Burundian Refugee, Emergency & Traditional Shelter and Environmental Resource Management, Tanzania

 

For communities living on the periphery of the West Sumatra's Bukit Barisan, Gamaran Protected forest, the forest itself offers few tangible forms of income as lucrative as logging, and animal poaching.  In the rural villages on the periphery of the Gamaran Forest our team are developing local biocultural diversity tourism projects in commun

Developing biocultural-tourism in the border communities of the Gamaran Protected Forest, West Sumatra, Indonesia

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For communities living on the periphery of the West Sumatra's Bukit Barisan, Gamaran Protected forest, the forest itself offers few tangible forms of income as lucrative as logging, and animal poaching.  In the rural villages on the periphery of the Gamaran Forest our team are developing local biocultural diversity tourism projects in communities formerly engaged in illegal activities.  Supported by EXPED, and the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) our team is developing a training progam for local communities in adventure guiding, environmental resource management and disaster risk reduction while improving local agroforestry business opportunities.  

Alternative fuels in traditional brick making

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Traditional clay brick making in Indonesia relies on the consumption of large quantities of timber throughout the firing process.  In Lubuk Alung, West Sumatra a single cluster of traditional brick makers burn more than 24,000 truckloads of hardwood per year, which is the equivalent of 7,100 hectares (71 km2) of forest habitat.  While up to 25% of the timber used as fuel comes from privately owned land, the vast majority of this mostly hardwood timber, is illegally extracted from local standing forestry areas including primary and secondary forests at a growing cost to the environment and local population. 

 

Our program focuses on training brick makers in more efficient methods, merging science and economics with traditional knowledge.  By using alternative fuels in the brick firing process and making small changes in the production process, we can reduce demand for wood by up to 70%. The improved fuel coupled with training has also shown to result in improved brick quality which is highly significant in areas prone to earthquake.