You Can't Prevent Logging with Healthcare
You can't prevent logging with healthcare. But...
One Indonesian rainforest is home to exotic species, considered the crown jewel of the region, and beloved by locals.
Kinari Webb went to this rainforest to study orangutans. And she noticed that, despite the locals’ deep reverence for the rainforest, they would partake in devastating levels of illegal logging. She was furious. But, by "radically listening", she realized that the reason they logged was to earn enough cash to pay for medical care.
So, she created Health in Harmony, in order to accept creative forms of healthcare payment, including chainsaw buyback programs. As a result, there was a 90% drop in logging, a regrowth of 52 acres of forest, and a 67% drop in infant mortality.
So, you can.
In Borneo, Healthy People Equals Healthy Forests
Adam Wernick , Public Radio International (PRI)
November 12, 2019
Those who live on the island of Borneo understand that their well-being comes from the Gunung Palung National Park, but logging remained rampant because it was the only way to make money to pay for healthcare. Thus, an organization named "Health in Harmony" was borne through "radically listening" to locals to find out what they needed. This organization accepts creative forms of payment for healthcare and offers incentives to cease logging, including a chainsaw buyback program. As a result, ten years later they saw a 90% drop in logging households and a re-growth of 52,000 acres of forest.