Borneo loggers swap chain saws for cheap health careSUKADANA -- The forest around Manjau in Borneo once reverberated with the scream of chain saws, as gangs of illegal loggers felled ancient hardwood trees for sale to timber merchants downstream. But many loggers in the remote Indonesian village are hanging up their chain saws in return for affordable health care, through a community incentive scheme that aims to save lives and protect Borneo's fragile rainforests. The incentives have worked, says American physician Kinari Webb, who co-founded ASRI and established Oregon-based charity Health in Harmony, its key financial backer. Of the 24 villages surrounding Gunung Palung, all but one have agreed to put down their chain saws, Webb said. Since 2007, the number of logging households has plunged from nearly 1,400 to 180.

Source: The China Post September 18, 2016 16:41 UTC