educating the next generation of forest guardians

| Annual Report 2018

EDUCATING THE

NEXT GENERATION

OF FOREST GUARDIANS


WELCOME Without the kindness we have received from friends, supporters and strangers, The Jungle Library Project could never have existed. This truly is a collaborative project founded on a common purpose: a love for wildlife and the protection of the natural world. From the fundraiser we launched at the beginning of 2018, we received more than €5,000, which was enough to support our education programme for a whole year. Every cent went towards conservation activities in South Sumatra. Our activities also received a stamp of approval from the Biodiversity and Conservation Agency of South Sumatra and the provincial education boards of Lahat Regency and Musi Rawas Regency, who gave us access, accommodation and support. We were further aided and supported by NGOs such as Green-Books.org, the International Palm Oil Free Certified Accreditation Programme, WildArk, OVAID and the Sumatran Sun Bear Team. Thanks to everyone’s help, we were able to bring our education programme to 192 pupils from 11 schools in the border zones of the Kerinci Seblat National Park (two schools) and the Isau-Isau Pasemah Wildlife Reserve (nine schools).

The funding also gave us a chance to carry out side-projects such as the Mobile Library Programme, for which I dragged eco-literacy books to the riverside for some reading after school. Thanks to a donation of binoculars, I was able to take students to go bird watching in the Kerinci Sebalt National Park, which helped them to understand the vital role of birds in the cycle of life. Another side-project carried out this year was the Flora Conservation Act, for which I rescued wild and rare orchids from land cleared for plantations near the Kerinci Seblat National Park — none of this would have happened without your help. In this report you will learn more about our curriculum, read some of our success stories and see how our students did in their pre-tests and post-tests, jumping from an average score of 34% to 71%. We achieved great things. And more is to come. My heartfelt thanks goes out to all who supported us, helped us and believed in us this year! Pungky Nanda Pratama The Jungle Library Project Environmental Educator & Co-founder


INTRODUCTION Sumatra is one of the most biodiverse hotspots on earth. The tropical island in the Indonesian archipelago is home to some magnificent species — like the Sumatran tiger, Sumatran rhino, Sumatran elephant, Sumatran orangutan, Sumatran srow, sun bear, clouded leopard, Sumatran dhole and many, many more.. The Jungle Library Project is an environmental education programme for

children living in regions undergoing intense deforestation and human-wildlife conflict. Through a comprehensive environmental education programme, we try to encourage a new relationship between people and nature — one that is susustainable and mutually-beneficial.

Existing Environmental Issues Logging, poaching and illegal plantations are rife all over the Indonesian archipelago. Even inside the national parks, where virgin rainforest should flourish, wild animals are still wrenched into the illegal pet trade, and trees are still toppled to make way for profit. Faced with higher living costs for education, motorbikes and electricity, modernisation has pushed the indigenous people who live on the border of some of Indonesia’s last green wildernesses to find

new sources of income. Villagers are increasingly forced to cut, traffic and sell their natural wealth — oftentimes illegally so. We at The Jungle Library Project do not want to condemn villagers, many of whom are doing their best to provide for their families. The problem is that if their children grow up with this way of life, it becomes the norm.

Villagers in Musi Rawas regency recklessly cut down trees on a hillside to make space for

a new coffee plantation — all illegal, and inside the Kerinci Seblat National Park.

A father of one of Pungky’s students in Musi Rawas Regency killed a rare

and protected hornbill for food — also illegal.


Solution In an interview with Mongabay in January 2017, Pungky was quoted as saying: “If the local society is not educated, we can give any amount of money to save a rainforest, and conservation won’t go anywhere. Conservation and education must go hand-in-hand.” Though not usually up there as a high priority in conservation, education is one of the keys to counteracting the destructive practices that threaten the health of environment. We have therefore developed a comprehensive environmental education programme, which aims to support the government’s designation of wildlife refuges and national parks through the education of the villagers

living inside or near such areas. We hope that they will take up alternative career paths that conserve, rather than destroy the natural world, and become guardians of the forests that still provide many Indonesians with clean water, food and protection from environmental disasters. Thanks to the success of our fundraiser, in March 2018 we were able to carry out our environmental education programme in 11 schools in two areas within the province of South Sumatra:

• Isau-Isau Pasemah Wildlife Reserve (Pagar Gunung District, Lahat Regency)

• Kerinci Seblat National Park (Selangit District, Musi Rawas Regency)


EDUCATION PROGRAMME Since March 2018, we have taken 192 pupils through our education programme. Target: 8- to 10-year-olds. (4th to 6th grade students in Indonesia.) Teaching: Two hour lessons, twice a month, for nine months — 36 hours. Method: The Jungle Library Project’s education programme — five main topics areas, including indoor and outdoor classes:

1. Our Forest, Our Life 2. Animals and Their Lives 3. The Importance of Rivers to Our

Lives and the Ecosystem 4. Trash, Pollution and the Solution 5. Human-wildlife Conflict

The aim is for the future generation to take on sustainable career paths rather than endangering their own lives with landslides, flooding, food shortages, forest fires and devastating drops in the water table. These are the consequences of deforestation and the collapse of ecosystems.

A pupil observing the parts of plant during a lesson on Our Forest, Our Life.

Pupils learning about the role of rivers in the ecosystem.

Pupils learning about the roles of insects in a plantation.

Puplis doing a village clean-up to learn about rubbish and pollution.


Programme Aims

Educational Impact:

Based on the education we share, we hope the students will become our messengers, spreading clear information to friends, parents and family around their villages. The younger generation will be next generation of forest guardians, so the best way to raise awareness is by creating a generation that is already aware. Our education programme is guaranteed to teach students essential knowledge about the natural world, and make the younger generation more open-minded towards nature. Slowly but surely, they will become aware about the environmental issues in their area and will discontinue their parents’ damaging practices. As a result, parents will start to think twice before participating in illegal activities or other activities that destroy their biodiversity, land and water.

Ecological Impact: We hope the young generation will choose alternative career paths, reducing poaching and deforestation, and so slowly re-generate the forest that was lost. Supported by reforestation programmes, this could be done even faster. We want to invite people to work work together in this aim in the coming years. Social Impact: The education programme will clear up misconceptions about nature with scientific facts, making way for open discussions that will change the mindsets of the people that are currently destroying the forest. We hope that in time, behaviours will change and become more environmentally-friendly. Our education programme will make people realize how delicate our ecosystem is, and how important our role is in protecting it.

Dodi (Left) and Bilal (Right) helping to collect and plant Balam seeds for a

reforestation initiative.

Beni with a little turtle that he got from his father as a pet, but decided to release back

to the wild.


SUCCESS STORIES Rio the Malayan Racer Widi and the softshell turtle “This story happened right at the beginning of the education programme in a school near to the Kerinci Seblat National Park, when we rescued a little snake, a Malayan racer (Coelognathus flavolineatus), in front of my house together with some local children. I decided to give him the name ‘Rio’, to let the children familiarise themselves and not be scared of snakes.

Earlier in the day, I heard yelling outside and I saw there was a snake fighting a big chicken. I saw some of the children trying to kill the snake by throwing stones and branches at it. Immediately, I jumped out of my seat and ran as fast as I could to stop them.

The children throwing stones and branches asked me, “Why did you stop us killing this venomous snake?” I told them that certain kinds of snake do not have any venom — such as this one. I felt so proud when one of my students among them said: “Snakes eat rats on our plantations and our paddy fields, so we must not kill them all!” Indeed, snakes are often referred to as a farmer’s best friend in Indonesia. After that, I tried to teach them to identify between venomous and non-venomous snakes, and what we should do when seeing a snake or getting bitten.

Some of children became very curious, and looked long and hard at the snake. I let them touch it — for some it was the first time in their life, and I saw a beautiful response. Some of them said its skin was so soft, and its eyes so cool! A few were still scared to touch it... gotcha! I will make sure to take them on an outing to find more reptiles.”

“This story happened right at the end of the education programme, in December 2018, in the Germidar Ilir primary school near to the Isau-Isau Pasemah Wildlife Reserve.

I was shocked one day when one of my pupils named Widi, aged nine, brought in a softshell turtle (Amyda cartilaginea) to school, and all the children started shrieking with delight. Widi came straight up to me though and said to me, “Look Kakak [older brother], a softshell turtle! I found it stuck in a plastic bag after heavy rain flooded the river.” What really moved me were his following words: “Can we release it together in the little river in front of the school after class, Kakak?” Of course I said yes! And after class a number of other students came to release it with us. There were three streams in front of the school, and Widi chose the one with the least plastic in it because he was afraid of the turtle getting caught in it again. This was a great example of how pupils who would before ignore, kill for fun or take a softshell turtle pet are now learning how important they are for the river ecostystem, and willing to take care of them.”


34 32 34 32 3034

30 30

4044 42 40 38

32 3430 30

7872 74 72 70

7668

50

7884

7882

7670

6460 62

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Knowledge Improvement of Merindu Village Children Pre-TestPost-TestScore

Name

40 40 34 36 32 34 34 38 38

78 8274 76 72 76 74 78 74

0102030405060708090

Abin Dius Mardalena Fariz Frisra Ahmad Yeila Ragil Cinta

Knowledge Improvement of Penantian Village Children Pre-TestPost-Test

Score

Name40 4034 36 32 34 34 38 38

78 8274 76 72 76 74 78 74

0102030405060708090

Abin Dius Mardalena Fariz Frisra Ahmad Yeila Ragil Cinta

Knowledge Improvement of Penantian Village Children Pre-TestPost-Test

Score

Name

RESULTS After a year of running our education programme in South Sumatra, all of the students we taught showed a significant increase in their awareness about nature and wildlife. Some of the students now invite Pungky to release wild animals that they saved from their parents — animals like song birds, turtles, soft shell turtles and even slow lorises. One thing that clearly indicates an improvement in their knowledge is the difference between their pre-test and post-test results. They got very low scores for the pre-test — averaging 34% — but after going through the programme with us

their scores greatly improved — averaging 71%. This was seen in their post-test scores (shown below). Here are a few examples of questions asked during the tests:

• What’s the function of a tree in a forest ecosystem?

• What are the signs of a healthy river? • What’s the best way to deal with a wild

animal that comes into your garden? • What happens when a forest is destroyed? • Can you give an example of a protected

species?

Isau-Isau Pasemah Nature Reserve


34 32 34 32 3034

30 30

4044 42 40 38

32 3430 30

7872 74 72 70

7668

50

7884

7882

7670

6460 62

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Knowledge Improvement of Merindu Village Children Pre-TestPost-TestScore

Name

38 40 34 4032

42 4032 36 42 42

34 30 34 32 30 30

84 8876 78

68

8472 78 76

84 8270 68 72

64 62 64

0102030405060708090100

Knowledge Improvement of Siring Agung Village Children Pre-TestPost-Test

Score

Name

32 30 34 36 32 32 34 34 36 32 34 3238 36 32 32 34 36 38

62 6068 70

76 74 76 76 74 70 72 74 76 7664

70 70 7278

0102030405060708090

Knowledge Improvement of Germidar Ilir Village Children Pre-Test

Post-TestScore

Name

33343232323236323234323632323234343234323234363646

6565767670

78777677727480707880787878767680827880

88

0102030405060708090100

Ardio

Rois

Andre

Adrian

Hajri

Nauvan

Zaki

Uzaki

Nopan

Agung

Anti

Jorgy

Chyntiya

Engga

Maririn

Anggi

Shera

Adel

Andre

Mipta

Aulia

Wira

Aldi

Benny

Fareil

Knowledge Improvement of Padang Village Children Pre-TestPost-Test

Score

Name


32 3036 36 32

40 42

68 68 64 60 6470

76

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Amat Tiya Ririn Sefti Tesa Ergi Heru

Knowledge Improvement of Germidar Ulu Village Children Pre-Test

Post-TestScore

Name

40323034

363034

363034

36343034323032303432304240

78

6462687070726872

7476747072747068727276

688078

0102030405060708090

Knowledge Improvement of Lesung Batu Village Children Pre-TestScore

Name

30 32 34 30 32 3438 34 32 32 36 30 34 32 34

3832 36 34 36 34

40 36

60 62 62 60 6474 76 72 70 70 68 70 68

7670 70

64 6874

68 7078

68

0102030405060708090

Knowledge Improvement nof Air Lingkar Village Children Pre-TestPost-Test

Name

Score


32 34 36 36 38 36 36 34 34 36 34 32 3242

3442

32 36

5260 66

78 78 76 74 78 76 76 74 72 70 6880

6680

68 70

88

0102030405060708090100

Knowledge Improvement Of Sawah Darat Children

Pre-Test

Post-TestScore

Name

4032

40

22

36 34 30 32 30 34 3438

30 30 32 30

4234 30

46

30 32 32

72 6876

62

76 7868

7868

78 74 76 70 6874 70

8576

68

90

6268

78

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Knowledge Improvemen of Batu Gane Village ChildrenPre-Test

Post-Test

Score

Name

30 30 34 36 32 34 3024 28

34

68 66 68 6470 68 64 66 70

75

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Triani Farid Yus Wiyan Suci Ahmad Widia Ragil Siti Supi

Knowledge Improvement of Sri Pengantin Village Children

Pre-TestPost-TestScore

Name

Kerinci Seblat National Park


SUPPORT AND COLLABORATION Government This year began our collaboration with The Biodiversity and Conservation Agency of South Sumatra. They gave Pungky a permit for our education programme and for Pungky’s side-project the Flora Conservation Act (see our website). The Agency also gave Pungky legal recognition and registered him a Local Conservationist in South Sumatra. People We have the support of numerous people from all around the world who follow our progress through social media and on our website. On top of that, we have support from the chiefs of the local villages as well as local teachers to carry out our education programme — many times local teachers

act as translators, since not all pupils have a good grasp of Bahasa Indonesia. NGO We have support from Green-Books.org, who gave us eco-literacy books to use in Pungky’s side-project, the Mobile Library Programme. They also gave us binoculars for our birdwatching activities to raise awareness about the destructive trade in songbirds in Indonesia. We also have support from WildArk Conservation Australia. They have published our story on their page, and are committed to publish all of our activity on conservation work.

Binoculars donated by green-books.org.

Books donated by green-books.org.

A visit from the Agricultural and Forestry Management Authority of Musi Rawas

District, South Sumatra. .

Devon Diercks (Netherlands), volunteered and helped us with teaching

the children.


NEXT STEPS Our goals for 2019 are as follows:

• Establish a legal, nationally and internationally registered foundation that will encompass The Jungle Library Project as well as other side-projects including the Sumatra Camera Trap Project (a side-project in collaboration with a British university student), the Mobile Library Programme and the Flora Conservation Act.

• Launch another fundraiser in January 2019 for the coming year, and thereafter secure a reliable source of funding.

• Receive the support of the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

• Train university students living near areas of human-wildlife conflict and bio-diversity hotspots to use teach environmental education and volunteer with The Jungle Library Project.

• Hire fixed staff to work full-time as environmental educators in other areas of human-wildlife conflict.

• Publish a booklet containing The Jungle Library Project’s environmental education curriculum, tests and a teaching manual.

Let’s work harder in 2019 to secure a sustainable world for the next generation!

educating the next generation of forest guardians

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