There is no economy without a living space that endures.

PT Daya Reforestasi Indonesia is an entity focused on developing an ecology-based economy. Its main concerns are restoring ecosystems, raising public awareness, and creating economic opportunities that keep the continuity and preservation of the environment in view.

Daya does not see environmental problems in isolation. Environmental damage is tied to how people use natural resources, how development is carried out, how communities meet their economic needs, and how awareness of and access to environmental knowledge are built.

That is why Daya is not here only to plant trees or bring back green cover. That work is part of a bigger idea: rebuilding a healthier, more harmonious relationship between people and the nature around them.

Daya sees itself as one of many ecology-based businesses. We do not claim to be the only ones with answers. We act as a driver, facilitator and space for collaboration where the public, communities, experts, enthusiasts, institutions and many others can contribute to the environment.

The philosophy of Daya Reforestasi Indonesia starts from a simple realisation: everything people need comes from nature.

Food, water, air, energy, building materials and so much else come from natural systems. Yet in the course of development, people often act as if they stood outside nature and had the right to rule over it.

Daya sees people as fundamentally part of nature. Our ability to build, develop technology and change our surroundings is a great power (in Indonesian, daya). But that power can also become a source of destruction when it is used without limits and without regard for the other inhabitants of nature.

So caring for the environment is not a “favour” people do for nature. It is part of our responsibility as one of nature’s inhabitants.

For Daya, sustainability does not mean that people stop using nature. People will always need nature. What has to change is how we take, process and use its resources, responsibly enough that its ecological functions can carry on.

On one hand, people’s economic needs are a reality that cannot be ignored. On the other, uncontrolled exploitation of nature can in the end destroy the very sources of life that the economy itself depends on.

That is why Daya wants to open up room for an ecology-based economy: an approach that lets economic activity go ahead while still taking into account people, soil, native plants, wildlife, water and air as parts of one balanced ecosystem.

With this approach, a programme’s success cannot be measured simply by how many trees were planted. Daya wants to look at the ecosystem as a whole: how the environment changes, how nearby communities benefit, how economic activity grows, and how public awareness shifts.

So Daya sees ecological, social and economic impact as different sides of the same success, and all of them need to be measured.

Daya believes that environmental damage in the end does not only create ecological problems, but also scarcity of resources and structural poverty.

The human economy needs soil, water, air, biodiversity and many other natural resources. When these systems are damaged, the foundations of the human economy weaken too.

So caring for the environment is not only a matter of conservation. It is part of keeping human life and the human economy possible for the long term.

To build and grow an ecosystem of conservation-based businesses in which people, nature and economic activity can carry on and develop in harmony.

Daya exists to increase the number of businesses and economic actors that make environmental conservation part of how they earn a living.

Daya wants to create a collective power by bringing together as many people as possible who have the care, skills, knowledge, capital or opportunity to contribute to a more sustainable Indonesia, where a healthy environment goes hand in hand with people’s wellbeing and responsible economic activity.