|
Collaborative forest management of teak forest in Central Java
BACKGROUND
Java is a highly populated island in Indonesia. Although the total area of
Java is only 6.5% of the total area of Indonesia, around 64% of the total
population of Indonesia lives on this island. The total state forest area in
Java is 2.9 million ha. It is estimated that a total of 35 millions people, of
6200 villages, interact with and depend on these forests in one way or the
other. Most of the villages that surround state forests are poor villages. The
villagers have limited employment opportunities, most of the workers are over
working age, there is a shortage of land available for agricultural activities
and the average land ownership is 0.25 ha per family.
Although Perhutani provides limited employment opportunities and cash income
for the villagers, it cannot be guaranteed that they can improve their lives if
they participate in Perhutani forest management activities only through daily
labouring work. Several programs and activities which aim to improve people’s
welfare have been undertaken by Perhutani since 1972, unfortunately failed to
meet their objectives. The reasons for these failures include the lack of
Perhutani’s understanding of the social dynamics and local political processes
in the village and national levels. Further, poverty and lack of people’s
participation has led to illegal logging activities in the period of 1998 to
2000.
In 2001, Perhutani came up with a new program called Collaborative Forest
Management (PHBM or Pengelolaan Hutan Bersama Masyarakat). The main
characteristic of PHBM is the willingness of Perhutani to empower local
community organizations at the village level so that they can engage in forest
management in collaboration with Perhutani and other stakeholders.
The aims of PHBM are in line with those of the LPF project, where
multi-stakeholders with different views and power manage the forests together.
LPF research activities on PHBM were carried out in two forest districts
(locally called KPH or Kesatuan Pemangkuan Hutan), where 2 villages of each of
the forest districts were selected as a project site, i.e. Surajaya Village and
Glandang Village in KPH Pemalang, and Tanggel Village and Gempol Village in KPH
Randublatung.
|
