The 570,000 hectare Sebangau National Park in southern Central Kalimantan is one of Borneo’s most important areas of rainforest. This tropical peat-swamp forest is the largest unfragmented area of forest remaining in Borneo’s lowlands and supports globally-significant populations of endangered species, including the largest known population of the Bornean orangutan in lowland Borneo and the white-bearded gibbon. Its vast peat deposits cover an area of 6,000 km2 and reach depths of 15m, making Sebangau National Park peat-swamp forest one of the largest terrestrial carbon stores in the world.
We work in partnership with the Balai Taman Nasional Sebangau (BTNS) and Centre for International Cooperation in Sustainable Management of Tropical Peatland (CIMTROP) at the University of Palangka Raya. We support community patrol and fire-fighting teams made up of young, committed people from the local village, who want to stop the exploitation of their forest heritage and protect it for future generations. Their fire-fighting strategy is a model for fighting peatland fires in the province, and we are expanding our support of community fire-fighting teams to other like-minded and dedicated groups in recognition of the huge role they play in protecting forest during the worst drought seasons.