♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ around 10% of the world's

rain forest coverage lies in indonesia. but according to the united nations food and agrgrulture organinition, ove 3030 of it has been lost i in thlast 5 5years. ♪ ♪ >> mh h of ts is the resultt of filling devel large-ale plantaons alongside traditional slash and burn farming and illegal logging of protected trees. ♪ ♪ >> one ngo called telepack is working with locals to not only preserve the forests, but also establish forestry work that provides a steady income. it's led by sylverius. >> ungel is focused on community logging. his approach brings the residents together to manage the

trees themselves in a sustainable way including the logging and selling of the wood. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> community logging is being carried out in ten locations across indonesia. all told, around 7,000 people are members. today, w we meet the residents working together to maintain forests and create a better life for themselves. >> the kulon lies on the south coast of the island of java.

nestled in the hills, a mountain range with peaks of 1,000 meters, it's a richly forested region where many local farmers are also foresters. >> this is banjarrahroom village and it's home to a logging cooperative. >> the group is named the beautiful forest of the menare hills. the cooperative was set up in 2008 with 20 locals. today, there are 1500 membebers. each person pays $4 a month and 20 members work as full-time staff.

the cooperative manages logs and sells the trees owned by its 1500 members. the area covers a total of around 900 hectares and contains over 200,000 trees. two of the cooperative's staff head out on a scooter about ten minutes into the forest to conduct research. they enters an area owned by one of the members. there are a lot of teak trees here. teak is a high-end resource

famous for its beautiful grain and durability. they measure the tree trunk. >> trees with a circumference of 30 or more centimeters are numbered and tagged. ♪ ♪ then the tag is photographed.

the tree's species and circumference are recorded in a smartphone app and then sent to a database along with the photo and gps location. tagged trees are measured regularly and their information updated so that the co-op can check their growth. a team of five handled this work. they covered the entire area of for ofs own forests owned by the 1500 members. all the information gathered in the forest is stored in the coopererative's dadatabase. ♪ ♪ >> this is the data on a section of forest owned by one of the members. on the far left is the tree specie, teak.

in the center of the screen is the village name and the tree's tag number. the trunk diameter is calculated from the circumference measured in the forest. the location data from the smartphone's gps is also recorded. there's e even a photo o of the tree. there's also a link to the co-op member who owns the forest. cooperative's staff would receive an order for numbers and they find the right trees for the request. then they get permission from the forest owners and begin filling. >> the filling is done by the cooperative's logging team.

>> each tag is checked to make sure there are no mistakes. >> next, the team measured the trunk. they perform a final check that the tree meets all of the buyers' criteria. >> one person climbs up and begins cutting branches. this ensures that when the tree falls it won't be damaged, and it won't damage any surrounding trees.

♪ >> this time 20 teak trees are felled over two days. the co-op has decided to plant three times that many saplings in the immediate area. this will ensure that the forest remains sustainable. ♪ ♪ the 20 trees sell for around $1500, and the cut is subtracted for staff salaries, and brokerage fees with the majority going to the member who owns the land. ♪ ♪

if sales for the year are good, members also receive further dividends. ♪ ♪ many members feel their lives have improved since joining the cooperative. around ten kilometers away lies the village. it's the home of co-op member sunarto. he lives with his mother, wife and two children. today sunarto is the leader of the team and until he joined the cooperative he was a lumber broker.

>> sunarto joined the cooperative in 2008. his work as a broker trained his eye for good lumber and his retail experience was also of use.

>> the mountain village of provara also lies ten miles from the cooperative office. one of the 20 founding members lives here. slamet is 72 years old. a former elementary school teacher, he lives with his wife, and they have two grown sons.

for many years, locals have sold their lumber when they needed money. most of them used brokers to buy and sell and were often beaten down on price. >> just before the cooperative

formed slamet was facing financial problems. his two married sons had no money to pay for mortgages and education for their kids and they came to him f for help, bu slamet had retired from his teaching work and selling his lumber was the only remaining option. that's when sylverius came to the region and gave a talk to the community logging and slamet took part in the discussion as a village representative. he saw potential in the idea and became a member.

>> bogor is a town 50 miles south of the capital jakarta, it has its offices here. telepack means footprints in indonesian. it represents the steady steps they're taking towards protect the rain forest. today the ngo has 300 member across indonesia. they include environmentalists, nature lovers, farmers and fishermen. >> let's start with the meeting together. >> ungel began working to protect indonesia's forests as a college student in 1996. born and raised on sulawesi

island, he saw the devastation caused on his friend's and neighbor's land. >> ungel and his fellow students set up a small radio station. island's vanishing forests.d the but their broadcast alone couldn't stop it. so in 2020, u uel and a a fello enenvironmentall activist set u lepack. they sent undercrcover researchs to examine the destruction of illegaga forests a and logging sites and they reported their

findings on the radio, television and at conferences. >> like this. this is the sample of a report, and we put the big actors, mostly them is a very rich man in indonesia. >> the report was enabled by environmental ngos. the investigation made it clear that illegal logging had two faces. small-scale logging by locals and large scale loggiging funde by majoror corporarations, loca ofofficial, the e police and ororganized crimime. but innoth cases,he actuaua logginggn t tnsport was carried out byby poor peoplele living ie area. ungel realized that they could provide a system to provide a

stable, reasonable income, these people would stop illegal logging voluntarily. >> this s is d documentary foot looking at tetelepack's f first commununity logging projecect. it was cenentered inn ungel'ss inin southwestern sululawesi w ilillegal logggging was prevale. he asked locals to work in their own forests and to stop illegal logggging, but thehey r resisted saying theyy couldn't make ends meet w with their lulumber alon.

coopopative sysystem to log and sell lumber t together. this mentsant shared risk and responsibility and a also share profits.s. the communinity loggingng initie wawas born.

after sulawesi the next community logging destination was the regency near jakarta. today they're havisiting the cooperative office with a member of staff. they will discuss the l latest

trendses trends in lumber sales. he visits the cooperatives in person. listening to members' concerns and requests was key to improving community logging.

>> in 2016, telepack and its cooperatives sell the lumber each group logged. ♪ ♪ >> its offices are in jakarta. it has international clients as well as domestic ones which means more potential buyers. each cooperative receives a dividend depending on the company's results. the company also works with an international group called the forest stewardship council or the fsc. it certifies lumber which is grown andfeld according to certain environmental standards. >> such a high price.

>> annual assessments are required which cost money. ungel first began community logging with residents 15 years ago. more regions have joined up and there are now ten looks with the total of 7,000 people registered. today, ungel is heading out to a talk. he ask cooperative staff are looking for new members. around 20 kilometers from the cooperative office. about 40 people have gathered,

many from the village women's group. next, village resident scarma begins to speak. he's selling lumber as a co-op member.

>> it's the first time most of the audience have heard about how community logging works. many are interested after hearing scarma explain its merits.

today, ungel is visiting a co-op member's land. he's come to plant new saplings to replace fell trees. ♪ >> this is the owner, sukardi. ♪ ♪ it will take at least 20 years for the trees to grow big enough to sell.

♪ ♪ community logging and the

dedicated locals have resulted in the planting of 10 million new trees.

>> beirut remembers the victims of the explosion that tore the city apart as a new report reveals the government was warned of the dangers on the last month. -- only last month. ♪ >> hello. i am maryam nemazee in london. you are w watching "al jazeera." russia says it has approved the world's first c coronavirusus vaccine but there is concern over how quickly it hahas been developeped. belarus opposition leader -- as theefuge in lithuania government is