The Kuching Division contains a diverse number of landscapes from urban to agricultural to beach, peat and montane forests. The Bidayuh villages here continue to maintain their traditional livelihoods that include complex management of a diverse number of landscapes from communal forests that include limestone hills to agricultural landscapes that are mostly located in and around the base of the hills in Kuching Division. Over the last ten years, there has been increased pressure on the local riverine systems with noticeable drops in river quality and indigenous fish populations. Community-based management is key to ensuring sustainable use of shared water resources and maintaining a healthy river environment. The project activities comprise of shared awareness-building at the wider community level to practical mobilization and action at the village sites. Both local/indigenous knowledge and technical/scientific knowledge contribute to the river management plans that place an emphasis on indigenous cultural institutions and values such as ?tagang?. Partnerships with public bodies and documentation ensure the potential for wider awareness raising and policy support.

Though it contains Sarawak?s state capital city and primary urban area, the Kuching Division contains a diverse number of landscapes from urban to agricultural to beach, peat and montane forests. Outside of Kuching city, the areas can be described as primarily rural, containing riverine, peat, hill and limestone forest ecosystems.

The Bidayuh villages found in the Kuching Division continue to maintain their traditional livelihoods that include complex management of a diverse number of landscapes from communal forests that include limestone hills to agricultural landscapes that are mostly located in and around the base of the hills. Winding through the hills and farms are rivers that form the upper complex of waterways that eventually feed into the Sarawak River. Areas within the project area include the Krokong limestone rock systems for which the State government is seeking a UNESCO global geo-park status

Indigenous and local communities continue to be highly dependent on these river systems and the surrounding environment, utilizing them as a main source of water ? both at the household level and as inputs into the various farms. These rivers, particularly the larger Aang Pidea and Semaba, also hold high aesthetic and recreational values for the greater Kuching population, with local homestays in Bidayuh villages able to count on domestic tourists coming to these clear, large waters for both recreation and sport.

Over the last ten years, the river environment, as a result of increased use, has decreased in quality, including in observable water clarity, high coliform counts, increased sedimentation, erosion along the riverbanks and decline in indigenous fish populations. Overfishing is accelerated by the increased use of unsustainable fishing methods that include the use of chemicals, battery cables and locally made ?bombs?. The rivers are also recepients of local waste, both from the villages and industries. Over the last years, communities have begun expressing interest in rehabilitating their river environment to return it to its pristine state. This has included an interest in undertaking the tagal concept of rehabilitation as it is based on a cultural system of sustainable use familiar to local communities in Sarawak.

To realise such aims, action and investment over the long term is necessary, starting in those communities that reside near the rivers. This project will mobilize the communities to play an active role in the stewardship of their stretches of the rivers both by reinforcing local capacities to manage and monitor their environment and also by providing a platform where diverse networks, such as different local government institutions, can provide support and expertise.

Though the cooperative members and their communities are surrounded by natural resources and have sustainable traditional livelihoods, they are cash-poor. With an increased population along the river environments utilizing a shrinking base of natural resources, intervention and support is needed to ensure that both knowledge and concrete demonstrations on conservation and sustainable use is made available to halt the degradation of the local river environment. The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in higher unemployment among day-laborers and fresh graduates in these communities. However the restrictions on international travel under the ?movement control period? have also heightened an interest in local tourism including by urban Kuching residents. There is a livelihood incentive, therefore to also restore the local river environment to a more pristine state as it opens opportunities to increase recreational and tourism products in the villages, sparking an opportunity for the communities to focus on green(er) livelihoods.

To address the degradation in the local river environments, ?Our Rivers, our lives? will prioritize community-based actions, supported by a combination of local and technical knowledge. The river environment will take into consideration the river, the fish that inhabit the rivers and the surrounding riverbanks. As stated in para 2, Bidayuh villages will invariably be sited on the banks of rivers and are a key shared resource for the community. Through a series of multistakeholder activities, the communities will be provided with information and capacity to mobilize from awareness to action to protect and sustainably manage their portions of the river.

Multistakeholder engagements will include inputs from local/indigenous knowledge as well as from technical/scientific knowledge. Local/indigenous knowledge will provide the basis for a community reflection on the former and current status of their river environment and use. It will inform the actions needed to address and rehabilitate the rivers ? e.g. the types of trees and fish species needed, as well as the cultural and traditional institutions that can contribute to sustainable resource management. Concepts such as the ?tagal? (Sabah) or ?tangang? (Sarawak) are customary ways of resource management that locally embedded and can help the community institute conservation zones and periods. Local/indigenous knowledge holders will come directly from the women and men in the communities e.g. elders and traditional leaders. Technical/scientific knowledge will provide information on the current and future state of the rivers ? e.g. water quality survey, as well as ways to combine sustainable management with poverty reduction/income generation ? e.g. developing river-based tourism products. A Technical Committee will be formed at the project level (see para 15) to comprise of Bidayuh professionals who will be mandated to provide technical support to the project and liaise/support with other technical experts as needed. The river management plans produced will be an outcome of both types of knowledge coming together.

In addition to knowledge holders and experts, multistakeholders also include local public institutions such as the District offices (Bau and Padawan). The Agricultural Department, including Fisheries is a key partner in the project, through the provision of support and technical expertise. These partnerships are engaged through through the Technical Committee and Koperasi Board of Directors.

10. The action will take place in the following three sites that are all within the Kuching Division. They target three villages that belong to three different Bidayuh sub-groups, with active Kooperasi members based in these village and sub-groups. The areas were selected for their consent to participate in the activities and their needs in relation to rehabilitating their river environment. Other strategic considerations included having villages representing three separate Bidayuh sub-groups, while still being accessible in terms of travel and communications. The sites will provide the possibility for outreach and awareness raising to a wider sub-group (i.e. Singgai and Krokong) and district (i.e. Bau and Padawan) for relatively modest investment (see location map, Annex 1).

a. River: Aang Adis
Village: Adis (1 village, est 2000 men and women)
Area: Singgai (12,000 population)
District, Division: Bau, Kuching
The main activities will take place over a 2.5 km stretch on the Aang Adis, starting from the confluence of Aang Adis and Mutud, up to Gaa Tamang. Main threats to the quality of the river itself include kitchen and sewer waste effluents from the village and those upstream, including plantations.
(Annex 1a)

b. River: Aang Pidea
Village: Pisa (1 village, est 400 women and men)
Area: Krokong (14 villages, est 2500 population)
District, Division: Bau, Kuching
The main activities will take place over a 2 km stretch on the Aang Pidea. Like Adis, the threats to the quality of the river itself include kitchen and sewer waste effluents from the village and those upstream, including plantations. In recent years there has also been an increase in illicit artisanal gold ore processing.
(Annex 1b)

c. River: Aang Semaba (or Meba)
Village: Semaba (1 village, est 1300 women and men)
Area: Krokong (14 villages, est 2500 population)
District, Division: Padawan Sub-district, Kuching
The main activities will take place over a 2.8 km stretch on the Sungei Meba. With its direct proximity to the urban city center, threats to the river environment include grey water, sewage, particularly from a private senior citizen care facility situated nearby.

Support to the project will enable the Kooperasi members and their communities to initiate cross-sectoral dialogues and action related to restoring the health of their local river systems based on proven indigenous river management. This contributes to the SGP OP6 Strategic initiative on community landscape/seascape conservation and the GEF-6 corporate result to ?Maintain globally significant biodiversity and the ecosystem goods and services that it provides to society?.