FORCLIME supports communities in their application and preparation for Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) with the aim of facilitating their legal access to forest resources, building their capacities for sustainable forest management and diversifying their sources of income so as to improve their livelihoods. These activities also serve as pilots for the Forest Management Units who in the future will be expected to facilitate and assist communities with CBFM development in their area.
In collaboration with the district forest services FORCLIME has comprehensively supported the process of CBFM development in two villages, Setulang in Malinau District (5.300 ha) and Manua Sadap (1.600 ha) in Kapuas Hulu District together with other partners such as the regional Watershed Management Agency (BP-DAS) and NGOs like Flora Fauna International and Perkumpulan Kaban. As a first step and based on information about the different CBFM options, the communities selected the CBFM scheme that seemed most appropriate for them, in both cases this was Village Forest (Hutan Desa). During the period of 2010-2012, facilitation activities in the two villages included development of a Village Forest Proposal, training and mentoring to strengthen the village forest management organization, and training for legal drafting. FORCLIME supported participatory village boundary mapping, field verification of the village forest area and a participatory inventory of potential non-timber forest products. Capacity building included skills on how to assess and register the quantities and qualities of available forest resources and how to prepare a sound sustainable forest management plan. Moreover, trainings were conducted on the utilisation and processing of selected non-timber forest or agroforestry products such as honey and coconut oil. The forest management institutions have been formed in the villages and are currently awaiting the work permit for the village forest working area from the Ministry of Forestry.
Additionally, to strengthen the facilitating services from the District Forestry Office with regard to village forest development, a series of study tours has been undertaken to Jambi, Yogyakarta and West Sumatra, in addition to training for village forest facilitators from the Forest Service of Malinau. Currently, a study is conducted to review the curriculum and training modules for village forest facilitators in order to improve the training materials so that in the future they will more suitable for needs in the field.
Further activities to be followed up include: (a) Participatory forest inventory in the forest of Manua Sadap village, (b) Preparation of the work plan for Village Forests in Setulang and Manua Sadap, after the village forest working area is established, (c) Submission of the proposal of village forest management to the Governor, (d) Strengthening the capacity on CBFM for the forestry extension staff and NGOs, (e) Facilitating the development of community-level forestry enterprises (honey, gaharu, rattan), (f) Replicating the development of CBFM in other villages in Malinau , Berau and Kapuas Hulu districts in the framework of the Forest Management Units.
The capacity building measures have empowered the communities to make their village forest applications in line with the sometimes complex administrative procedures. They are now in a better position to manage their forests in a sustainable way and derive benefits for their livelihood improvement. The district forest services have been able to draw on experiences also from other regions in Indonesia and benefitted from a learning-by-doing approach in handling the administrative processes which are still new to all stakeholders involved.
For further information, please contact:
Ali Mustofa, Thematic Leader of Community Empowerment
Tunggul Butarbutar, Strategic Area Manager of FMU development
