PALMOILMAGAZINE, TANJUNG REDEB — The Berau Regency Government has renewed its strategic partnership with the Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN) for the 2025–2030 period, reaffirming their shared commitment to balance environmental conservation with community-based economic growth.
The signing ceremony took place in Tanjung Redeb on October 13, 2025, attended by regional stakeholders. Berau Regent Sri Juniarsih emphasized the importance of synergy between environmental protection and human resource development.
“Berau is blessed with extraordinary natural resources, but without strong human capital, those resources mean little. I want our people to be active participants, not mere spectators, in managing our natural wealth,” Sri said in an official statement received by beige-heron-208544.hostingersite.com on Tuesday (October 14, 2025).
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The renewed five-year collaboration will focus on strengthening local policies, forest and coastal management, biodiversity protection, and empowering local communities, including Indigenous and vulnerable groups. The flagship SIGAP (Inspiring Citizen Action for Change) program will continue to guide village-level initiatives to sustainably manage local potential.
Sri also highlighted the need to develop Berau’s signature local products—such as dried shrimp (ebi), shrimp paste (terasi), and chocolate—hoping these commodities can reach both national and international markets.
“I want these to be recognized as Berau products. We must process and package them ourselves to ensure they’re competitive,” she added.
Two Decades of Conservation Partnership
The partnership between the Berau Regency Government and YKAN dates back to 2002, when YKAN operated under the name The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Over the past two decades, the organization has supported biodiversity conservation and sustainable natural resource management across Berau.
YKAN Executive Director Herlina Hartanto highlighted several key achievements from the past five years. Among them, 77 villages and two subdistricts in Berau received funding from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility–Carbon Fund (FCPF–CF) program—each village receiving Rp349 million, alongside Rp50–70 million in support for 15 community forest groups.
In addition, 31 community forest groups have secured social forestry management rights covering 106,000 hectares—the largest allocation in East Kalimantan. For this, Berau was recognized as the best-performing regency in supporting the National Social Forestry Program (PeSoNa) 2025.
Through the SIGAP Academy, local communities have also been trained to produce value-added goods from sustainable commodities such as chocolate bars, amplang crackers, shrimp paste, dried fish, dried shrimp, rattan crafts, and mangrove batik.
In the marine sector, the establishment of the UPTD KKP3K-KDPS (Derawan Islands and Surrounding Waters) was another milestone in strengthening conservation area governance. YKAN is currently assisting the unit’s transition into a Regional Public Service Agency (BLUD) to ensure sustainable funding.
YKAN has also been restoring 200 hectares of degraded mangrove land through the Shrimp-Carbon Aquaculture (SECURE) model—an innovative approach combining hydrological restoration with community-based aquaculture to improve coastal livelihoods.
“We are proud to continue supporting Berau Regency in realizing sustainable development. This collaboration is not only about conservation—it’s about ensuring a more prosperous future for local communities,” Herlina said. (P2)
