Last year, the SLA strategies continued strengthening the communities’ involvement in and commitment to protection of the forests. It was especially targeted on local farmer groups by up-scaling the benefits of the livelihoods with the use of organic permaculture techniques and hydroponics developed up to the larger production scale. With the support from Boras Conservation Fund in Sweden since 2019, we were able to expand the projects by up-scaling the greenhouse in Toruakat village, Bolaang Mongondow and a new permaculture site in Pinangunian, Bitung.

It is expected that by developing a broader model for community-based conservation, the livelihood approaches will be further integrated into a wide vision to reduce the threats to the local ecosystem while benefiting local communities.

Several households were involved working together to manage the permaculture gardens at Pinangunian village for the past year. Training on how to farm with organic methods through permaculture was delivered to ten families. It was similar in Toruakat village, ten families had been trained and worked together at the hydroponic greenhouse while three households actively maintained the greenhouse.

We hope to support the future development of the permaculture garden in Pinangunian to engage more people and inspire others to consider farming organically. We wish to link them to the suitable stakeholders for them to be able to bring their products to the local market with a sustainable system and get involved in the plan of the local government.