The Bahenap Village Forest Management Rights (HPHD) were granted by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), covering an area of 10,915 hectares, through the Minister of Environment and Forestry Decree No. 7010/MENLHK-PSKL/PKPS/PSL.0/12/2017. The HPHD aims to alleviate poverty, halt deforestation, and end forest conflicts by allowing local communities to manage forests themselves and develop sustainable livelihoods.

The community of Bahenap is the holder and owner of HPHD, and the Bahenap Village Forest Management Agency (LPHD) is a village-led institution mandated to manage village forests. LPHD must prepare Social Forestry Management Plan (RKPS) and Annual Work Plan (RKT), implement RKPS and RKT, and monitor and evaluate the RKPS and RKT regularly.

Since obtaining the HPHD, both LPHD and communities have been unable to develop comprehensively and implement their RKPS and RKT optimally due to a lack of capacity and long-term funding resources. In 2019, Bentang Kalimantan Tanguh (BKT) initiated the Bahenap Village Forest Project or Program Hutan Desa Bahenap (PHDB), consent by communities through approval letter No. 04/Pemdes/D-Bhp/2/2021. This initiative aims to facilitate LPHD and communities obtaining long-term funding support and providing technical assistance to execute their RPKS and RKT optimally, thus benefiting climate, community, and biodiversity.