After a 10-minute drive from the Kelay district community health center (puskesmas) in East Kalimantan, the rumbling engine of the ambulance gives way to the splashes of the Kelay River. Fransisca Sinambela emerges from the ambulance, shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun. It is 8am in the morning. A ketintingthe local name for a boatis waiting for her and six others on the Kelay riverbank. "Let's have an excursion along the river!" the 24-year-old woman joked late last month.

AN aerial shot of Bukit Sebayan, a fertile zone of green hills in the Tayan community forest area of West Kalimantan, can be seen on a laptop. Pius, who is the chief of Sejotang village, in the Tayan Hilir subdistrict, is in a hurry to finish mapping the customary land. "From 300 hectares, 100 have already been partitioned," he told Tempo three weeks ago.

From Student To Entrepreneur

Akriani, a resident of the Graha Lasinrang complex in South Sulawesi's Inrang regency, used to spend Rp400,000 a month on electricityRp200,000 just to operate her water pump. "Now, I only need to pay my loan installment of Rp110,000 to the local state drinking water company, PDAM, plus a usage fee of Rp25,000," explained the civil servant from Duampanua subdistrict.

Blessings Of A Protected Forest