Procter & Gamble

One of the Philippines’ most vital biodiversity areas is the 120,457-hectare (297,655 acre) Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape, located near the southern tip of the island of Palawan. The Mantalingahan Landscape is a vital habitat for more than 1,000 plant and animal species — 10 percent of which are threatened, including the Palawan pangolin and the Palawan eastern frog. The landscape is also the home to over 12,000 Indigenous people, many of whom rely directly on nature for their livelihoods and are among the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities. Despite its protected status, the Mantalingahan Landscape continues to be threatened by deforestation and forest degradation. In the past two decades, its upland and mangrove forests have decreased by more than 20 percent due to illegal forest clearing.

Through collaboration with local communities, government institutions and civil society organizations, the project aims to strengthen the role of Indigenous and local communities in maintaining healthy ecosystem services and ensuring equitable benefit-sharing. Its objective is to augment community conservation and protected area plans, and support forest protection, restoration, and sustainable resource management. The Mantalingahan Landscape Conservation Project is built on the full and effective participation of communities, governments, institutions and partners to conserve biodiversity, support sustainable livelihoods and achieve climate targets.

The Awajún Indigenous territory lies within the Alto Mayo landscape in the San Martin region of Peru. This Amazonian rainforest is a critical habitat, hosting more than 1,200 native plant species and numerous birds, mammals and reptiles, including 27 species recently discovered by Conservation International that are new to science. However, the territory faces deforestation from expanding agriculture and timber harvesting. The Awajún Indigenous Federation of Alto Mayo and Conservation International Peru are working with Awajún communities to halt and reverse deforestation across 231,000 hectares (570,813 acres) through the Tajimat Pujut project (which translates to “Good Living”). The project focuses on forest conservation through income diversification while supporting cultural ties between the Awajún people and their land.

This project encompasses 16 native communities and over 11,000 people. After years of leasing their land to immigrant farmers, the Awajún not only lost their forests, but their cultural ties to the land. Reconnecting with their traditions has been key to building Tajimat Pujut. Efforts include rescuing and sharing ancestral practices in communal libraries and developing a school of governance where future leaders engage with policy, leadership, Indigenous economy and environmental issues. At the same time, the project promotes food security and strengthens bio-businesses such as vanilla, cacao, herbal teas and ecotourism – forming a pathway toward a “good living” rooted in resilience, culture, and forest conservation.

The Greater Mara Ecosystem in southwestern Kenya is a critical landscape for the local Maasai communities who have been living in the region for centuries, relying on pastoralism and, more recently, tourism for their livelihoods. It is a vital biodiversity area, home to species like black rhinoceros, lions, and cheetahs and part of the iconic "great migration" of wildebeest, zebras, and other large herbivores from the Serengeti. However, the landscape faces increasing fragmentation due to land conversion from traditional communal rangelands to small-holder farms and permanent settlements. This fragmentation, often involving fencing, blocks wildlife migration routes, disrupts animal breeding cycles, and contributes to declines in large mammal populations, while overgrazing and high livestock densities further degrade the land.

The One Mara Carbon Project, led by the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association, Ahueni AG, and Conservation International, addresses these challenges by improving livestock management through planned rotational grazing, supporting restoration activities and facilitating the creation of new conservancies — a locally owned and managed protected area for wildlife. The project will benefit up to 16,000 Maasai landowners and engage up to 24 community-owned conservancies, placing landowners at the center through strengthened community governance structures to ensure long-term sustainability. Together, these combined efforts aim to increase soil organic carbon stocks, improve livestock conditions, enhance biodiversity and restore landscape connectivity for wildlife, delivering integrated benefits for both the environment and local communities.

The Sucumbios and Orellana provinces in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon are exceptionally rich in biodiversity. This region is home to jaguar populations and serves as a buffer zone for globally renowned protected areas such as the Yasuní National Park. Indigenous lands in this landscape have extensive forest cover and have been guarded for generations by the Kichwa, Siona, Siekopai, Shuar, Waorani, and A'i Kofán Indigenous Peoples.

Since 2000, the deforestation rate has increased due to the expansion of pastures and perennial monocultures of oil palm, cacao and coffee. With companies increasingly sourcing palm oil from the Amazon rather than southeast Asia, there is a growing risk of rapidly accelerating deforestation due to palm expansion, if this process is not carefully managed. With support from P&G, Conservation International seeks to create a model that balances economic production and environmental protection while improving the livelihoods and well-being of local and Indigenous communities through strengthening governance, improved management and protection of forest areas or remaining forest fragments and advancing sustainable production practices.

The Batang Toru Forest Ecosystem (BTFE), located in Indonesia’s North Sumatra Province, spans over 240,000 hectares (593,052 acres) across three districts: South Tapanuli, North Tapanuli and Central Tapanuli. The region represents one of the last intact forests in North Sumatra Province, home to globally and locally significant biodiversity, including the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan; and contains important resources – such as minerals, freshwater, energy and agriculture. The ecosystem provides critical freshwater resources that support the well-being and livelihoods of more than 253,782 people in 199 villages. Moreover, it supports smallholder agriculture across the broader Tapanuli region, including agroforestry in the upland areas and palm oil plantations in the lowlands. In addition, a study conducted by Konservasi Indonesia, Conservation International’s main partner in Indonesia, found that water from BTFE helps maintain water levels in peatlands in the lowland areas, which is important for minimizing fire risk on peat and avoiding the release of carbon.

As a crucial ecosystem for both local communities and biodiversity, the Batang Toru Forest faces multiple threats of environmental degradation, particularly land-use changes. Parts of the forest have become fragmented, diminishing habitat for endangered wildlife and undermining vital ecosystem services. Protecting and managing this key forest area requires multistakeholder coordination and collaboration, as well as sufficient resources for effective landscape management.

Building on our long-standing presence and strong relationships with key stakeholders, the North Sumatra Government and Konservasi Indonesia have been facilitating multistakeholder collaboration for improved protection and to establish an integrated BTFE management plan. We aim to protect and restore critical forest and habitat in BTFE by supporting the adoption and long-term financing of the integrated BTFE Management Plan. We aim to build capacity of key stakeholders to ensure effective implementation, management and monitoring of forests; strengthening livelihoods through social forestry; and supporting wildlife connectivity within the BTFE.