Guardians of the Earth’s Lungs in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

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Yuliana Wetuq, coordinator of the Petquk Mehuey Forest Guardians in East Kutai, East Kalimantan, was delighted after speaking about the group’s efforts in protecting the forest ecosystem.

“Long live nature!” Wetuk said affirmatively after the discussion.

Wetuq and her nine like-minded partners have been working for 11 years to maintain the sustainability of local forests since 2013. She said that Petquk Mehuey was founded because its members realized that the Indonesian island of Kalimantan is part of the lungs of the earth. Their goal is to ensure environmental balance by protecting the forests from potential threats.

Forest guards have been protecting about 38,000 hectares of forest in East Kutai and Belau. Kalimantan has a total of 40.8 million hectares of forest, which stores rich oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Measures must continue to be taken to protect Kalimantan’s forests and prevent deforestation from undermining the functioning of these areas. Wetuk’s Forest Guardians have been working with traditional institutions and village administration to ensure the sustainability of the forests.

During operations, the Petquk Mehuey organization usually sends three to four personnel into the forest area to take turns on duty for four to five days. During the duty, the rangers carry the necessary tools and consumables to monitor the area and survive in the environment while waiting for other rangers to take over their next shift.

Forest rangers are tasked with protecting the forest and its biodiversity from irresponsible hunters and loggers. To accomplish their mission, rangers typically patrol the forest on foot or by motorcycle. The purpose of patrolling on foot is to traverse areas that are inaccessible to motorcycles.

In addition, rangers have been recording important events encountered during patrols, including the discovery of never-before-seen herbs, the distance traveled each day, the area covered, and the hunters and loggers spotted.

Wetuk said rangers often encounter a variety of wild animals during patrols, such as bears, orangutans, deer, clouded leopards and hornbills. However, she said the organization has not spotted any wild boars since 2020 for unknown reasons.

According to Wetuk, if people want to collect resources stored in the forest, such as rattan, herbs and honey, they need permission from local traditional institutions. Those who cut without permission will be subject to traditional sanctions and penalties.

Furthermore, people are only allowed to collect the right amount of resources to meet the needs of their families. These rules are in place for the sustainability of the forest.

Members of Petquk Mehuay have been working to protect the forest in hopes of providing an adequate supply of clean water, oxygen, and carbon for countless people.

Forest Carbon Fund
The sacrifices and dedication of forest rangers to protect the environment are indeed worthy of praise. In this context, they hope to benefit from carbon trading activities because they have been working voluntarily to ensure that humans have enough oxygen supply.

Petquk Mehuay is one of many similar groups in 83 villages in East Kutai. The East Kalimantan provincial government has issued a letter on the allocation of 25.33 billion rupiah (1.6 million USD) from the Forest Carbon Partnership Fund (FCPF-FC) for East Kutai. As a result, each village will receive approximately 305 million rupiah (19,500 USD).

In addition, 2.18 billion rupiah (139,000 U.S. dollars) will be allocated to reward 26 village governments for their efforts in protecting forests and curbing carbon emissions.

The funds are expected to be disbursed this year and will not only be distributed to forest protection teams but also to various rural institutions. Petkuq Mehuay forest guards plan to use the funds to purchase tools and consumables such as fuel needed for patrols.

Forest guardians hope that the World Bank and related international donor agencies can allocate the expected carbon forest funds as soon as possible so as to further increase efforts to protect the lungs of the earth.

It is important to note that with or without funding, forest guardians and traditional communities will continue to protect forests from illegal poachers and loggers.

Petkuq Mehuay’s 11 years of volunteering have helped people protect forests and biodiversity so that they can benefit from the resources provided by the forests in East Kalimantan, the province where Nusantara, Indonesia’s future capital, is expected to be located.

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