Establish Government-Led Working Groups
Challenge
Conserving forests and species across large, multi-use landscapes is difficult, requiring commitment from multiple stakeholders. NGOs are often the least resourced stakeholder, and there are limits to what they can achieve. In an increasingly uncertain funding environment, there is a risk that initiatives fail to get off the ground.
Solution
The government is the ultimate authority in all land use decisions in Indonesia and should be involved in strategies from the beginning.We do this via the establishment of government-led working groups. Through these working groups, which are facilitated by the government with Sangga Bumi’s support, landscape stakeholders are brought together to advance relevant conservation and sustainable development objectives.
Progress
In 2025, Sangga Bumi established the West Kalimantan Small Cat Working Groupwith the West Kalimantan Nature Conservation Resource Agency (Balai Konservasi Sumber Saya Alam).
We established the working group after identifying that Bentarum was habitat of the Sunda leopard cat (Prionailurus javanensis), Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps), and the marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata). The fifth, the Bay cat (Catopuma badia), has not yet been seen.
Bentarum appears to be particularly key for the flat-headed cat. Rarely documented publicly, we have seen it, photographed it and obtained camera trap images from Sungai Ajung (in Bentarum’s west) and Banua Tanga (in Bentarum’s east). However, there is a dearth of information about the flat-headed cat’s distribution in the wider province, or the success of conservation intervention. This makes it difficult to contextualise Bentarum’s population or assess the viability of potential interventions.
Through the Working Group, we are identifying small cat distribution throughout West Kalimantan. This will lead to the development a province-wide strategic plan for small cat conservation. Bentarum has been identified as a priority conservation area. The support of the Nature Conservation Resource Agency will aid conservation efforts.