Tag: ecosystem restoration

Primates and Peatlands: Restoring Indonesian Ecosystems in the Face of Flooding

Meet Eka Cahyaningrum, restorer of peatlands and advocate for primates. Her work in Indonesia restores wild animal populations and their habitats while uplifting local communities. Her youth-led efforts demonstrate the power of coming together under one goal: to create better living conditions for all living beings, so that we can all thrive.

Eka Cahyaningrum, Primate Researcher and 2022 Global Landscapes Forum Restoration Steward

In higher education, my interest was in amphibians and reptiles, but before I graduated I got an internship to work with a primate researcher. I was going to the forest at 5am and arriving back home around 7pm. By staying the whole day in the forest following primates and observing their daily life, I couldn’t help but fall in love! I saw how each of them had their own personality and the resemblance of human behavior in their hierarchical societies. The first time I worked with macaques, then with orangutans, later with gibbons and langurs, and currently I’m working with gibbons and orangutans again.

My work expanded to peat ecosystems when I was working with gibbons and langurs in Central Borneo in 2017. I was observing them in the peat swamp forest, following their daily life and joining the conservation team to do restoration projects in an ex-burned area. Later on, in the dry season of 2019, I joined fire fighting as a way to see how I can contribute more to environmental movements. Since then, I started to learn more about this ecosystem and connect with peat researchers, and that’s when my interest in peatland restoration piqued. In 2021 I started my own restoration project with my friends and one year later I received the support of Global Landscapes Forum. Now I combine my passions for primates and peatlands, while acknowledging that none of these projects can be successful without the help of the local community.

Photo by Borneo Nature Foundation

Restoration is more than planting trees, but also about the community surrounding the peatland. To make sure the goal of restoration is achieved, we have to involve the community, raise their awareness and find the connection between nature and what they need. For example, we can emphasize the economic benefit of the peatlands and how they provide a reliable source of fish when they’re functioning ecosystems. If the community is prosperous, and the prosperity is caused by the sustainable management of the peatland ecosystem around them, then it will be a part of their culture to take care of the peat ecosystem. 

For the ecosystem itself, since the majority of the degraded peatlands have damaged hydrological functions, the first thing we have to do is to restore the hydrological cycle by restoring the bed of water and the surrounding vegetation. Through these methods, the peat will regenerate, but it will take a really long time to fully recover.

Tropical forest and peatlands provide important ecological, climate and socio-economic benefits. Peatlands also deliver numerous important ecosystem services to local people, including maintaining air and water quality, providing timber and non-timber resources, and supporting fish populations for local consumption. As wetland ecosystems, peatlands prevent flood and drought, the biomass is useful as a carbon sink, and they provide habitat for a variety of plants and animals. This is all to say that peatlands are important for biodiversity, they provide a source of life for the people in the area, and they’re resilient in the face of rising climate-related disasters.

Photo by Global Landscapes Forum

Our organization Hirai aims to raise awareness about environmental degradation, and the need for solutions that support local communities In Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

With our different backgrounds and expertise we can tackle the problem with different approaches and can see it from different perspectives, so it is actually a very beneficial formation. We can tackle the problem through education, a business perspective, and from a scientific point of view.

For example, to understand more about the biophysical benefits of peat and to carry out research on how to restore peatlands, we can use a scientific approach. To increase awareness, we educate through social media and offline. And to support the communal livelihood dependent on fishing, we can find a suitable business model that incorporates restoration, such as through ecotourism or product development.

Tania Roa, Digital Communications and Outreach Manager for Bio4Climate

Eka Cahyaningrum’s story is one of love, dedication, and curiosity. Her love for other species led to her love for the habitats they call home, and that led to her love for the human communities that also call the peatlands home. It’s also a story of connection. Only by spending time in the forest, away from a cell phone signal and the convenience of the city, could Eka truly understand the threats gibbons and orangutans face. She was willing to step into their world, if only for a moment, and that makes all the difference for both people and primates. Finally, this is a story of youth leadership. Eka and her friends were unwilling to leave their futures and the rest of Indonesia’s in the hands of authorities. As the peatlands’ water levels dropped and the endemic fish in the rivers began to disappear, they didn’t hesitate or wait until someone else stepped in. They took it upon themselves to take action, not knowing where it would take them. Without the guarantee of success or financial support, this was a courageous choice founded upon their dedication to a greener and bluer archipelago. 

These grassroots efforts are making a difference for Indonesia’s forests, biodiversity, wetlands, and citizens. When water cycles are nurtured, the abundance of seafood returns and people benefit. When forests are advocated for, storm buffers and healthy soils that support regenerative agricultural practices become widespread, and the community is better for it. Because of people like Eka, we can see the tangible results of localized, village-led restoration efforts. 

We don’t have to be in Indonesia to support on-the-ground efforts like these. As Eka says, “collaborations are always welcome to spread our message and raise awareness on the importance of peat ecosystems.” As a small nonprofit, Hirai can use all the international support it can get. As global citizens, we can support one another’s restorative work regardless of where we’re based. When we work together, we accomplish so much more, and at a much faster pace. Peatlands sequester carbon and build biodiversity that then reverberates across the planet, so join me in supporting Eka’s efforts today. 

Follow Eka’s journey through Global Landscapes Forum and follow Hirai on social media! And share Eka’s story to inspire others to preserve the Earth’s wetlands:

By Tania Roa and Eka Cahyaningrum

Reflections on Activism

At Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, we believe that everyone has a place in the fight for a livable climate and flourishing future. We were called to this work from different places and for different reasons, but we’re united in our commitment to be stewards of nature, and to work with nature and each other to heal the earth. We’ve been pondering what brought us here and what it takes to maintain this work, since changing the world is an ever-evolving pursuit.

“Activism for me is not a job, but a choice. A choice to make the world a better place for all people and for all living things. It is also a daily choice. To be an activist is to choose every morning when you wake up that you will do what you can today to leave a positive impact. The way this decision is carried out looks different for everyone, but that decision is the same nonetheless. As for me, this is a choice I do not take lightly. 

I made the choice to be an activist when, at 22 years old, I found out about the sixth mass extinction happening right now. I have loved animals, especially wild ones, my entire life. This was more than a sign – this was my calling. In response to this epiphany, I changed my career path and applied for a graduate program where I studied wildlife conservation and public policy.

In 2020, I experienced another realization. When Black Lives Matter spread like the wildfires in my home state of California, I made the choice again to be an activist, and to reevaluate what that term meant to me. 

Before then, I was going about my activism all wrong. By only focusing on the welfare of wild animals and the environment, I forgot about the intricate role humans play in our planet’s destiny. If human activities destroyed ecosystems, and humans were the only ones who could repair this damage, then of course I had to include public health in my activism. Marginalized communities do not have the time to worry about the fate of far-off animals or of the planet when they are struggling to feed their children, or when they are being discriminated against, or when they are targets for violence, especially violence without repercussions. 

My activism is powered by my vision for my future children who will hopefully live in a world with fewer inequalities and more nature. It is powered by my vision of a place where immigrants like my family are not disregarded as “other” because of the countries we come from. It is powered by my vision of a world where I can dream of SCUBA diving in the reefs of Belize without feeling the urgency to go before they disappear. Ultimately, my activism is powered by my overall goal – to help build a world where all living things are respected.”

– Tania Roa 

“As a kid, I thought it was my job to save the world. I knew our planet was in peril, and although I didn’t totally understand why or how we got there, the same message echoed down from parents, teachers, and media – you and your peers will be the ones who have to fix this. I accepted this in a very isolating way, thinking I had to carry the weight of the world’s fate on my shoulders.

Perhaps this was because of the fantasy stories I was addicted to, where I saw so many heroes who shouldered impossible burdens and prevailed through dedication and sacrifice. Perhaps it was a little bit the defiant independence and stoicism I clung to as a response to feeling helpless and out of control at home. Either way, I was bent on pushing myself to the max, imagining that one, I could solve everything, and two, that I, and I especially, had to.

I thought I had to have a perfect action plan in order to accomplish such a monumental task. I wanted a complete understanding of how climate change operated and all of the types of solutions put forth for mitigation and adaptation, and figured that once I had that map, I could choose where I best fit and how to make the most efficient use of my life to help. I was obsessed with optimizing both humanity’s way out of this crisis and my own life in service to that goal.

I held to this very punishing mindset, and in that all or nothing model, I most often chose “nothing” because I simply could not do it all. But in the past couple of years, I’ve come to accept that I don’t have to have all the answers to be useful, and that most importantly, I don’t have to shoulder this alone. I don’t have to lead the charge against ecological destruction because there are already people out there doing this work. There are leaders I can follow, and leaderless movements I can join. I don’t have to be perfect to have a place in this. It is my inheritance as a creature of this Earth to love my home and fight for it out of that love.

In my experience, taking the first steps to act relieved a lot of the pressure I was putting on myself that used to paralyze me. The more I learned about ecosystem restoration and the people and groups involved in it, the more I realized that we are no different than the natural systems we speak about. We are dynamic, engaged in growth and processes, and we can either be depleted through the conditions we choose for ourselves or regenerated by them. 

If I have learned anything from connecting to the Bio4Climate community and the speakers and educators we feature, it is that action is the antidote to despair. I have met so many people from so many different places who are all, in their own way, trying to make a safer, healthier, more loving and flourishing world. That encouragement has done more for me than any single piece of information I have gained. And of course, by opting in, I also learn so much about the natural solutions that can lead our way out of the broken systems we have come to know. When I feel my hope being eroded, I remember that engaging in activism is regenerative for my spirit, and with that strength, I carry on.”

– Maya Dutta

“There are many ways to engage in advocacy and activism, beyond joining a protest or demonstration against some project. I’m not one of those to get “out in the streets with a sign” to express something or other. Not that I’ve never done that. I have, but I’ve always wondered whether it mattered as much as other perhaps more articulate or effective forms of activism. I’m an economist, and so I have some knowledge and talents that can be put to good use in efforts that I am particularly suited to pursue or advance.

There are several recent examples of work I have done pretty much without compensation on issues important to me – and hopefully to others (who may be unable to pay for that work) – that I can take on and do well, while those affected cannot address or resolve them without this sort of help.

Recently, a large developer’s proposal for re-zoning conservation land in Wareham, MA threatened one of the last remnant MA populations of sea-run brook trout as well as its underlying aquifer, which is the entire region’s source of clean drinking water. I was asked to review the arguments, and found that the economic case being made was deeply flawed and also conflicted directly with a raft of recent Town of Wareham land use planning documents. So I wrote a report detailing these issues that was recently released for public discussion.

Asking questions that others avoid is something I do quite well. I have spent 50 years as a critic of very well-established doctrines in economics that cost me an academic career, although I’ve continued as an independent troublemaker, and my research papers have gained the attention of several journal editors who often publish my writings without changing a word. I often notice other academic colleagues who won’t do stuff unless they get paid. I’d rather just get it done.

I’ve learned to live without much acknowledgement or recognition of my efforts, though when it comes, it’s incredibly welcome! Just the other day I sent my Wareham Report off to the President and CEO of National Trout Unlimited. Much to my surprise – as I didn’t expect a response – I got the nicest pair of emails from him the very next morning complimenting me on my work: “Fred, this is incredible. Well done!” Music to my ears.

I think the most important part of being this sort of activist is to learn not to expect a response, and to do these things for other reasons. I call it “The Mirror Test” – that I want to be able to look in my mirror each morning and see someone for whom I can have respect, admiration and love.

That’s what matters most. And I have a lot of control over that, while I have none over others’ reactions to the things I do. It’s not that you learn not to care. That’s just not the primary goal.

You need to be happy with yourself, and to believe in your causes. The rest of it is just detail…”

Fred Jennings with Fish

– Fred Jennings

To hear more and share your own perspective, join us in conversation on Thursday, April 15th 2021 at 7pm ET for The Movement, The Moment – And You.