Nanga Lauk Village Forest — Plan Vivo Avoided-Deforestation Project (West Kalimantan, Indonesia)

Nanga Lauk, a village in Kapuas Hulu District, West Kalimantan, relies on surrounding riparian and peat-swamp rainforest for fishing, honey production and timber. Facing pressure from logging and mining interests, the village secured a 25-year Hutan Desa (Village Forest) management permit from the Indonesian government in 2017, granting residents legal rights to protect and benefit from the forest.

Protect peat-swamp and riparian forest from deforestation while generating income for 234 participating households through certified carbon credits.

PRCF Indonesia coordinates the project with the village forest unit LPHD Lauk Bersatu, protecting 1,430 hectares of core peat-swamp, marsh and lake habitat plus an additional 8,618 hectares of Limited Production Forest through avoided-deforestation activities. The project is certified under the Plan Vivo Standard (PV Climate Version 4) — Indonesia's first Plan Vivo project.

Plan Vivo's public registry records 3,488 Plan Vivo Certificates (each representing one tonne of CO2-equivalent avoided or sequestered) issued to date, independently audited under the standard's annual verification cycle. No species-level biodiversity monitoring or quantified hydrological metrics have been published alongside the carbon figures.

As Indonesia's first Plan Vivo-certified project, Nanga Lauk offers a replicable governance template combining legal village forest tenure with independently audited carbon certification, though biodiversity and hydrological co-benefits remain unmeasured.