Background

The Sebangau–Katingan Landscape in Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo, is one of the island’s most ecologically important regions. Covering 2.35 million hectares—about 15% of Central Kalimantan’s forest cover—it provides essential ecosystem services such as clean water, clean air, and food for local communities. The area includes two national parks: Sebangau National Park, known for its vast peat swamp forests and immense carbon stores, and Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park, a highly biodiverse area within the Heart of Borneo initiative. Together, these forests form part of one of the planet’s richest biodiversity strongholds.

Despite its significance, the landscape faces mounting threats from oil palm expansion, mining, illegal logging, and fires—resulting in an average annual loss of 22,000 hectares of forest between 1990 and 2020. Sebangau–Katingan is also one of the last remaining refuges for Bornean orang-utans, including the world’s largest wild population of around 10,000 individuals. Protecting the landscape’s remaining 1.1 million hectares of intact forest and restoring connectivity between fragmented areas is critical to safeguard wildlife, maintain ecosystem services, and reduce human–wildlife conflict.