Understanding the interactions between human well-being and environmental outcomes through a community-led integrated landscape initiative in Indonesia

Abstract

There is a growing movement among conservation practitioners, academics, and resource managers that impactful management systems must be locally-led and account for a diverse range of legal, economic, social, political, and environmental factors. Calls have been made for integrated approaches that focus on local needs and opportunities among resource-users. In this research we evaluate outcomes of an integrated initiative at the local level in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. A multi-method approach led to evaluations in outcomes of human well-being, environmental integrity, and overall participation. We found that in the protected areas forest loss was lower in treatment sites compared to control areas. In intervention sites, we found that poaching, illegal logging, and encroachment encounter rates were negatively correlated with indicators of participation in the ILI and improvements in human well-being. Our results suggest that locally-led approaches can produce positive cross-sectoral outcomes for biodiversity and human well-being.