Indonesia pays villagers to photograph wildlife, not hunt

A conservation programme in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province is paying villagers for photos and recordings of wildlife, aiming to make animals worth more alive than dead.

The KehatiKu project, run by environmental consultancy Borneo Futures, pays people in nine participating villages on Borneo for verified observations of animals. Payments range from 5,000 rupiah, about $0.30, for a common bird to 130,000 rupiah for an endangered orangutan.

Some of the most successful observers earn up to 10 million rupiah a month, about $570, which is several times an average farmworker's income. Octavius, a 50-year-old participant, said the extra money helps pay for his children's college.

Borneo Futures Indonesia director Nardiyono said the project is changing incentives for people who previously hunted and sold wild songbirds. He said two participating villages have voluntarily introduced hunting bans since the project began two years ago.

The programme has received about $300,000 from philanthropic foundations, according to Borneo Futures. About half has gone toward development, including a mobile app for uploading sightings and an AI system that helps humans verify observations.

Users have submitted more than 350,000 observations so far, about half of which have been validated and paid for. Invalid entries can include repeated observations of the same animal or species not covered by the programme.

The project has funding secured through 2028, and two more villages are due to join next month. It pays for observations of 73 species, including birds, monkeys, wild cats and deer.

Paul Ferraro, a Johns Hopkins University researcher, said the model is likely better for environmental and social impacts than an unincentivised, top-down conservation project. He said the main challenge will be maintaining funding, warning that people may return to earlier behaviour if incentive payments become insufficient after enthusiasm fades.