T

he government is striving to preserve forests by involving the participation of people living near forested areas in a bid to enable them to earn a living and improve their welfare.

Forestry Minister, Zulkifli Hasan, handed over earlier this week more than 100,000 hectares of forested land reserves for community forest development to a number of regencies in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Jambi.

In NTB the regencies that have been given the land allocations are: North Lombok (1,284 hectares), West Lombok (226 ha) East Lombok (1,810 ha), Dompu (4,400 ha), Bima (1,999 ha) and Bima City (1,050 ha).

Similar allocations were given to Bulukumpa regency in South Sulawesi (2,265 ha) and Sanggau regency in West Kalimantan (76,090 ha), while two regencies in Jambi — Merangin and Bungo — were allocated land with a combined area of 11,834 hectares.

Zulkifli said that the handover of the land was part of 700,000 hectares that have been set aside by the government for the development of both community and village forests. “Other areas will receive similar allocations in stages,” he said.

“The paradigm has changed. The central government will only allocate forested areas based on proposals from regional administrations, as they know much more about the needs of local people,” the minister said.

According to data at the Forestry Ministry, there are over 30,000 villages in Indonesia that are located near forested lands.

Aside from the community forests, which are to be managed by local people, the central government is also developing village forests, the licensing of which will be entrusted to respective governors.

“The area of forested lands which are managed by local people are larger than those managed by the private sector,” the minister said without giving details.

Zulkifli added that the development of community forests had been able to help curb illegal logging practices in the country.

The handover of the community forest allocations took place at an international conference on forest tenure, governance and enterprise, which was opened by Vice President Boediono in Senggigi, West Lombok.

The five-day conference, due to end on Friday, was attended by 250 participants from Asia-Pacific countries that have forested lands.

Zulkifli said that the conference constituted a strategic forum for the participants to exchange information and experiences in managing forests, including the types of systems and policies adopted by their respective governments.

The NTB province was chosen to host the conference because there the participants could have a close look at how the provincial administration carried out its policy on community forest development.

NTB Governor Zainul Majdi explained that foresty development was integrated with the development of other sectors like agriculture,
animal farming and food production, by involving people living near the forests.

“The secret is how to get local communities to participate in forest management, so as to enable them to earn a living without destroying the forests,” he added.

— JP/Panca Nugraha