Livelihood‐oriented interventions and gender considerations of 25 years of social‐ecological peatland restoration in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Introduction

We examined how tropical peatland restoration initiatives have evolved over 25 years, particularly in their approach to livelihood contributions and women's participation.

Objectives

Using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF), we analyze the peatland‐restoration initiatives based on project documents, examining their short‐ and long‐term contributions to livelihood capitals and the extent to which women's participation was considered in livelihood‐supporting activities.

Methods

We reviewed the gray and academic literature documenting livelihood‐supporting interventions associated with peatland restoration conducted between 2000 and 2024 in three villages in the Kapuas district, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. These degraded peatlands—part of the former Mega Rice Project—have high carbon sequestration potential and biodiversity values. Project interventions were disaggregated into site‐specific livelihood activities and assessed based on their intended contributions to SLF capitals. These findings were complemented by primary household census data to understand livelihood conditions and project participation.

Results

Over two decades, restoration efforts in three villages in Kapuas District, as described in project documents, have evolved from infrastructure‐based peatland rehabilitation projects and basic livelihood support (2002–2013) to more diversified, community‐based, and livelihood‐oriented activities, and, although uneven, somewhat more gender inclusive activities (2014–2024).

Yet despite decades of intervention, our household census data indicate that livelihoods are increasingly shifting away from forest‐ and agriculture‐based livelihoods toward precarious extractive and other non‐farm forms of income generation. This reveals the challenges of a degraded socio‐ecological system in which externally driven peatland degradation has narrowed local livelihood opportunities, yet restoration efforts have not reached all social groups to fulfill their local livelihood needs, to support sustainable livelihoods.

Conclusions

Effective peatland restoration requires integrated approaches that strengthen multiple livelihood capitals, ensure equitable access to benefits, and account for the temporal and cultural dimensions of livelihood change to support effective and resilient social and ecological outcomes.