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Building a clinic to save a forest

An ingenious solution - how offering cut price health treatment to local people has helped reduce logging in Borneo's rainforest.

How do you stop people chopping down precious rainforest? In the Indonesian part of Borneo, researchers for a conservation charity discovered that local people were chopping down the rainforest around them for an incredibly understandable reason – they needed to pay for medical treatment for themselves and their children.

So they started a project that would hopefully protect the forest and help the local communities at the same time. They built a health centre and gave people a big discount on medical care if they stopped chopping down the trees. Ten years on, we visit the forest to see what happened next.

People Fixing The World from the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is about brilliant solutions to the world's problems. We'd love you to let us know what you think and to hear about your own solutions. You can contact us on WhatsApp by messaging +44 8000 321721 or email peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk. And please leave us a review on your chosen podcast provider.

We first podcast this episode in December 2023.

Presenter: Myra Anubi
Reporter: Ade Mardiyati
Producer: Craig Langran
Series Producer: Jon Bithrey
Editor: Bridget Harney
Sound mix: Hal Haines

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23 minutes

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