In Riau, Indonesia, Women Organize for Environmental Justice

This case study describes how women in Sungai Berbari and other villages in Riau, Indonesia, are using forest data from the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform and training from the Women Research Institute to advocate for environmental justice and better land use policy.

• Women in Sungai Berbari, Riau, face disproportionate burdens from poorly managed large-scale agricultural operations, including the need to purchase clean water due to plantation pollution and increased travel distances to healthcare and schools. They are often systematically excluded from formal land use decisions due to cultural norms that prioritize men's decision-making on public matters.
• Agricultural companies in Riau have caused significant health issues for villagers, such as acute respiratory disease caused by dust from haul trucks on unwatered roads and pulmonary disease or death resulting from crisis-level haze caused by the burning of carbon-rich peatland.
• The Women Research Institute, a recipient of the Global Forest Watch (GFW) Small Grants Fund in 2016 and 2017, provided training to women's groups in Riau on public speaking, forest policy, and the use of GFW data. By overlaying village maps with GFW datasets on fire alerts, tree cover loss, and palm oil production suitability, women were able to provide evidence linking company operations to local environmental problems.
• Advocacy efforts by women's groups in Riau have led to specific community gains, including pressuring the government for face masks during haze emergencies and convincing companies in the village of Pungkat to hire a midwife to address a lack of reproductive healthcare.
• The Women Research Institute plans to develop a handbook for a community-based early warning system for forest fires using GFW Fires, allowing village representatives to monitor alerts and notify disaster management agencies and fire departments to mitigate haze and hold companies accountable.

APA

World Resources Institute (2017). In Riau, Indonesia, Women Organize for Environmental Justice. https://www.wri.org/insights/riau-indonesia-women-organize-environmental-justice

Chicago

World Resources Institute. In Riau, Indonesia, Women Organize for Environmental Justice. 2017. https://www.wri.org/insights/riau-indonesia-women-organize-environmental-justice.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=In Riau, Indonesia, Women Organize for Environmental Justice |date=13 September 2017 |url=https://www.wri.org/insights/riau-indonesia-women-organize-environmental-justice |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2017riau, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{In Riau, Indonesia, Women Organize for Environmental Justice}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://www.wri.org/insights/riau-indonesia-women-organize-environmental-justice}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }