Forestwise – Yayasan Rimba Raya Abadi
About
Forestwise – Yayasan Rimba Raya Abadi partnership is committed to reducing deforestation and creating an economic incentive that empowers local communities to keep protecting the remaining rainforest. By creating rainforest products such as Illipe Butter that is wild-harvested from the forest area in Borneo, it aims to uplift the local community's livelihood while preserving the remaining forest. Illipe butter is a cocoa butter equivalent with eco-social benefits, making it valuable for cosmetic and food products.
Investing in Impact
P4G awarded the partnership US $455,000 in grant funding.
Forestwise aims to sustain the rainforests of Borneo by producing products that grow and wild harvested in the rainforest such as illipe butter. By creating value in sustainable forest grown products, it’s making it more profitable to conserve the forest rather than cut it down. This is a priority for Indonesia with the Sintang, West Kalimantan region already experiencing 77% tree cover loss from 2013 to 2021.
Forestwise harvests and processes illipe nuts that grow in the rainforests of West Kalimantan. The nuts are wild harvested, which means they are collected when they fall from the tree, by the native Dayak community. They are processed in a local Forestwise facility and further refined in a certified organic refinery to produce RBD illipe butter.
Illipe butter is a cocoa butter equivalent that has a neutral color, scent, and a higher melting point, which is desirable for products that need to hold their shape such as bars, soaps and lip balms, but it also finds wide applications in creams and lotions because of its moisturizing properties. The global demand for cocoa butter equivalent products is rising because of the demand for sustainable commodities, higher market volatility, unstable supply and lack of traceability from certain cocoa producing countries. It’s also a cheaper product than cocoa butter.
Forestwise will enter long term supply contracts with farmers to provide them with stable incomes. The startup will also train farmers in agroforestry methods and crop diversification. The business will register 1800 farmers on its traceability app to ensure full traceability across its supply chain.
Forestwise currently sells 43 tons of RBD illipe butter and 44 tons of crude illipe butter and has established relationships with 14 buyers. The startup aims to scale that to 120 and 250 tons respectively over the next two years and find seven new buyers.
During the P4G funding period, Forestwise will also explore diversifying into different markets including cosmetic, food, and natural latex. Part of the work will include sharing best practices from cultivating, managing and processing products such as Arenga sugar and natural rubber.
In addition to diversifying to new markets, Forestwise is also in discussion with potential buyers on using illipe waste for farm feed. To prevent organic waste from going to landfill, the startup repurposes its illipe and kukui nut waste for other productive purposes such as biochar, farm feed mushroom farming.
Yayasan Rimba Raya Abadi has a deep understanding of the local community and farmers employed by Forestwise. The nonprofit will support Forestwise in training farmers and develop a knowledge product to help them understand their land ownership rights. This is to get a deeper understanding of the kind of forest land farmers are working on and help farmers learn the process of securing the rights to wild harvested natural forest products and sustainable farming in the region.
By 2025, Forestwise aims to raise about US $1 million in investment, reduce more than 340,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, create almost 50 jobs, and empower 1800 farmers with greater climate resilience solutions. It also aims to preserve 100,000 hectares of rainforest by 2026.
The partnership comprises the following partners: Forestwise (lead business partner); Yayasan Rimba Raya Abadi (lead administrative partner)
Partners
