Measuring the effects of community-led governance on forest cover disturbance in Kalimantan, Indonesia - a quantitative impact assessment of Planet Indonesia’s forest conservation approach

Since 2017, Yayasan Planet Indonesia (YPI), a non-governmental organization, has partnered with rural villages in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, by providing on-going, holistic support to locally led governance bodies. YPI’s approach has included strengthening the villages’ organizational development, setting up village savings/loans groups and rotating business funds, expanding village access to education and healthcare, and supporting village forest and sustainable fisheries management. Research objectives for this paper include: (1) Estimating the average annual reduction in forest cover disturbances, in hectares and percent, that was caused by the implementation of YPI’s community-led governance approach; and (2) Characterizing (a) uncertainty from sampling variability; and (b) uncertainty from hidden bias (i.e., design-based uncertainty) (following Cinelli & Hazlett, 2020) with regard to the estimated sign and magnitude of the impact of YPI’s community-led governance approach.