News

FORCLIME has been supporting the Provincial Government of North Kalimantan to work towards a solution for maintaining both the economic and ecological benefits of the mangrove forests in the Kayan Delta, an area in which shrimp farms can be found in officially designated forest areas.

The Indonesian-German joint project on Forests and Climate Change (FORCLIME) has been training fishermen and farmers on how to map their shrimp farms using the GPS function in their smart-phones. Once data regarding shrimp farm ownership became available, FORCLIME and the local forestry services proposed to turn the shrimp farms located in the forest area into a social forestry scheme based on silvo-aquaculture*.

In silvo-aquaculture, shrimp farms and mangroves are not mutually exclusive but can co-exist within the same area. This approach has been picked up positively. The provincial and national government are now in the stage of developing more concrete plans to establish the social forestry scheme.

*Silvo-aquaculture is defined as a distinct form of land use which involves the integration of trees, crops, pasture and fish farming. The linking of trees and fish culture can help farmers around the world to develop sustainable, low-input farming systems.