What the World Can Learn from Indigenous Women Restoring Kalimantan’s Forests
In one of the world’s most threatened regions, Indigenous women in Kalimantan are not only restoring ancient ecosystems — they are modeling a future where thriving landscapes and just communities grow together.
“We, Indigenous people, are restoring our ecosystem to protect what is valuable to us: nature and our family.”
— Ibu Mardiana, Indigenous women leader from Central Kalimantan
In Indonesia’s East Barito Regency of Central Kalimantan, the scars of coal mining run deep. Forests once alive with birdsong and fertile soils have been stripped, poisoned, and left barren. Although mining companies operating over the past several decades were legally obligated to restore these lands, little meaningful action followed.
But the Dayak Ma’ayan people of Gunung Karasik refused to let their land fall into silence. Guided by ancestral wisdom, they are leading a grassroots movement of ecological restoration. At the heart of this effort are Indigenous women, whose leadership weaves together the future of their forests, their communities, and the cultural knowledge that sustains them.
Central Kalimantan’s forests are part of one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. More than a quarter of the island’s 14,000+ known plant species are found nowhere else, and its jungles shelter rare and endangered wildlife — from clouded leopards and rhinoceros hornbills to the critically endangered orangutan. These forests sustain life in countless ways: providing water, storing carbon, and offering a home to communities and wildlife alike.
But today, these forests face growing pressures. In 2024, Kalimantan accounted for nearly half of Indonesia’s deforestation, as industries like mining, logging, and palm oil plantations cleared vast tracts of land. Peat-rich wetlands, which once held water like sponges and kept carbon locked safely in the ground, are being drained and degraded. Each dry season, fires sweep through these altered landscapes, reshaping both the forests themselves and the lives of the people who depend on them.
For Dayak communities, these pressures cut to the heart of daily life. Ways of living rooted in reciprocity with the forest are becoming harder to sustain. Women, as the ones who gather food, medicines, and water, are among the first to feel the impacts of ecological decline. Yet they are also at the forefront of the response. Drawing on generations of ecological knowledge, Dayak women are leading restoration efforts — protecting forests, renewing food systems, and sustaining the future of their families and communities.
From Local Roots to Global Lessons
What is happening in Central Kalimantan echoes across Indigenous territories worldwide. Around the world, forests are disappearing — cleared for extraction, large-scale agriculture, and short-term profit. Each year, the world loses nearly 10 million hectares of forest — an area the size of Portugal — and this destruction drives about 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. With every lost acre, we accelerate climate disruption, erase irreplaceable species, and displace communities whose lives and knowledge are inseparable from the land.
In the face of this crisis, Indigenous women continue to lead. More than half (54%) of the world’s remaining intact forest landscapes lie within the customary lands of Indigenous peoples and local communities. And as Indigenous women leaders have shown, their knowledge and leadership is particularly important for ensuring lasting conservation and the care of ecosystems that sustain us all.
The Mother Tree Program in Action
One powerful example of this is Women’s Earth Alliance’s and Replant World’s Mother Tree Program in Kalimantan, which supports community-led restoration anchored in Indigenous women’s leadership. Replant World, founded in 2022, advances Indigenous women-led restoration efforts through ten community-based projects that span direct funding, sustainable ecotourism, and place-based educational initiatives. Its long-term vision is clear: strengthen food security and build resilient local economies by planting hardwoods alongside fruit-bearing trees, encouraging mutual relationships that reflect the communities’ deep commitment to protecting and restoring their forests.
The Mother Tree Program focuses on documenting and protecting Kalimantan’s most ancient keystone species — like red balau (Shorea balangeran, vulnerable), red durian (Durio graveolens, vulnerable), Kalimantan Mango (Mangifera casturi, extinct in the wild), Ironwood (Eusideroxylon zwageri, vulnerable, jelutung, and sandalwood — trees vital to biodiversity and deeply significant to the Dayak people. By mapping these trees and their surrounding ecosystems, women are creating a living record of Kalimantan’s threatened landscapes, guiding restoration while ensuring that cultural knowledge remains alive.
This vision is being realized in living soil. Drawing on traditional ecological practices, the Dayak Ma’ayan are using native plants to heal poisoned ground, while bamboo and fruit trees are reviving forest structure. In community nurseries, women lead restoration work that feeds families and strengthens livelihoods. Elders pass land wisdom to youth — in seed, story, and ceremony — sustaining both forest and future.
Blending Tradition with Innovation
While these practices are rooted in tradition, new tools are amplifying their reach. Through POPtech, a participatory monitoring technology, communities record each tree planted — its species, location, and timing — creating a decentralized, transparent record of stewardship.
The Mother Tree Program also uses blockchain technology to track each stage of reforestation and convert this data into NFTs — unique digital assets that represent the carbon and ecological value of restored forests. By selling these NFTs directly in global markets, women can access new sources of income while keeping financial benefits within their communities, avoiding the extractive dynamics common in traditional carbon markets.By intertwining restoration with economic opportunity, WEA and Replant World are showing a scalable model of conservation and climate resilience that prioritizes transparency, equity, and local ownership.
A Model the World Cannot Ignore
In one of the world’s most threatened regions, Indigenous women are not only restoring ancient ecosystems — they are modeling a future where thriving landscapes and just communities grow together. Their leadership is not an outlier — it’s essential. In a world searching for solutions, Indigenous women — like mother trees — are showing us the way forward, rooted in care, connection, and resilience.
By Sumarni Laman, WEA Program Lead
Sumarni Laman is Head of Indigenous Partnerships at Replant World and Project Lead for the Mother Tree Project, in collaboration with Women’s Earth Alliance. An Indigenous climate youth advocate, she empowers young people and Indigenous communities to protect forests and address deforestation, fires, and mining. She was part of the first WEA Accelerator cohort in Indonesia and was named one of the 16 Women Restoring the Earth by the Global Landscape Forum in 2022. In 2023, she became a Mountaintop Fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics.
