Yayasan Citra Mandiri Mentawai

$2,500 to support organizing a series of workshops in villages throughout the Mentawai Islands off the coast of West Sumatra, Indonesia with the aim of building awareness of the negative impacts of palm oil and promoting with the District government office green and community based economic options, such as agroforestry methods based on local knowledge. In addition to the importance of local people’s rights to land, local customs, culture and food security that would be supported by these efforts, the Mentawai Islands have particular ecological importance because they have been separated from the mainland for more than half a million years and the long geographic isolation has resulted in numerous endemic mammal species, including four primates.