Association Kalaweit

Our Mission

The Kalaweit Association has been working for the protection of biodiversity in Indonesia since 1997. It creates protected areas and gives a second chance to animals victims of wildlife trafficking in Borneo and Sumatra. It works closely with local populations to protect their forests from destruction caused by palm oil plantations or the establishment of coal, gold or nickel mines. It has already saved more than 2,000 hectares of forest where exceptional biodiversity lives: gibbons, outan oranges, siamangs, nasics, Malay bears, Sumatra tigers, Asian tapirs, nebulous panthers, pangolins, etc. About 350 gibbons, siamangs, bears, crocodiles are placed in its 3 care centres, some will even be released. It employs 66 people in Indonesia, all employees are hired locally, and one in France. We are looking for financial support to enlarge the area of the forests we protect, one hectare costs between 1,200 and 1,400 depending on the area in which it is located. The plots are purchased from families who wish to sell them to us, with the agreement of the village leader. We propose to buy them at the market price, to protect them, unlike the palm oil companies that buy the land to destroy them and plant oil palm trees. The Dulan Reserve in Borneo, created by Kalaweit in 2019, is home to wildlife that has found refuge in it, there are 60 orang-outans, about 200 gibbons and many other species. In Sumatra, the creation of the Supayang Reserve by Kalaweit in 2012 allowed the Sumatra tigers to return to live there, they had disappeared from the area for several decades. Once the land was acquired by Kalaweit, everything was returned to the local population. Villagers can continue to benefit from the services provided by the forest (collection of rotting, fruit harvesting, etc.) but they can no longer hunt or cut trees there. We need to extend the Dulan Reserve by 1,000 hectares of forest and the Supayang reserve by 400 hectares.