F

or Marten, a resident of Lesan Dayak village in East Kalimantan, life was easier in the past, when he could find rattan and honey just a few steps away from his front door.

“Now we need 10-20 days to find everything. The forest that used to cater to our needs has deteriorated right in front of our eyes,” he said.

Concerned, Marten is now joining the Nemdoh Nemkay community group, consisting of youths in his village, to promote ecotourism and environmental preservation. “We want to start an ecotourism project in our village, so we take tourists to see the local bekantan (prosboscis monkeys), birds, the waterfall and the giant ulin (Borneo ironwood) trees.”

Marten’s community is one of several being assisted by The Nature Conservancy to create alternative livelihoods. According to 2005 data issued by the Finance Ministry, there were 10.2 million forest-dependent people living below the poverty line. In 2006, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) stated that there were 48 million people dependent on forests and 15 percent of them, or around 7 million, lived below the poverty line.

Herlina Hartanto from The Nature Conservancy said that while the communities living close to forests were the key actors in forest preservation, they were also the most vulnerable, due to the depletion of forest resources caused by logging and mining activities.

She said that in several areas, communities could manage the forest in a better way than officials, because they had lived in the forest for generations. She added that such communities are eager to protect the forest as they reap the benefits, such as improved water resources.

“We are trying to improve their capacity and their village institutions. We are involving local NGOs that will gradually take over our role. We also help create alternative livelihoods, such as honey farming or cacao agriculture, so communities can meet their needs from other sources beside the forest,” she said during a discussion at the US Cultural Center, @america, on Wednesday.

Ali Wafa, the Forestry Ministry’s subdivision head on social forestry patterns, said that his ministry wanted to give opportunities to communities to manage the forests through the community forest scheme. He added that forestry licenses are issued by his ministry to regents, as they have a better understanding of their regions.

As of September 2011, the ministry verified around 86,000 hectares of community forest, with around 137,000 hectares still undergoing the verification process. Research conducted by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) showed that the community forest scheme has helped absorb around 26,000 workers in Lampung, Sumatra.

“We have a target to verify 400,000 hectares of community forest. The problem is, we don’t receive enough proposals from the communities,” Ali said.

He added that with the moratorium on sending migrant workers to certain countries, the community forest scheme is expected to create job opportunities while improving local economies and food security. He said that one of the criteria of a community forest is it must not have many forest management licenses.