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Management, local farmers join forces to look after park
The management of the Halimun-Salak National Park (TNHGS) has allowed the residents of Purasari village in Bogor to tap pine trees located in a special community zone in the Mount Butak area
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he management of the Halimun-Salak National Park (TNHGS) has allowed the residents of Purasari village in Bogor to tap pine trees located in a special community zone in the Mount Butak area.
However, the management demanded residents help look after the trees around their zone by constantly patrolling to deter would-be illegal loggers.
The head of the park management, Bambang Supriyanto, said his team had signed an MoU between PT Perhutani, the company in charge of the trees, and the group of pine-tapping farmers.
“This scheme is meant to help revive the fortunes of villagers living in the vicinity of the park,” Bambang said recently.
He added that under the scheme, each villager was also required to allocate Rp 1,000 of their daily earnings to a special fund.
“The money will be used to finance the restoration of damaged trees in the park,” Bambang said.
Currently, only 18 farmers are benefiting from the scheme.
Pepen, the head of the farmer’s group, said so far, he had managed to collect between 300 and 350 kilograms of pine sap. Perhutani buys the pine sap at Rp 4,000 per kilogram.
“Previously, I did odd jobs. I am grateful for the scheme as I now receive a regular income thanks to the permit I have for pine tapping,” Pepen said.
He said the farmers also took turns to take part in night patrols around park together with forest rangers.
“Most illegal loggers prefer to work at night to avoid running into forest rangers. They use pickup trucks to carry away logs,” Pepen said.
Apart from Purasari village, two other villages are situated in the Mt. Butak area: Purwabakti and
Cibunian.
The Mt. Butak area covers an area of 5,115 hectares of which 4,147 hectares is covered by forests.
Bambang said the villagers were allowed to cash in on 55-hectare forest in a special community zone.
“The current group has been tapping 11,100 pines in an area of 18.4 hectares. There are still 37.1 hectares that remain untapped,” he said.
According to Bambang, each farmer managed to earn Rp 522,013 every month from tapping the
pine trees.
Bambang also claimed his management team had also sought ways to raise more money to conserve the national park under the Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) scheme.
Under the scheme, reduced emissions from avoiding deforestation will be quantified and then sold in the carbon market or handed to an international fund that arranged financial compensation.
Bambang estimated the TNHGS, which had 1,889.55 hectares of natural forest and 128.07 hectares of plantations, could store more than 502,733 tons of carbon that it could eventually trade.
With an estimated price of between US$5 and $10 per ton in the carbon market, the park could generate a minimum income of $27,277 per village per year.
“This fund will be sustainable should the community help the carbon absorption capacity of the park by fighting illegal logging and participating in the restoration of damaged forests,” he said.
