When it comes to researching forests, the hermetically sealed lab is more likely to be millions of hectares of virgin jungle teeming with leeches, snakes, and crocodiles.

Not to mention more friendly critters, such as tree kangaroos, cuscus, cassowaries, parrots, and the elusive bird of paradise.

As for the standard white coat, it is likely to be replaced by heavy boots and sweat-drenched khakis.

That was the case with the CIFOR and Conservation International (CI) staff and partners during an extensive project throughout 2004 in the region of Mamberamo, a remote area in Indonesia’s West Papua and home to 7,000 people.

Because the Mamberamo’s eight million hectares of mostly pristine forest is home to such a wealth of flora and fauna, CI chose it as one of two priority conservation sites.

CI’s ultimate aim is to establish Mamberamo as a flagship conservation zone to help its extraordinary biodiversity survive the threats that new roads and tree plantations will eventually bring to the area.

To help achieve this aim, CI asked CIFOR to conduct a training course in multi-disciplinary landscape assessment (MLA).

According to the head of CIFOR’s MLA research, Douglas Sheil, working with an organization of CI’s international reputation and expertise was a privilege.

“In many ways, CI sets the benchmark in maintaining the world’s biodiversity. Its work to protect Mamberamo’s astonishing range of plants and animals is incredibly important — I have never worked in a place so teeming with wildlife.

“And the way CI is attempting to build collaborative support for the project with the Mamberamo communities is crucial. So, it was really a great opportunity and honor when Conservation International asked CIFOR to become involved,” Sheil said.

The MLA trainees included two officers from CI, academics, students and government environmental officers. In one way or another, all of these trainees will play an important role in the planning and oversight of the conservation area.

To do this successfully, it is crucial they have good relations with the local communities and, most importantly, a good understanding of local perceptions of the surrounding landscape.

CIFOR’s MLA approach does exactly this. It is a scientific method for determining “what really matters” to local communities when it comes to their surrounding landscape, its plants and animals and its environmental services.

Furthermore, past experience shows that the MLA approach builds trust between local communities and officials, and leads to more win-win decisions.

With this trust and their use of MLA techniques, planners can make more informed land-use decisions by identifying where the priorities of local people may complement or conflict with conservation and sustainable development initiatives.

CIFOR worked with CI staff, the selected trainees and local villagers in building local capacity in several key MLA techniques.

The first of these was to draw a map with the villagers of the surrounding landscape. In some villages, people are wary of outsiders and their motives. But with the MLA’s emphasis on seeking local opinions and using local names for landscape features of cultural and livelihood importance, it did not take long for all parties to pull together as a team.

Wherever possible, the map making with villagers involved women and men of different ages to ensure a more representative outcome. In one location, villagers were so pleased to learn their views mattered that a group of local youths offered to draw the final map. Requiring several days work, the colorful drawings featured lowland swaps, towering mountain peaks and many other resources. It is now the pride of the community and a useful tool for making future land-use decisions.

Training people in survey techniques was another key element of the MLA training. Trainees learned how to collect information on the number of villagers, their level of education, main source of income and livelihoods.

Particularly important was surveying and compiling local views on the various threats to biodiversity, on natural resource management and conservation and land tenure (see: Asking questions that matter).

One of the more novel approaches for measuring “what really matters” involved using pebbles, beans or seeds as counters. Villagers were asked to distribute these counters between specially illustrated cards. This simple method helped the MLA trainees to better grasp the villagers’ perceptions of a range of issues.

These included their preferred land types, their views of forests — in terms of the past, present and future — and their different sources and uses of plants and animals. With this information, discussions with the community could continue at a much deeper level and enable a more accurate and sympathetic understanding of local priorities.

According to Eddy Marien, one of the participants, by doing the training out in the forest with real people, the trainees got vital hands-on experience in the techniques and concepts needed to better understand “what really matters” to forest communities.

“The success of conservation projects and land-use decisions depends almost entirely on involving the local people. If they feel decision-makers don’t understand their views on the local landscape, they are unlikely to support the decisions made.”

“I am hopeful the MLA techniques will help decision-makers better understand needs at the village level and hopefully result in better land-use decisions in the future,” Marien said.

CIFOR is proud it was honoured with the opportunity to make a small contribution to CI’s goal of ensuring Mamberamo becomes one of the world’s leading conservation sites.