ENSAID PANJANG, Indonesia — The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is working with local communities in Indonesia’s Kalimantan forests to protect biodiversity and generate sustainable livelihoods.

Traditionally, the cultivation of natural dyes is used for traditional weaving in Kalimantan, Indonesia’s territory on the island of Borneo. These methods are being used as a means of forest conservation, with the planting and cultivating natural dye-producing plants.

In Ensaid Panjang village, the products woven are not just commercially valuable – they serve as a key link to Indigenous traditions and lifeways, including ceremonies and rituals.

A UNDP-backed project is working with communities, like Ensaid Panjang, to protect and maintain forest areas.

Dyed-in-the-wool

An especially staunch proponent of a particular ideology is sometimes termed ‘dyed-in-the-wool’, implying that they are steadfast in their beliefs, and that their support will not wane regardless of the pressures they face.

It is therefore particularly fitting that the cultivation of natural dyes for use in traditional weaving is being used as a means of forest conservation in Kalimantan, Indonesia’s territory on the island of Borneo.

Recognising that naturally-dyed textiles are in high demand (and thus fetch higher prices) on international markets, weavers from the Ensaid Panjang village started a program of forest rehabilitation and enrichment by planting and cultivating natural dye-producing plants.

For the weavers in Ensaid Panjang, the products that they weave are not just commercially valuable – they serve as a key link to Indigenous traditions and lifeways, including ceremonies and rituals.

Borneo's Indigenous peoples, known collectively as Dayaks, belong to more than 50 different ethnic groups that speak about 140 languages and dialects.

In Dayak villages, virtually all community events, from the Gawai Dayak festival to traditional wedding ceremonies, require the use of traditional clothes made of locally-produced fabric.

A celebration of color

Ceremonies marking the rice harvest date back millennia, but Gawai Dayak is more than that: it celebrates harvest time, sets aside rice seeds for future use, and commemorates a peace agreement by once-rival tribes all across Kalimantan.

The festival is marked by its explosion of color, punctuated with naturally-dyed textiles created by traditional weaving.

Appropriately valuing natural dyes and locally-produced textiles also bolsters the value of the forests they come from. — UN News