIIA; captions in italics are from Inside RGE.