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Environment Watch: Villagers want legal protection for forest
People from Marga Bukit Bulan in Jambi are seeking legal guarantees in the form of a regional law to protect their forest as the source of their livelihood
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P
eople from Marga Bukit Bulan in Jambi are seeking legal guarantees in the form of a regional law to protect their forest as the source of their livelihood.
The Marga Bukit Bulan community is made up of residents in five villages in Limun district, Sarolangun regency: Lubuk Bedorong, Mersip, Napal Melintang, Berkun and Meribung.
The valley area is dominated by hills and intact tracts of forest that serve as water catchment areas.
Because the forest is indispensable for residents, it is classified a traditional forest. There are 12 tracts of traditional forest encompassing the five villages with a total area of 1,488 hectares.
Villagers use water from the forest for daily household needs and to irrigate rice fields.
The District Development Program (PPK) set up a micro-hydro power station a few years to generate electricity for Napal Melintang villagers using the water from upstream forest areas, which is dammed and redirected to micro-hydro generator turbines to produce 30,000 watts of power.
The power is distributed to residents’ homes, where 110 of the 135 families now have electricity.
Each family is charged Rp 5,000 (about 50 US cents) per month for every 10-watt lamp. The money generated is used for public works, such as repairing the mosque.
Village head Yanto praised the electricity generation project, saying it “freed the villagers from
darkness”.
“We are optimizing the use of water in our daily lives,” he said.
Villagers also use the rivers to breed fish.
The larvae are kept in a deep pool in a stream at Lubuk Bedorong village. Sarolangun regency administration says 10,000 larvae could yield hundreds of kilograms of fish twice a year.
With the Marga Bukit Bulan community becoming increasingly dependent on the forest, community development specialist Dendi Satria Buana sees the need for legal guarantee to protect the forest.
The status of the traditional forest has only been recognized through a village decree, which Dendi claims is not enough.
“We must push for the establishment of a legal framework to protect the traditional forest,” he said, adding the forest served a hydrological function by providing clean water that could be used by the community. With clear legal protection, the water source will be preserved and the forest will remain intact and pristine, he said.
Sarolangun Regent Hasan Basri Agus said his concern for the villagers’ welfare led him to push for a regency bylaw pending the issuance of a provincial ordinance on traditional forests.
Water from the upstream areas is dammed and redirected to micro-hydro generator turbines to produce 30,000 watts of power.
