WWF’s Heart of Borneo program spent about 3 million € over the previous three years to lobby for a 'tri-national'  collaboration in the sustainable management of the intact forest landscape in the centre of Borneo.  This resulted in a common Declaration by the three governments in February 2007.

Notwithstanding this first success, the program had drawbacks in its design, organisation and management. Conservation diplomacy is not the core objective of WWF, so a negative advice was given to continue the program in its actual form. It was suggested to use the IUCN platform instead, a union created for this purpose.