Photo: PRCF founding members at Nanga Juoi village, our first project site.
PRCF beginnings
People Resources and Conservation Foundation (PRCF) was established in 1995 by two dedicated conservation professionals. PRCF is incorporated under Section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code, with EIN 75-2641707.
Our activities initiated in Indonesia, where our founding members supported a rural water project in the remote village of Nanga Juoi in West Kalimantan. We thereafter continued our work with the villagers to support several of their endeavors to become economically self-sufficient through sgroforestry measures that included fishponds, chicken enclosures, and village-produced fish feed pellets. This program helped the village with running water in the degrading landscape, and contributed to a reduced negative impact of the villagers to the surrounding protected forests of Bukit Baka – Bukit Raya National Park, of specific benefit to several endangered species, including the Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) and Agile Gibbon (Hylobates agilis).
PRCF has grown steadily since the initial project at Nanga Juoi, and now carries out projects in Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam, with programs in the drawing for the Philippines and Laos PDR. Our mission is ‘to conserve biodiversity, ecosystem services, and local cultural identities through participatory solutions that protect and promote the wise use of natural resources, support socioeconomic development of communities, and enable adaptation to climate change.’ Efforts to achieve our mission focus on four strategic priorities: (i) Conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, (ii) Sustainable management and use fo natural resources, (iii) Community-based conservation initiatives, and (iv) Cultural arts revitalization and ethnic minority livelihoods.
Highlights of our 20 year history
- Supported women weavers in West Kalimantan to form the Jasa Menenum Mandiri Cooperative, with our partners Kobus Foundation and Yayasan Swadaya Dian Khatulistiwa (YSDK). The cooperative, whose name translates to ‘weavers go independent’, has grown from an initial ten master weavers into over 930 women members, and provides an income for marginalized Dayak weavers through the sales of traditional Ikats.
- Discovered new groups of globally threatened primate species: Francois’ Langur and Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey in northern Vietnam. PRCF has set up innovative, community-based conservation activities that aim to protect these endangered primates and their sustaining habitat, while creating awareness and conservation-based economic opportunities for the surrounding village communities.
- Placed local people in ‘protected area management boards’ in Vietnam, an unprecedented act in the country. Fair representation now exists on the board from all of the communities living within and in the immediate surroundings of the Nam Xuan Lac Species and Habitat Conservation Area. The approach has served as a first precedent for inclusion of local people in the decision-making board.
- Identified the second most important site, globally, for the critically endangered White-shouldered Ibis, in collaboration with our partner BirdLife International. Information about this rare, enigmatic bird was limited, making conservation planning for the species difficult. By supporting the most significant ibis census in Cambodia, led by local nationals, targeted activities can be implemented towards its protection.
- During a national conservation status review for the endangered Hollock Gibbon (Hollock hollock, and Hollock leuconedys), discovered a new primate species to science in northern Myanmar: the Burmese Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri) with our partners in the country Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (BANCA) and Fauna & Flora International (FFI).