The Blue Earth Summit in London showed the world premiere of Batutegi: Seeds of Hope, a visually stunning 29-minute documentary, shone a light on the urgent fight to save one of Indonesia’s most biodiverse ecosystems.
The Batutegi Protection Forest covers an area of more than 58,000 hectares in Lampung Province, home to Sumatran tigers, Sunda pangolins, Malayan tapirs, sun bears, clouded leopards and over 200 bird species. It is also a vital resource for people, feeding rivers that provide water and fertile soils for farming. But Batutegi is under pressure. Agriculture has consumed almost 9,000 hectares over the last four decades, especially for coffee expansion. Today, the remaining intact core forest is just 11,000 hectares.
Lack of opportunities is the underlying issue for many local communities. When there are few alternatives, families have resorted to forest clearance to survive. But as the forest disappears, so too does food security, clean water and soil fertility, and people become trapped in a cycle of vulnerability.
That’s why we support the efforts of our Indonesian partner Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI) and the Forestry Department of Lampung Province to put in place a new approach that weaves together forest protection, livelihoods, education, science and governance.
Batutegi: Seeds of hope
Our film Batutegi: Seeds of Hope is not a typical nature documentary. It is a story of resilience, told by the communities themselves. The film shows that conservation can improve livelihoods, empower women and give young people opportunities. At the same time it saves forests and species which are irreplaceable.
Our work goes beyond saving individual animals. We aim to protect whole ecosystems and the people who rely on them for their way of life. We do that not just through protection on the ground but also by reaching out to communities and using education to help them take steps to reduce their dependence on destructive practices, and become champions of conservation themselves.
What can we do?
For organisations, today, employees want employers to be environmental stewards, and it does impact, with 27 % of respondents saying a company’s environmental position would influence their decision to accept a job offer. In a global survey by Deloitte, 69 % of workers stated they would like to see their companies invest in sustainability, including in efforts to reduce carbon emissions and waste and around 70 % of employees say they would feel more loyal to a company that enabled them to do good for the environment in a meaningful way.
When a company’s employees can see a genuine, aligned commitment to the environment, morale is strengthened, productivity and profits rise, but organisations need to “walk the talk” on the planet.
The good news is that doing so can be quite simple. One approach is via partnerships with already fully certified companies, such as 1% for the Planet, which offers an easy-to-use, powerful platform to help align capital with climate and embed a purpose around the environment into the DNA of a company.
If we can learn to live alongside animals and nature in harmony, we can protect the planet. And if we protect the planet, we are protecting ourselves. That is the future we are determined to build, one seed, one forest, one community at a time.
Find out more about or to support our work, please visit www.internationalanimalrescue.org