KELOLA Sendang (KS), an integrated sustainable landscape development project in South Sumatra, implemented targeted interventions from 2015 to 2020. The interventions were aimed at overcoming major challenges that hampered the province’s ability to conserve biologically- and ecologically important areas and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The challenges were: 1) widespread land conversion that threatened the province’s critically endangered wildlife (such as the Sumatran tiger and elephant) and vast peatlands;
2) a lack of financially-viable livelihoods and best management practices that would entice stakeholders away from more environmentally destructive business-as-usual activities; and 3) a lack of infrastructure for monitoring/policing of illegal activities (such as poaching and illegal land clearing). KS’s interventions were targeted at three groups: governments, companies, and communities.
With governments, KS interventions were aimed at strengthening landscape governance through supporting a hierarchy of vertically
integrated institutions, facilitating the establishment of regulations that enable the institutions to manage landscapes sustainably,
and devising a pathway for the institutions to integrate sustainable landscape management as part of South Sumatra’s Master Plan for
developing the province in support of the Governors’ Green-Growth vision.
With companies, KS interventions were aimed at improving current peatland management practices covering water level management
in concession lands to prevent flooding or the drying out of peatlands making them susceptible to fires, fire control for hotspots
on concessions, and habitat protection and restoration.
With communities, KS interventions were aimed at overcoming economic, technical, and tenurial barriers to improve people’s
livelihoods.