Tjikko

Introduction

At the heart of everything Olgeta does is a belief that communities are the best stewards of their own land. The Tjikko Initiative grows directly from that belief — a new conservation model designed to give indigenous communities a genuine, lasting economic stake in the forests they have always protected.

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The Problem We Are Solving

For generations, communities across the Pacific have chosen to protect their forests — turning away logging companies and mining interests — with no financial reward for doing so.

They have made that choice out of principle, out of love for their land, and out of a deep understanding that their forests are worth more intact than destroyed.

But principle alone cannot feed families. And without a meaningful way to generate income from intact forest, the economic pressure to allow extraction grows with every passing year.

Donation-based conservation has helped — but it depends on generosity that has limits. When funding ends, nothing changes for the communities left behind.

There has to be a better way.

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What Tjikko Is

Tjikko is a conservation initiative that converts the proven stewardship of indigenous-owned ecosystems into verified conservation assets — creating a permanent, growing stream of income for communities, without requiring them to sell their land, compromise their rights, or depend on donations that may not last.

The principle is simple: the communities who protect the forest should own the majority of the value it generates. Not as a side arrangement. As the foundation of everything.

Under the Tjikko model, indigenous communities hold majority ownership of the conservation assets their stewardship creates — permanently and irrevocably. For the first time, protecting the forest is not just the most principled choice a community can make. It is the most financially rewarding one.

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Our Approach

Tjikko is built on the understanding that outside organisations cannot do this work alone. Community trust, free and informed consent, and genuine co-ownership are not negotiable — they are the starting point.

Every step of the Tjikko process begins with the community. Awareness, consultation, and legal formation all happen at community pace, led by people with the cultural authority and the relationships to do it properly. Tjikko does not engage until communities have established their own legal standing and are ready to proceed on their own terms.

This takes time. It is meant to. The goal is not speed — it is permanence.

Where We Are

The Tjikko Initiative is currently in active development. Partnerships are in place across government, conservation bodies, and legal frameworks. We are working closely with indigenous communities, provincial and national government stakeholders, and international conservation and research partners to build a model that is rigorous, ethical, and replicable.

Our aim is not to build something that works in one place. It is to build something that can work across the Pacific — and beyond.

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How This Connects to Olgeta's Mission

Olgeta Foundation has spent years delivering practical, hands-on support to remote communities across the Pacific. We have built relationships — with clan leaders, with government officials, with the people themselves — that cannot be replicated from the outside.

Tjikko is the next expression of that mission. Not a departure from what we do, but a deepening of it. Moving from delivering support to helping communities build something permanent — economic foundations as enduring as the forests they protect.

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Get Involved

If you share our belief that communities — not corporations — should be the primary beneficiaries of the natural world they steward, we would love to hear from you.

Whether you are a conservation organisation, a government body, a research institution, or simply someone who cares about the future of the Pacific's forests and the people who protect them — there may be a role for you in what we are building.

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