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ubuk Bringing villagers have pushed ahead with a proposal that they be given a designated forest plot reserved as their commercially exploited area.

The proposal, according to Rakhmat Hidayat, the executive director of the Conservation Information Center, is to protect the remaining forested area around the village for the villagers' financial benefit.

Forests have become an integral part of Lubuk Beringin, Jambi province, as the villagers have carried out forest management and exploitation in a sustainable manner by implementing traditional values. This has apparently helped them protect forested areas.

The villagers have adhered to and implemented a number of rules in regard to forest management, such as preserving protected forests, rubber forest areas and water sources.

The rules are incorporated in the Village Conservation Agreement, in which residents agree not to cultivate farmland on slopes, cliffs, river banks and upstream areas for fear of erosion, floods and landslides.

"The agreement also explicitly states that environmental preservation is intended to protect the source of irrigation, especially for rice fields," Rakhmat said.

To preserve the forest, villagers have also agreed to protect the Rantau Bayur forest conservation area, which is one of the water catchment areas within the Batang Buat river basin.

Batang Buat River supplies the water needed for irrigation, power generation, clean water and fish farms.

"Their efforts have earned the villagers recognition. The village was presented with the Kalpataru environmental award by the provincial administration," Rakhmat said.

He added he was concerned that the area was now facing the risk of mass conversion by outsiders.

"So it is important for the villagers to immediately obtain a management permit for the sake of maintaining the function of the ecosystem in the area," he said.

The proposal is in line with the Forestry Minister's decree on village forests. The village forest management is aimed at providing access to local residents through the village council in exploiting forest resources as well as improving the wellbeing of the local community in a sustainable manner.

The village representative board has proposed to the Bungo regent to designate the 2,356-hectare Bukit Panjang-Rantau Bayur conservation forest as a reserved village forest working area.