camera traps provided for community-based wildlife monitoring
Six monitoring and maintenance visits were completed during the programme period.
Sustainable Livelihoods and Community Enterprise
Integrated Village Development for a Sustainable Lubuk Bigau
An integrated village development programme combining environmental stewardship, education support, local enterprise development, participatory planning, wildlife monitoring, and community-based tourism in Lubuk Bigau.
Project overview
Project Overview
Hutanriau implemented an integrated village development programme in Lubuk Bigau across three interconnected pillars: environment, education, and local economic development.
The programme supported participatory spatial planning, wildlife monitoring, trekking routes, ecotourism facilities, school computers, tourism-guide training, gambir-processing equipment, and public promotion of the village’s natural and cultural assets.
Together, these interventions established practical foundations for a more sustainable Lubuk Bigau by connecting village planning, community capacity, education, local livelihoods, and stewardship of the surrounding forest landscape.
Documented reach
At a glance
computers provided to UPT SDN 029 Lubuk Bigau
The computers were provided as part of the programme’s education-support pillar.
Tourism Awareness Group members trained as local tourism guides
gambir-processing machine provided to strengthen local processing capacity
Changes in production efficiency and income require follow-up monitoring.
Documented Outputs
- One programme socialisation session completed.
- One village technical-planning meeting completed.
- One participatory spatial-use plan for Lubuk Bigau Village prepared.
- One participatory village strategic-planning process completed.
- Two primary trekking routes prepared for Mudiak Topuak and Jonjang waterfalls.
- Two additional trekking routes to Lubuk Godang and Lubuk Ngalau initiated through community self-help.
- Four camera traps procured and handed over.
- One camera-trap installation training completed.
- Six wildlife-monitoring and equipment-maintenance visits conducted.
- One ecotourism shelter constructed and equipped.
- Separate visitor toilet facilities constructed.
- Tourism signs, directional signs, warning signs, and location markers installed.
- Seven computers provided to UPT SDN 029 Lubuk Bigau.
- One tourism-guide training completed for eleven Tourism Awareness Group members.
- One gambir-processing machine procured and delivered.
- One ecotourism launch and media trip conducted with twenty-five participants.
- One follow-up recommendation document prepared based on participant feedback.
Why this work mattered
Project Context
Lubuk Bigau is a remote village in Kampar Kiri Hulu, Kampar Regency, surrounded by tropical forest, rivers, waterfalls, and community production landscapes. The village lies within the buffer landscape of the Bukit Rimbang Bukit Baling Wildlife Reserve and holds significant natural, cultural, and livelihood potential.
The village is known for more than twenty waterfalls, although only a small number were widely recognised by visitors. These include Batang Kapas, Jonjang, Mudiak Topuak, Lubuk Godang, and Lubuk Ngalau. Batang Kapas is described in the project report as one of the highest waterfalls in Riau, with an estimated height of 165 metres.
Despite these assets, Lubuk Bigau faced persistent constraints, including difficult access, limited public infrastructure, restricted educational facilities, weak tourism-management capacity, limited processing technology for local products, and economic pressure on households.
The programme responded through an integrated village-development approach organised around environmental, educational, and economic pillars. Community-based tourism was one component, alongside participatory spatial planning, wildlife monitoring, education support, local capacity development, and improved gambir-processing infrastructure.
By connecting these components, the programme sought to establish practical foundations for a more sustainable village while strengthening community participation, local institutions, and stewardship of the surrounding landscape.
What we set out to do
Objectives
- Strengthen Lubuk Bigau through an integrated village-development approach.
- Promote environmental protection and responsible use of natural resources in the buffer landscape of the Bukit Rimbang Bukit Baling Wildlife Reserve.
- Prepare a participatory spatial-use plan supporting village development, community livelihoods, and environmental protection.
- Increase community capacity in tourism guiding, wildlife monitoring, programme management, and local enterprise.
- Improve access to technology and educational facilities for children and young people.
- Strengthen local gambir-processing capacity and create foundations for greater value to remain within the village.
- Develop basic infrastructure and systems supporting community-based tourism.
- Support implementation of the PLN Social and Environmental Responsibility Programme.
Delivery
What Hutanriau Did
- Facilitated programme socialisation and technical discussions with the village government, customary leaders, women, youth, and community representatives.
- Prepared a participatory spatial-use plan for Lubuk Bigau Village.
- Facilitated a participatory village strategic-planning process.
- Surveyed and prepared trekking routes to Mudiak Topuak and Jonjang waterfalls.
- Supported community-initiated trekking routes to Lubuk Godang and Lubuk Ngalau.
- Collected initial information on wildlife routes and key species.
- Trained a local team in camera-trap installation, maintenance, monitoring, and data collection.
- Installed and monitored camera traps in forest areas around ecotourism sites.
- Constructed an ecotourism shelter and separate visitor toilet facilities.
- Installed tourism signs, directional signs, warning signs, and location markers.
- Provided seven computers to UPT SDN 029 Lubuk Bigau.
- Delivered tourism-guide training for members of the local Tourism Awareness Group.
- Assessed gambir-processing practices and provided one gambir-processing machine.
- Organised an ecotourism launch and media trip.
- Facilitated participant feedback, follow-up recommendations, monitoring, administration, and reporting.
Results and learning
Early Outcomes
Integrated village development created stronger links between environment, education, and livelihoods
The programme showed that village development in Lubuk Bigau could not be addressed through a single intervention. Environmental planning, wildlife monitoring, education support, tourism infrastructure, local enterprise, and community capacity were more effective when treated as connected parts of one village-development process.
Community participation expanded the programme beyond its original plan
Following village discussions, the community and village government decided to develop two additional trekking routes through collective self-help. This reflected local ownership and willingness to contribute resources beyond the original programme allocation.
Environmental monitoring strengthened local knowledge and practical capacity
Camera-trap training and repeated monitoring visits introduced practical skills for documenting wildlife around the village forest and ecotourism areas. The monitoring records included wildlife identified in the report as great argus, muntjac, sun bear, Sumatran bearded pig, pig-tailed macaque, long-tailed macaque, porcupine, squirrels, civets, and other species.
Education support widened the programme’s village-level relevance
The provision of seven computers to the village primary school extended the programme beyond tourism and conservation. It addressed a practical gap in access to technology and created an opportunity for children and teachers to build basic digital skills.
Local enterprise development extended the programme beyond tourism
The provision of gambir-processing equipment responded to an established village livelihood rather than introducing an entirely new economic activity. The intervention aimed to strengthen local processing capacity and create opportunities for greater value to remain within the village.
However, changes in production efficiency, product quality, market access, and household income had not yet been measured at the time of reporting.
Physical infrastructure required local management and long-term maintenance
The shelter, toilets, trekking routes, and signs created practical foundations for visitors and local tourism management. Their long-term value depends on maintenance, safety management, environmental monitoring, and continued operation by village institutions.
Public promotion increased visibility but not yet verified economic impact
The ecotourism launch and media trip introduced Lubuk Bigau to external participants and generated structured feedback. However, the programme had not yet measured sustained visitor growth, tourism income, job creation, or household-level economic improvement.
Long-term results depend on continued follow-up
The durability of the programme depends on active village institutions, effective use of the computers and gambir-processing equipment, maintenance of infrastructure, responsible tourism management, continued wildlife monitoring, and periodic updating of village spatial information.
Evidence notes
Limits of the Evidence
Evidence boundary
The project evidence verifies the delivery of infrastructure, equipment, training, participatory planning, monitoring activities, and public-promotion outputs.
The report indicates that the programme opened opportunities for new community roles and enterprises, including tourism management, gambir processing, souvenir production, and shelter management. However, it does not provide verified employment figures or evidence that these opportunities became stable jobs.
The report states that community income had not yet been quantified. The provision of a gambir-processing machine and the formal launch of the tourism initiative should therefore not be presented as evidence of increased household income.
The project LFA included a target of increasing the income of thirty gambir-producing households by IDR 850,000 per month. The final report does not provide evidence that this target was achieved.
Camera-trap monitoring documented wildlife presence and reported no illegal activity around the monitored village forest area during the observation period. This does not demonstrate that illegal activity was absent across the wider landscape or that wildlife populations increased.
The report states that the tourism routes were assessed as safe and not disruptive to wildlife during the documented field-testing period. This assessment should not replace ongoing visitor-safety and ecological monitoring.
The project provided physical assets, but their long-term use, maintenance, operational condition, and institutional ownership require follow-up verification.
Project album
Field Documentation
Selected photographs documenting project activities, field implementation, and community participation.
Work with us
Planning locally grounded environmental work in Riau?
Hutanriau collaborates with communities, donors, government agencies, research institutions, civil society organisations, and responsible private-sector partners.