Oyos Saroso H.N.
West Lampung
Tribudisyukur is one of the villages in Bukit Rigis forest in West Lampung. Built by retired servicemen of West Java's Siliwangi military division in the '50s, the village has a long history, starting with the ex-soldiers' struggle to open the forest, reclaim land for crop cultivation and build roads.
The Siliwangi retirees moved to Lampung under a transmigration program for the Indonesian Military designed by the National Reconstruction Agency (BRN). The BRN program was meant as a token of government appreciation for the contribution of independence war veterans. Now the progeny of these Tasikmalaya-born fighters can enjoy lush green crop expanses with asphalted roads between West and North Lampung.
Despite the mountain and forest environment, visitors will not find many poor villagers there because all of them have paddy fields and plantations with abundant harvests. They grow paddy for daily consumption, while the other needs like housing, children's schooling and health expenses are covered by income from estate crops like coffee, pepper, candle nuts, durians, cacao and areca nuts.
"Many of us were poor in the past. After the government issued a provisional permit allowing locals to manage the forest seven years ago, we can now maintain plantations. Since then, we have taken good care of the forest so that we can keep growing estate crops in compensation," said Engkos Kosasih, former village chief of Tribudisyukur and current chairman of the Bina Wana (forest development) farmers group.
The forest management license is known as the community forest program (HKM) or community-based forest management (CBFM). In Indonesia, the HKM model applied to Tribudisyukur is a pilot project.
"A lot of farmers from different parts of Indonesia have done comparative studies here. Some researchers from Vietnam, the U.S. and Germany have also visited our village," Engkos said.
With the successful HKM program, at the end of May 2007 West Lampung Regent Erwin Nizar handed over a 25-year community forest management license to the Bina Wana farmers group, with which over a dozen smaller groups are affiliated. The long-term permit also requires the prevention and control of illegal logging, the prevention of forest fires and the control of illegal hunting, as well as the planting of timber-producing and multipurpose trees.
The license concerns forest management rather than ownership so that it cannot be transferred. It is also liable to revocation if the license holder fails to carry out their obligations and abide by the relevant laws or to complete their working plans as specified. According to one study, the community forest program realization in Tribudisyukur has increased local people's preparedness to maintain timber estates and grow multipurpose plants benefiting the less advantaged.
In addition, the HKM program can boost land value and community income, promote investment in tree planting and land cultivation, and enhance the value of agroforestry's environment services. With the introduction of HKM and agroforestry to Tribudisyukur by the end of the 1990s, the severely damaged Bukit Rigis forest has now been restored.
"But only the West Lampung portion of Bukit Rigis is now green, while the other part in North Lampung remains damaged by persistent squatting. We can do nothing because it's beyond our territory," Engkos Kosasih pointed out.
Any trespasser or illegal logger trying to steal wood from the village will be driven off or apprehended by locals, so that no more illegal activities can be found in West Lampung.
Meanwhile, the protected forest on the slopes of Bukit Rigis has also been converted from barren land into a mixed agroforestry area with robusta coffee as its main crop. As catch-crops, pepper, bananas, magnolia, cinnamon, candle nuts, areca nuts and others are also grown to meet the varying heights of plants required.
"HKM indeed requires the planting of short, medium-height and tall trees. Tall timber trees must be conserved for the ecosystem. By the multiculture system, estate harvests take place the whole year," said Watala director Rama Zakaria.
Source: The Jakarta Post, Sept. 10, 2007
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