The Upper Baram Forest Area consist of 18 Penan villages, 8 Kenyah, 1 kelabit and 1 Saban and the villages are geographically scattered over an area of 283,500 hectares. The Upper Baram, Sarawak is known to be prone to several natural disasters, including floods, landslides, and forest fires. Floods are a common occurrence during the rainy season, which typically lasts from October to March. In May 2021, incessant and heavy rainfall caused flooding in the upper Baram district, resulting in road closures and evacuations of residents from affected longhouses and villages. Landslides are also a concern in the hilly terrain of the region, particularly during the rainy season. In 2019, a landslide in the upper Baram forest area caused the closure of the Baram Highway, which connects the area to the rest of Sarawak. Forest fires are another natural disaster that can occur in the region, particularly during the dry season. In 2019, several forest fires were reported in the upper Baram forest area, leading to air pollution and health concerns for loca residents.
Therefore, this project proposal aims to promote community empowerment in forest management and forest landscape restoration within the Uppper Baram Forest Area, in order to establish sustainable livelihoods and resilient communities that can help reduce the vulnerability of villages to natural disasters. By promoting sustainable forest management practices and diversifying livelihoods, villages can adapt to changing conditions and become less reliant on limited income sources. The project’s development objective is to contribute to the sustainable management of Upper Baram Forests for resilient local communities and ecosystems. Specifically, the project seeks to empower local communities in forest management and landscape restoration, thereby promoting sustainable livelihoods. To achieve these objectives, the project will focus on two main outputs namely i) empowering and training local communities in sustainable forest management and community-based ecotourism, and ii) enhancing collaborative forest landscape restoration (FLR) through local community participation and supportive policy development.