Case 4 - Forestry and Local People’s Benefits:

Community Forestry and Social Forestry a) The case

The Forestry Law No. 41/1999 determines that government, business sector and communities do share the responsibility for forest program activities. The government is obligated to take the initiative and coordination as well as to develop appropriate institutions.

The business sector has mainly obligations concerning investments. The implementation is realized at the local government (regency) level, by institutions like the Forestry and Soil Conservation Agency (Dinas Perhutanan dan Konservasi Tanah/DPKT) and coordinated by the Chief of regency (Bupati).

Since 1995, the government has undertaken a number of efforts to encourage the role of local people. In many countries, social forestry is understood as community-based forest management to improve people’s prosperity. Social-forestry in Indonesia was first introduced in the 1980s on forest estates (state owned forest) and on private land under the name Hutan Kemasyarakatan/HKM. The Forestry Department makes a difference between

‘Community Forests’ (‘Hutan Rakyat’) and ‘Social Forestry’ (‘Perhutanan Sosial’). The Ministry of Forestry maintains them in two different Sub-directorates, namely for Community Forests (Sub-direktorat Hutan Rakyat) and for Social Forestry (Sub-direktorat Perhutanan Sosial).

Area responsibilities of Soil Conservation Agency (DPKT) are located particularly in the protection sphere, but encompass also non-wood products, ruling the traditional hunting of wild species which are not protected in hunting areas, forest preservation and community capacity building in forestry. In practice, the supervision target is limited on privately owned

forest land or called ‘community forest’ (hutan rakyat) - or ‘tree forest’- areas related to water and soil protection or non-wood products.

Part of the SFM Certification Program in Perhutani released by SmartWood (2000a, 2000b, 2000c) reported as well about the social aspects on forest management:

In the state owned forest, Perhutani did already improve the social responsibility since the 1990s. Traditionally, local people have used the forests to supply fuel, fodder and non-timber products such as medicinal plants and food while they have been excluded from using teak as the main product. Basically, the local community understands the access rule to forests. Perhutani and the local communities usually maintain good relations and even try to improve them through tumpang sari or taungya system.

However, some timber theft incidents happened and became more common during the monetary crisis and the subsequent political moil. Consequently, Perhutani was asked to develop a publicly accepted and consistent method of reporting and handling such conflict situations. This would require formal local consultation processes, conflict resolution’s procedures, including legal processes and compensation. So far, real community participation has been a challenge in forest management, particularly concerning local economic benefits by giving access for agricultural land and non-timber forest products as well as reforestation.

Another and even worse kind of social conflict occurred during field investigations: Due to double occupation of lands around 500 families may claim Perhutani’s lands through letters issued by the National Land Authority. This conflict reflects again that coordination between different sectors, integrated planning and joint mapping as guidance for all development sectors are still urgent issues that need to be solved.

Differing from social forestry, community forests are practiced on private land belonging to individual smallholders. Participation is seen as essential in order to plant trees outside forest estates.

The establishment of community forests can be divided into three types of financing:

(1) Subsidy: part or all of the costs are borne by the government. This option was introduced for land rehabilitation at the upper land of watersheds (Kredit Usaha Konservasi Daerah Aliran Sungai/KUK-DAS, Inpres Penghijauan, and Gerakan Nasional Rehabilitasi Hutan dan Lahan/GNRHL);

(2) Swadaya: costs are independently borne by farmer. Species selection is usually market oriented. For this purpose, a Community Forest Credit Scheme (Kredit Hutan Rakyat) is available, for instance providing up to Rp. 2 million/ha, with 6% annual interest. To follow this scheme, farmers must cooperate and create a total planting

area of 900 ha. They must also find a competent business partner to administer the loan (MoF Decree No. 49/1997);

(3) Cooperation: the farmer cooperates with wood-industries supported by the local government (province and regency). The MoF encourages farmers to avail themselves the Standard Agriculture Credit Package Scheme through a cooperative credit (i.e. Kredit Usaha Tani/ KUT), for instance to plant trees along their agricultural crops. The goal is to improve the role of smallholders in tree-crops planting. They are not confined to the MoF, but to the Ministry of Agriculture. Tree species are mainly agricultural trees, namely coconut, rubber, coffee, oil palm, cashew nuts and cocoa trees. The Ministry of Agriculture offers programs for permanent farming (Usaha Petani Tetap) and for conservation of natural resources (Usaha Pelestarian Sumberdaya Alam), to settle shifting cultivators and get them to convert upland fields and ylang-ylang grasslands to permanent tree crop cultivation.

Social forestry has been practiced in Java since long time ago under the estate forest canopy of Perhutani. Perhutani follows an annual harvesting plan based on area. Volumes are calculated from the actual volumes of the standing timber in the blocks scheduled for harvesting in a particular year. They may vary from year to year as the blocks are harvested.

Blocks depending on age criteria for harvest are further scheduled according to their volume of standing timber to meet volume requirements. The locations to be felled are selected to be consistent with the annual allowable cut based on an 80-year rotation. Perhutani has developed a wide range of silviculture techniques to ensure the development of good quality stands of teak, and several other species. A management guideline is issued by the Jakarta offices or by the respective unit and district administrators, addressing germination, tree spacing and species mix for planting, branch pruning and intensity of thinning, as well as cutting cycle theories to determine the optimal age for harvest. The system of 3 x 1 meter planting which has been in use for the last century in the teak plantations is currently being adapted to accommodate more intensive use of inter cropping for agro-forestry. More common now is the use of 3 x 3 spacing, which means that the canopy does not start to close and minimize light for the under story crops after the first two years. For over a century, tumpang sari or taungya system crop-allied planting on forestland has allowed local farmers to plant agricultural crops in tree seedlings plantations, normally for three years before the canopy began to close. This system integrated local community members most effectively and provided them with agricultural land.

Tumpang sari is practiced in various locations in Java with support from the Ford Foundation, Perhutani and their advisors have developed a revised social forestry strategy:

In 1984 the present programs of Integrated Community Forest Development (Pembinaan Masyarakat Desa Hutan Terpadu/PMDHT) was introduced. It allows farmers to plant fruit

trees within plantation areas, to enhance Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) production, and gain income from thinning operations. This program allows cultivators to get greater benefits from NTFP and from a choice of trees they are allowed to plant for their own profit. The goal of the approach was also to allow farmers to hold a long-term stake in the economic future of the plantation. The program also sought to build forest farmer groups (Kelompok Tani Hutan/KTH) represented by social forestry managers in negotiations with Perhutani. As a group, rather than as individuals, they should be more powerful concerning the planning and decision making process. The rights to harvest timber are excluded in all these programs.

They were introduced because the population densities in the forested lands of Java increased, particularly after World War II. Many of Java's forest districts were targeted for reforestation since they were no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the growing population of landless agricultural laborers. The success of the strategy was indicated by lower rates of forest arsons, timber smuggling, and violence between community members and Perhutani staff until the first half of the 1990’s. After that, the situation changed. Poffenberger (1998 in SmartWood 2000b) suggested that Perhutani should delegate planning and management of reforestations to the communities.

The community forest and its incentive schemes as well as social forestry are examples of community participation in forestry. A similar scheme is also found in the agriculture sector but more accentuating on food production.

b) Conclusions

(1) Choice: Community forest is realized by people based on their self interest like on plant in their own land, select species and also select from the different facilitations or credit schemes which are offered by the government and the business. The Democratization is also presented in the revised social forestry by Perhutani which allows farmers to plant fruits trees under agroforestry system.

(2) Inter-sectoral Collaboration: The MoF encourages farmers to avail themselves of a cooperative credit (i.e. Kredit Usaha Tani/KUT) such as tree-crops planting while they are not confined to the MoF, but to the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, the

‘tree-crop‘ program (and revised agroforestry system) can improve landscape ecology in agriculture areas, for instance by providing migration and refuge corridors or feeding ground or guide the movement of materials, water, wind and energy.

(3) Participation: Participation in community forestry is seen as very important for planting trees outside forest estates. Participation is presented also in the social forestry program which attempts to build forest farmer groups (Kelompok Tani

Hutan/KTH) and negotiate with the respective chosen managers as representatives. Decisions are made as a group rather than as individuals.