Community Partnership

With over 40,000 people living in and around RER – 17,000 people in Kampar Peninsula and 24,000 on Padang Island – the RER project team invests considerable time and resources to working with the local communities to ensure that traditional activities like fishing and the gathering of honey are protected, small businesses are supported, and that people are informed about the importance of the environment and biodiversity conservation.

A key tenet of the landscape approach to conservation is community engagement and involvement. RER’s partners place significant emphasis on community-level involvement, which is important to ensure a sense of shared purpose and ownership in the project.

Community involvement in the protection, planning and management of the conservation area is essential, and ensures that traditional activities like fishing or the gathering of honey are preserved, while creating employment and related small business opportunities which are an important part of the long-term sustainability model.

In addition, RER focuses on education so that the community understands the importance of the environment and biodiversity conservation and restoration. It is important to the long-term sustainability of the project that we demonstrate how conservation can create local economic prosperity from diversified employment to social benefits.