GUNUNG PALUNG ORANGUTAN CONSERVATION PROGRAM - Q1 2019 PROGRESS UPDATE:
Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program (GPOCP) continues to make great strides in their work to conserve orangutan populations and forest habitat in and around Gunung Palung National Park. During Q1 2019, the organization created an online catalog of their NTPF products (Non-Timber Forest Products) for local and foreign tourists to place orders, met with new members of GPCOP’s organic farming cooperative, Meteor Garden, to discuss organic farming practices, produced and packaged their first batches of honey, coconut oil and coffee as part of GPOCP’s Customary Forest initiative! GPOCP’s aquaculture group also made headway towards establishing a catfish breeding program and best practices methodology. In addition, the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program was thrilled to announce that the Head of the Regency in Kayong Utara officially signed a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) together with NTPF- EP Indonesia (Non-Timber Forest Products- Exchange Program); officially supporting local sustainable livelihoods in West Borneo to empower and benefit both the people and the forest.
Apart from all these initiatives, GPOCP also made headway with their goal of educating the community about orangutans and their rainforest habitat. In meeting this goal through the quarter, they offered six one-week long environmental expeditions engaging over 2,379 students in total and provided 11 school lectures to 1,308 students. They also put on 21 puppet shows for 1,071 kindergarteners and engaged 265 adults through 12 community discussions. Through their educational mobile cinema events they reached 2,087 people. In addition, they held 18 field trips for 813 students and launched an inaugural new volunteer youth group in Ketapang through carrying out a Field Trip for 13 new members inducted into this youth group called ‘’Tajam’’. They also made time to broadcast 57 radio shows discussing orangutans, their rainforest habitat, and conservation and research activities conducted by GPOCP and lastly they published 126 articles in online and print media about current issues impacting conservation in Indonesia and GPOCP activities. Quite impressive all the great work GPOCP achieved this quarter!
Project Name: Protecting Orangutans through Education and Sustainable Livelihoods
Organization Name: Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program
Year Grant Awarded: 2017
Progress Update: Quarter 1, 2019 Project Update