OUR WORK
Nature based solutions Sdn. Bhd. (NBS) works with communities, landowners, state governments, funders and the private sector to secure green financing opportunities that enable the conservation of our most important habitats. Our current project portfolio consists of:
Kenyir For Life is the latest incarnation of the conservation work first initiated by Rimba to protect the Kenyir watershed in the state of Terengganu, continuing the work started under the Kenyir Wildlife Corridor project, and later Project Black Cloud and the Harimau Selamanya project.
Working closely with the Terengganu State Parks Management Council (TSPMC), KFL consists of several different project partners (projects and organisations) each covering different components of the park’s management and protection — coordinating different conservation activities, engaging local communities and monitoring biodiversity to ensure the total protection of the area.
Protecting more forest is conditional upon creating sustainable financing mechanisms. The project aims to channel investments to achieve four main outcomes:
•Biodiversity conservation
•Climate change mitigation
•Local community empowerment and education
•Improved management of the Kenyir State Park
This project thus involves the development of ‘green’ financing schemes to generate revenue for financing: i) long-term forest management and protection strategies within the existing state park area; and ii) expand the area under protection. This would effectively ensure the entire Kenyir watershed comes under both protection and responsible management, for life. This framework would be the first of its kind at this scale in Peninsular Malaysia, a proof of concept of a sustainable financing to enable the effective forest protection.
HUTANOMICS
Economics can be a practical solution to steer conservation policies towards better decision-making. It is possible to reduce deforestation, and promote conservation while increasing productivity by financially evaluating the benefits of biodiversity, and the costs of species loss and ecosystem degradation. Placing an economic value on ecosystem services and biodiversity can help stakeholders consider their decisions, and aid in the argument to pursue conservation and sustainable development.
Hutanomics aims to develop these ideas, building on existing knowledge and establishing networks with government, private sector and academia to explore various economic models that may be feasible to enable for forest protection and biodiversity conservation.
NBS is supporting the Terengganu State government through the Green Financing Task force. Supported by UKPACT Malaysia, the Hutanomics project aims to develop frameworks to enable private sector investments into nature-based climate solutions in Terengganu.