Initial results from trialling the HCS-HCV Toolkit with smallholders in Indonesia show that smallholder farmers need access to incentives and benefits so that they can provide long-term conservation of High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests and High Conservation Value (HCV) areas.
To better understand what benefits and incentives could prove most effective and explore funding and delivery mechanisms, the HCSA and our partners the Indonesian Oil Palm Smallholder Union (SPKS) have been conducting trials with smallholder communities in West Kalimantan, Indonesia since mid-2022.
The core focus of the trials was participatory activities such as collecting field data with smallholder community representatives and studying alternative incentives and benefits processes and programmes. SPKS partnered with the Center for Climate and Sustainable Finance, University of Indonesia, whose contribution included gathering data directly from communities. The work also explored establishing and strengthening institutional links, such as financial or local government support and provided opportunities for training in Good Agricultural Practices. They also focused on creating links with the market, including how smallholders will be affected by the new European Union law banning imports of commodities linked to deforestation from next year.
The ultimate aim of these trials is to produce a practical, evidence-based template mechanism of incentives and benefits for smallholder farmers to conserve HCS forests and HCV areas in the long term. The template can then be tested, adapted and made accessible for use by smallholders across different commodity sectors and in different geographical regions – a freely available tool for use by any smallholder farmer or organisation around the world.
Smallholders produce a third of the world’s food according to the United Nations FAO and they are the major producers in several key commodity sectors – supplying 60% of the world’s coffee, 80% of cocoa and 85% of global natural rubber. But although smallholders are vital international producers, they rarely benefit from long-term support for conservation practices. They often face tremendous pressure to clear land for cultivation to meet basic needs for food and livelihoods to provide for their families and communities.
The HCSA’s determination to support smallholders is critical to achieving our goal of conserving 5 million hectares of tropical forests by 2025 while protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. This goal can only be achieved by working in partnership and solidarity with smallholder farmers, their families and communities.
The final report of our extensive trialling of the Smallholder Toolkit in Indonesia will shortly be published on our website. This work represents major progress towards producing a practical, evidence-based global tool for smallholders to sustain livelihoods and traditional rights et conserveHCS forests and HCV areas. Watch this space…!
