The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

Only a few of the communities have healthcare facilities.Villagers from communities without healthcare facilities go toother communities for treatment. At one point, there were anumber of midwives assigned to each village, but due to theextremely challenging living conditions (unhealthy environment,lack of clean water, etc.) only a few midwives have stayed.In terms of education, village elders did not attend school or, ifthey did, attended only through elementary school. On average,each village has one elementary school building that is poorlymaintained. One exception is the elementary school in Parenvillage, which was renovated recently. The younger generationsnow receive education through high school, but schoolchildrenmust move to Telaga Pulang or Pembuang Hulu to attend. Someteenagers return to their villages after completing high school tohelp their parents. Others work with oil palm companies orbecome boat operators. Still others do not return to theirvillages, instead migrating to towns and cities for otheremployment opportunities.Due to the extreme poverty in the area, many villagers leavetheir communities to look for work elsewhere. At the same time,many migrants have started coming to the area to work with oilpalm companies operating on land near these communities. Anumber of village officials cited these changing population trendsas the principal complicating factor in conducting an accuratecensus of the population.The migrant workers have become a controversial issue withvillagers, who feel that they are reducing local employmentopportunities. All officials interviewed said that the oil palmcompanies prefer to use their own workers rather than trainlocals to work for them. Another common complaint is that oilpalm companies use community land, but the compensation paiddoes not meet the communities’ expectations.Life seems difficult for most of the villagers in the Project Zone.Their access to forests is limited by the expansion of oil palmplantations. They cannot fish when the river is flooded, acondition that is occurring with increasing frequency. Theycannot compete with migrant workers if they wish to work forthe oil palm companies. They cannot afford the day-­‐to-­‐day costof living, which is significantly more expensive than in otherplaces in Indonesia (e.g., gasoline and kerosene are priced threetimes higher here than in cities). They are typically last to knowwhat is happening in the area. In effect, they are being drivenfrom their land.Survey Results1. Bahaur Village. Administratively, Bahaur village is under theHanau Subdistrict, located in the Seruyan District. Bahaur is anold village, established prior to Indonesian Independence in1945. The village, located within 40 minutes of Pembuang Hulu,can be reached via speedboat. It has only one sub-­‐village(dusun), named Manggana. The word Bahaur comes from thePembuang Hulu language, in which it means “banyak hanau” (alot of palm trees, referring to the palm Arenga pinnata).Historically, and through to the present day, the palm has hadsignificant economic value for the Bahaur people, especiallywomen, who process the palm water into brown sugar. Atpresent the price of brown sugar is IDR 15,000/kg when soldlocally. The population is predominantly Dayak Kahayan, withIslam as the dominant religion.32