In Mataram Declaration, Belated Recognition of Indigenous Rights

Jakarta Globe, Kennial Caroline Laia,  Apr 23, 2015

The government is finally getting serious about recognizing Indigenous
groups’ forest rights. (Antara Photo/Ahmad Subaidi)

Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Proponents of the rights of indigenous groups have hailed a pledge by the Indonesian government to do more to recognize their stewardship of forests, seen as crucial in efforts to stave off deforestation.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar made the so-called Mataram Declaration last weekend in a belated response to a May 2013 Constitutional Court ruling relinquishing the state’s default claims to forested areas settled and used by indigenous groups.

“Long before this, civil society organizations and local communities were struggling for the recognition and protection of customary land,” said Abetnego Tarigan, the executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, or Walhi. “Now the government has shown good faith, and we really appreciate it.”

He said the central and local governments often violated indigenous people’s land rights because the latter lacked title deeds to their land. In many cases, he noted, the people were disenfranchised of their rights, and their land given over to logging, plantation or mining operators.

“There are a few policies that regulate the rights of local communities to the land, such as the 2012 law on customary forests, but they don’t cover the recognition of people’s customary territory, so we need another framework to guarantee it,” Abetnego said. “This declaration should really be a form of political will for all stakeholders to push the recognition and protection of customary forests managed by the people.”

Civic-centered development

At the signing of the declaration on Saturday in Mataram, in West Nusa Tenggara province, Siti said the government and other stakeholders were committed to expediting the process to craft policies that improved the welfare and protection of local communities and conserved the environment.

“These policies are really important,” she said. “President Joko Widodo’s government has indicated that the citizenship concept is a democratic one, in which we seek to bring welfare to the people.”

She said the government was making efforts to involve people, especially indigenous groups, in environmental protection.

“Here, our development must be civic-centered,” Siti said. “This issue has been echoed by the people and environmental organizations, and now the government is listening.”

Under Joko’s 2015-2019 National Mid-Term Development Plan, the administration plans to designate 12.5 million hectares of land for “social forestry,” in which indigenous groups and local communities will commit to sustainable forestry practices, and nine million hectares for agriculture.

“These [social] forests can be developed as community forests, village forests and customary forests,” Siti said, adding that the agricultural land, to be staked out from former logging concessions, would go primarily to subsistence farmers.

Collaborative effort

Siti said it was important for all stakeholders — the central government, regional administrations, civil society organizations and local communities — to work closely together.

“The policy is ready to go, but we can’t do it alone. We need help from other stakeholders to cooperate. For example, I hope the Home Affairs Ministry will help us identify indigenous communities and their problems to ensure that all land is distributed rightly and fairly,” she said.

“We also need civil society organizations to work with the people on mediation, community building and others. Access to welfare for all Indonesians is our responsibility.”

Zudan Arif Fakrulloh, an adviser to the Home Affairs Ministry, said the institution was open to cooperating with the other stakeholders.

“But the identification process isn’t easy. There are a few requirements to meet before we can definitively say that a given community is an indigenous one,” he said. “The process must be really selective. And this is the task of regional leaders.”

Zudan said that for a forest community to qualify, it would have to show some kind of environmentally sustainable practice in its interactions with the forest.

“Here we need experts and help from civil society organizations,” he said.

People first

Siti said the new policy, unlike previous ones, prioritized the role of people in economic development through the exploitation of forests and other natural resources.

“I believe the system will be no longer like the past, when government didn’t put the people at the front of its development plans. Now, we must use dialogue in our approach to developing the economy of this country,” Siti said.

West East Nusa’s Deputy Governor Muhammad Amin welcomed the declaration, but said further talks on the issue were still needed between the central government and regional administrations.

“We realize there hasn’t been a regional policy that recognizes the territorial rights of indigenous people. However, with this declaration, we hope that the people will receive greater consideration in the policy-making process,” he said. “Should the synergy run smoothly, we may be able to achieve an environment-oriented development framework.”

Yansen T.P., the head of Malinau district in North Kalimantan, who was among the more than 30 regional heads attending the Mataram Declaration, said an increasing number of regions across the country were beginning to prioritize land rights protections when crafting new policies.

“We’ve been done a lot for several years now to show our support for our environment,” he said. “We have vast areas of natural resources and considerable local wisdom. The forest we have is the forest we must hold on to. We understand that people depend on the forest and they will try to maintain it. But to do that, we in the regional government have to provide them with legal certainty.”

Yansen said he hoped that future investments would “take the side of the people.”

“We don’t need to exploit all of our natural resources right away. We have to think about our children, grandchildren and our future generations,” he said. “Hopefully the central government’s policy will accelerate the recognition of indigenous people’s right to the forest.”

Test cases

Adi Rozal, the head of Kerinci district in Sumatra’s Jambi province, said his administration had designated 12 swaths of forest as customary forests.

“Now we’re waiting for coordination from the central government to issue a policy that fully mandates the forests for use by the local community,” he said.

Mathius Awoitauw, the head of Jayapura district in Papua province, agreed that while the central government had a key role to play, it was local governments that would serve as the test cases for various frameworks on the issue.

“All we need to do to establish nationwide synergy is to hold regular dialogues to test how capable regional governments and people are in managing their forests. In addition, there should be a regulation that truly guarantees the rights of each region to map its own customary forests,” he said.

In prioritizing the rights of forest-dwelling communities, the government has switched from an earlier paradigm that served large corporations, said Chalil Muhammad, the chairman of the Association for Community and Ecology-Based Law Reform, or Perkumpulan HuMa.

“There’s a need to create a scheme to build rights coordination between the central government, regional governments and the people in an effort to prevent forests from rampant exploitation,” he said. “These stakeholders need to change their mind-set. We need to increase human resource capacity and fix existing forestry policies.”

Edited by Hayat Indriyatno

Jokowi Folds Emissions Agency BP REDD+ Into Forestry Ministry

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon & Adelia Anjani Putri, Jan 29, 2015

Indonesia has the third largest area of tropical rainforest on the planet, but
also one of the fastest rates of deforestation. (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo has disbanded Indonesia’s BP REDD+ agency, which was established in 2013 to help the country meet greenhouse gas emission targets from deforestation, and merged it with Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

The decision, which was issued via Presidential Decree No. 16/2015 issued on Jan. 23, will see the Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Management Body, as well as the National Council on Climate Change, folded into the ministry.

Both agencies are peak government bodies whose role is crucial to halting Indonesia’s rapid deforestation rates and mitigating climate change.

“The task and function of reducing greenhouse emissions conducted by BP REDD+ as stated in Presidential Decree No. 62/2003 now will be integrated as the ministry’s task and function,” Article 59 of the decree said.

There was no elaboration on the technical arrangements, but the decree said that the authority would be given to minister Siti Nurbaya.

BP REDD+ was founded in 2013 by then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as part of Indonesia’s $1 billion REDD deal with Norway.

In 2009, Indonesia pledged to cut deforestation rates — which are estimated to be some of the fastest in the world — by up to 41 percent by 2020. A year later Indonesia signed a letter of intent with Norway, which outlined Indonesia’s commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation of peatland, in exchange for payments of up to $1 billion from Norway.

BP REDD took over from the REDD+ Task Force, which was established in 2010, and has since worked on Indonesia’s REDD+ planning, including projects such as the One Map initiative — a centralized forestry map, which is aimed resolving conflicting land claims that have hampered emissions reductions targets.

The decision to disband the agency has met a mixed response from some within Indonesia, but Norway’s ambassador to Indonesia Stig Traavik took a cautious tone when contacted on Thursday.

He said it was natural for a new government to want to “manage things their own way” and Norway was open to some changes.

When asked whether he thought Joko was serious about Indonesia’s environmental pledge, he replied the two countries had a long partnership on climate issues and he was confident things would progress.

“We have heard about the decision but not in detail. The main thing now is how to reach the goal together,” Traavik said.

Abetnego Tarigan, executive director at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, said for certain issues the merger could be positive.

“The previous president formed BP REDD+ with the help of the Norwegian embassy as a debottlenecking attempt in the efforts of solving environmental issues in Indonesia,” he said.

“However, the problems have been that the ministries were not working well because they couldn’t work hand in hand.”

Abetnego said what was important was whether efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions were effective.

“If merging BP REDD+ was an attempt to kill it all … I think that would be a colossal mistake,” he said.

“With the merger, the assumption is that there wouldn’t be any difficulties in solving environmental issues, as the ministry is a big institution and also has regional units in many areas.”

William Sabandar, former deputy of operations at BP REDD+, was less affirmative about the decision.

“This is how I see it as a former deputy of BP REDD+. What’s certain is that the presidential decree violates the agreement between the Indonesian government with the Norwegian government which is stated in the Letter of Intent in 2010.”

He said it was sad to see that the merger had not been considered thoroughly in terms of its local, national and international effects.

“The international dimension would be how they would consider Indonesia’s important role in the global climate change movement.

“The national dimension is how serious we are in boosting the country’s forest and land management across the archipelago.

“The local dimension is the BP REDD+’s role in involving the society and boosting welfare.”

Sumba powers up with renewables

Indonesian island hopes to spark green power revolution.

The Star – AFP, Angela Dewan, May 26, 2014

Catch the wind: Villagers erect a windmill on a field of small wind turbines
in Kamanggih, Sumba island, East Nusa Tenggara. — AFP

AN Indonesian family of farmers eat cobs of corn outside their hut under the glow of a light bulb, as the women weave and young men play with mobile phones.

Until two years ago, most people in Kamanggih village on the island of Sumba had no power at all. Now 300 homes have access to 24-hour electricity produced by a small hydroelectric generator in the river nearby.

“We have been using the river for water our whole lives, but we never knew it could give us electricity,” Adriana Lawa Djati said, as 1980s American pop songs drifted from a cassette player inside.

While Indonesia struggles to fuel its fast-growing economy, Sumba is harnessing power from the sun, wind, rivers and even pig dung in a bid to go 100% renewable by 2025.

The ambitious project, called the “Iconic Island“, was started by Dutch development organisation Hivos and is now part of the national government’s strategy to almost double renewables in its energy mix over the next 10 years.

Sumba, in central Indonesia, is an impoverished island of mostly subsistence farmers and fishermen. Access to power has made a huge difference to people like Djati.

“Since we started using electricity, so much has changed. The kids can study at night, I can weave baskets and mats for longer, and sell more at the market” she said.

While only around 30% of Sumba’s 650,000 people have been hooked up to the power grid, more than 50% of electricity used now on the island comes from renewable sources, government data show.

Hivos field co-ordinator Adrianus Lagur hoped the project would be replicated by other islands in the same province of East Nusa Tenggara, one of the country’s poorest.

Indonesia is one of the region’s most poorly electrified nation, partly because it sprawls over 17,000 islands of which more than 6,000 are inhabited.

Despite enjoying economic growth of around 6% annually in recent years, Indonesia is so short of energy that it rolls out scheduled power cuts that cripple entire cities and sometimes parts of the capital.

To keep up with growth, Indonesia is planning to boost its electricity capacity by 60 gigawatts over a 10-year period to 2022. Twenty percent of that is to come from renewable sources.

“Indonesia has been a net importer of oil for years, and our oil reserves are limited, so renewables are an important part of our energy security,” said Mochamad Sofyan, renewable energy chief of state electricity company PLN.

Hefty electricity and fuel subsidies have been a serious burden on the state budget.

But small-scale infrastructure, like mini hydroelectric generators and small wind turbines that power Sumba are not enough to close the national energy gap, even if they were built on all Indonesia’s islands.

Massive hydropower and geothermal projects, which use renewable energy extracted from underground pockets of heat, are needed to really tackle the nationwide problem, said Sofyan.

Indonesia, one of the world’s most seismically active countries, also has the biggest reserves of geothermal, often near its many volcanoes and tectonic plate boundaries. It is considered one of the cleanest forms of energy available.

But geothermal is largely untapped as legislation to open up exploration moves slowly and the industry is bound in red tape.

Sofyan said there is also concern that Sumba’s target to be powered 100% by renewable energy is unrealistic.

“In the long term, we see Sumba still relying somewhat on diesel generators. It will be powered predominantly by renewables, but I don’t think it will be able to switch off the grid,” Sofyan said.

Hivos admits its goal is ambitious, saying it is “inspirational and political” rather than technical but the NGO believes the target may be achievable even in the long term.

Nonetheless the Sumbanese are reaping the benefits of the green energy sources already available, which have lifted a considerable financial burden for many due to reduced costs for wood and oil.

Elisabeth Hadi Rendi, 60, in the town of Waingapu, has been farming pigs since 1975, but it was only two years ago when Hivos visited her home that she came to understand the power of porcine poo. Pigs are commonly kept in Sumba, a predominantly Christian island in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

Each day Rendi shovels dung from the pig pens and churns it in a well, after which it is funnelled to a tank and converted into methane gas. It has saved her household around six million rupiah (RM1,680) in two years, a significant sum for a typical Sumbanese family.

“We also make fertiliser from the waste to use in our garden, where we grow vegetables,” said Rendi. “We eat the vegetables and feed some to the pigs too, which will become biogas again, so the energy literally goes round and round.” — AFP

Kellogg's to buy only sustainably sourced palm oil

Company forces suppliers to protect forests and peatlands, and respect community rights

theguardian.com, John Vidal, Wednesday 19 February 2014

An excavator clears a forest for palm oil plantation in west Kalimantan on Borneo
island, southeast Asia. Photograph: Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images

The food giant Kellogg's has caved in to public pressure and agreed to buy palm oil only from suppliers who can prove that they actively protect rainforests and peatlands and respect human rights.

The move, which follows intense pressure from consumer groups around the world, is expected to improve the survival chances of highly endangered animals like the Sumatran tiger and the orangutan in southeast Asia, as well as provide some protection for indigenous peoples in Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, Latin America and west Africa who depend on tropical rainforests for a living.

At least 30,000 square miles of tropical forest has been cut down in the past 20 years to supply the burgeoning global food industry with cheap palm oil to make packaged foods, ice cream and snacks. The deforestation has led to illegal land grabs, forest fires and social conflict in communities which depend on forest resources for their livelihoods. The heavy loss of peatlands has also contributed significantly to the increase in climate change emissions.

In a statement, Kellogg's said that it will require its suppliers to "protect forests, endangered species habitat, lands with high carbon content, and peatland of any depth. Suppliers will also be required to protect human and community rights."

"While palm oil is a very small percentage of our total ingredients, as a socially responsible company, concerns about the sustainable production of palm oil are clearly on our radar screen," said chief sustainability officer Celeste Clark.

The company, whose brands include Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Special K and Pringles is thought to use about 50,000 tonnes of palm oil a year, said that it planned to impose the changes by December 2015. It has sales of $14bn (£8bn) annually, manufactures in 35 countries and sells food in over 180 countries.

"This is clearly a step in the right direction. Now it needs to be implemented. This will limit the damage that has already been done but it shows that the palm oil industry is in transformation. Now it needs other major US and European companies to follow," said Pat Venditti, deputy forest campaign director at Greenpeace.

The Kellogg's move, said Venditti, is expected to raise standards and increase pressure on other food giants and their suppliers to follow suit.

It also represents a major success for environment and consumer groups who have challenged the industry's longstanding assurances that palm oil cultivation in Asia was "sustainable" and which has hidden behind easily-obtained green "certificates" which have not stopped the forest destruction even in national parks and on fragile peatlands.

Kellogg's follows a string of food companies and their suppliers who have committed themselves to raising standards. It acted following reports last year that it had been using illegally-grown palm oil from Indonesia sourced from its supply partner Wilmar International, which controls over a third of the global palm oil trade. In December 2013 Wilmar committed to ban its suppliers from destroying forests and peatlands.

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Natural insecticide helps diversify Rwandan economy

Google – AFP, Stephanie Aglietti (AFP), 14 February 2014

A woman harvests pyrethre flowers, which will later be dried to produce pyrethrum,

 a natural insecticide, in Musanze, northern Rwanda , on October 24, 2013 (AFP,

Stephanie Aglietti)

Musanze — Tourists flock to Rwanda's mountains to see its famed gorillas, but now the small nation is working to diversify its economy with a natural insecticide farmed on nearby fertile foothills.

Pyrethrum, a natural insecticide, is ideally suited to the climate in the foothills of the Virunga mountains where the gorillas live, in the north of Rwanda.

"It's used to make natural insecticide," explains Laher Nyirakwiha, a barefoot 70-year-old farmer as she tosses a handful of small daisy-like flowers into a wicker basket.

A woman harvests pyrethre flowers, which will

 later be dried to produce pyrethrum, a natural

 insecticide, in Musanze, northern Rwanda , on

October 24, 2013 (AFP, Stephanie Aglietti)

Few grow the plant commercially: only here, in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania and in Australia, mainly on the island of Tasmania.

The revival of this crop, first introduced in colonial times, is one of Rwanda's recent attempts to diversify its sources of foreign currency, generated mainly by tea, coffee and tourism.

Agriculture still accounted for one-third of the economy of this densely populated central African country in 2012.

"Rwanda decided to develop pyrethrum as a cash crop, so as to get an additional source of revenue for farmers and another foreign exchange earner," Jerome Mureramanzi, production manager at the Rwanda Pyrethrum Company (Sopyrwa) told AFP.

Pyrethrum was first introduced here as a crop in 1936, but dropped off after Rwanda's devastating 1994 genocide, only being revived a decade or so later.

Tasmania is currently thought to be the world's biggest producer, industry sources say, although Kenya, another big producer, stopped publishing statistics a decade ago.

The pyrethrum is exported to the United States, Europe and Asia, while some is sold to a local company that produces organic insecticides.

Pyrethrum cultivation, like every other type of economic activity, was abandoned after the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people died, and which left the country's social and economic life in ruins.

Environmental considerations were a factor motivating its revival.

"As the world becomes more conscious of the need to protect the environment, Rwanda has seized the opportunity to develop this natural insecticide," Mureramanzi added.

Women harvest pyrethre flowers, which will later be dried to produce pyrethrum,

 a natural insecticide, in Musanze, northern Rwanda , on October 24, 2013

(AFP, Stephanie Aglietti)

Other producing countries are also seeking to revive or expand cultivation the crop. Australia is introducing pyrethrum to parts of the mainland, and the crop is also being revived in neighbouring Papua New Guinea.

Another east African country, Uganda, recently sent a team to Rwanda with a view to growing the crop.

'Win-win' scheme

The plant, from the chrysanthemum family, contains the organic substance pyrethrin, which acts on the central nervous system of insects.

"Pyrethrum kills a wide variety of insects without any impact on the environment, as its organic compound is very quickly destroyed by ultraviolet rays," Mureramanzi said.

The flowers are dried and processed, then the honey-coloured extract is exported, mainly to the United States and to Europe.

Between 2009 and 2013, annual production of dried flower heads rose from 200 tonnes to 1,300 tonnes, according to Sopyrwa, with revenue rising seven fold to $7 million (five million euros).

The plant will not grow at altitudes lower than 1800 metres (5,900 feet) and needs cold nights and generous rainfall.

This region of rich volcanic soil where northern Rwanda meets Uganda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, with its lashing rain and chilly nights, fits the bill exactly.

Some 37,000 Rwandan peasant farmers live from this crop, whose cultivation covers some 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres).

Under the terms of a deal between the government and the farmers, some of the farmers have to use at least 40 percent of their land for growing pyrethrum.

Mountain Gorillas frolick in dense undergrowth at the Virunga National park

in Rwanda on June 17, 2012 (AFP/File, Aude Genet)

The remaining 60 percent can be planted with food crops, while the farmers are also obliged to alternate so that pyrethrum is not planted on the same part of every plot the whole time.

Sopyrwa's director general Gabriel Bizimungu said that the company provides its farmers with seeds and fertiliser, builds drying stations for the flowers and pays its farmers on time.

The farmers have organised themselves into cooperatives to which they sell their crops at fixed prices.

"It allows farmers to diversify their sources of income and Sopyrwa buys all of their production," Mureramanzi said, adding that farmers can access interest-free loans through the cooperatives.

"It's a win-win situation," said Jean-Claude Kayisinga from the Rwanda Pyrethrum Program.

The programme, funded by USAID and Wisconsin-based cleaning products manufacturer S.C.Johnson, has been training farmers since 2009 on how to increase yields and improve the quality of the pyrethrum flowers they cultivate.

Farmers get virtually the same profits as they do from growing potatoes and alternating crops means the productivity of food crops is improved.

Not only does growing pyrethrum help fight erosion, it also enriches the soil, meaning better crops of food staples such as potatoes or cabbages.

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Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: I would appreciate a perspective on the following: There seems to be two opposed schools of thought with respect to pesticides and their use. One group categorically states that they are very dangerous and that they are responsible for causing cancers etc... (there's a very long list!!) The other group naturally claims that they are perfectly safe with today's technological advances etc. 

Answer: The chemicals you are using today are dangerous to your health. The more they are used, the more it will be seen over time. We have indicated before that there are far better natural scientific solutions to protecting your crops. Use biology to balance biology. It is non-toxic and simply an alteration of what already exists.

Conservationists Work With Fishermen to Save the Reefs

In Malang, coral repopulation is key, Dyah Ayu Pitaloka writes

Jakarta Globe, Dyah Ayu Pitaloka, November 10, 2013

Sahabat Alam has teamed up with local fishing communities to help repopulate
coral reefs. (JG Photo/Dyah Ayu Pitaloka)

A group of volunteers, some still in their teens, walked up to the shoreline of Kondang Merak beach in Malang district, East Java.

Slowly they rolled up their jeans as small waves pounded their feet. They were each carrying pieces of coral that had been carefully attached to prefabricated wire mesh bearing the volunteers’ names.

The volunteers “donated between Rp 10,000 and Rp 50,000 ($0.88 to $4.40) each for this coral reef repopulation effort. Though there are also those who cannot afford to donate money but are able to give their time and power to plant coral reefs,” Andi Syaifudin said.

Andi is the chairman of Sahabat Alam (Nature’s Friend), which focuses on coral reef, mangrove and sea-turtle conservation around Kondang Merak beach.

The 5-square-kilometer area, located 62 kilometers south of Malang city, was once famous for being one of the most beautiful snorkeling and diving spots off the southern coast of Java.

“We fell in love with Kondang Merak because of its beautiful coral reefs and pristine white sands,” he said.

But since early 2000 the use of fish bombs and cyanide by local fishermen has contributed to the destruction of 80 percent of the local coral population.

With the reefs destroyed, residents in the area have lost their livelihoods, not only from dwindling fish populations but also from the declining number of divers visiting Kondang Merak’s five diving spots.

“Around five to 10 years ago we were able to get 50 kilograms of lobster each time we sailed out to sea,” local fisherman Edi said, adding that he could earn between Rp 400,000 to Rp 750,000 per kilogram.

“Now we consider ourselves lucky to get just 5 kilograms [of lobster],” he said.

Sahabat Alam has been teaching local fishing communities about the importance of coral reefs and how using fish bombs and cyanide in fishing poses a huge threat to their livelihoods.

“Lobsters like to hide in coral reefs and now the reefs have been destroyed,” said Edi, who joined Sahabat Alam’s coral repopulation drive. “Slowly we are realizing that we need to catch lobsters using techniques that will not harm the coral, by diving or using nets.”

The Malang district’s Maritime and Fisheries office noted that there are nine areas in Malang with critically damaged coral reef systems, including Kondang Merak. In these areas, coral reefs will disappear unless something is done.

Coral reefs not only provide a vital food source for the fish but also stop erosion and tidal waves.

At 10 more sites in Malang, coral reefs are considered fairly damaged, which means the reefs will be able to repopulate without human intervention if the damaging activities stop.

Wahyu Hidayat, local head of the Marine and Fisheries Agency, said the government has the necessary funding to repopulate the coral reefs but needs help from groups like Sahabat Alam for human resources and expertise.

“Any community willing to do real work will get our support,” he said.

Zainul Arifin, a Sahabat Alam member, said it is important to engage the local fishing community in conservation efforts.

Coral grows between 2 to 3 centimeters a month and needs to spend at least six months in nursery grounds before it can be planted in open water and survive on its own. During that period, they need constant care to keep sand and mold from getting into their pores and inhibiting their growth. That, Zainal said, is where the fishermen come in.

“A huge percentage of our donors’ money goes to the fishermen for this monitoring process. Without the involvement of the local fishing community it will be all for nothing,” he said.

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A look at villages in Central Sulawesi shows how a program to stop illegal logging has been embraced by the locals

Jakarta Globe, Dessy Sagita, October 8, 2013

A member of the community-based organization in Simoro, Central Sulawesi,
 harvest honeys — a sign that local residents prefer new farming methods that
conserve the environment. (JG Photo/Dessy Sagita)

Sigi, Central Sulawesi. Until a few years ago, Kalvin P. Boso was still known as the king of slash-and-burn in his village of Lonca, tucked away in Central Sulawesi’s Sigi district.

Lonca is located just eight kilometers from the district capital, Kulawi, but the road connecting the town to the village is narrow, muddy, with a deep ravine on one side and a rocky mountain on the other, all surrounded by protected forest.

Like most villagers in Lonca, Kalvin learned to cut trees and burn them down to clear the land as a child, unaware of the risks his actions created.

When trees are present, their roots help to prevent erosion by holding the soil together and absorbing water. With the roots gone, soil can slide around a lot more and water is able to build up on the surface, causing flooding and other natural disasters such as mudslides.

The practice also threatens the local water supply by damaging the soil’s ability to retain water.

“My parents were also farmers, and from when I was a student I was taught how to clear the land without understanding the consequences to the environment,” Kalvin, now 44, tells the Jakarta Globe.

Every year, Kalvin said, he cleared at least two square kilometers of forest to grow rice, corn or cassavas.

“Our villagers have been blamed for causing the floods in Palu every year,” says Amos Sumutju, the Lonca village chief referring, to the provincial capital.

Most villagers make it a habit to clear land and move on again the next year because they believed the soil is no longer fertile after a single season. This has placed their own lives in danger of disaster because of the growing expanse of critically degraded land.

Plan of action

The Forestry Ministry says more than 27 million hectares of Indonesia’s forests are now in critical condition due to illegal deforestation.

But land clearing by fire was stopped in Lonca village when the government introduced a program called Strengthening Community-Based Forest and Watershed Management to raise public awareness about illegal logging.

The program was established with the help of the United Nations Development Program, which, along with the Global Environment Facility, donated $7.5 million for the period 2009-2014 to revitalize watershed management in six locations in Indonesia by involving and empowering local inhabitants.

The six locations chosen for the project are in the provinces of North Sumatra, Lampung, Central Java, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and Central Sulawesi.

“We first started out by approaching the locals,” says Erus Rusyadirus, the regional facilitator for the program in Central Sulawesi.

“I stayed for at least three days in every village, talked and spent time with the villagers, trying to convince them that slashing and burning trees was bad for their present and future.”

Hearts and minds

“It was very hard at first. A farmer once told me ‘I don’t care if you or the government tell me to stop cutting trees, I will not stop. Who can guarantee my livelihood or if my family can still eat the next day?’” Erus said.

After intensive guidance, many of the farmers, including Kalvin, began to understand that their village was in danger.

“Kalvin, who used to be known as the king of slashing and burning, is now the head of the community-based organization,” Amos said, referring to a group set up under the program.

The CBO receives a small grant for the program, which it can use to fund its activities. Every CBO has different programs, but focuses mainly on empowering the locals to find a new source of livelihood so that the farmers do not have to go back to slashing and burning trees.

Kalvin, for one, says the program has changed his life for the better.

“After listening to Pak Erus’s explanation about how clearing the land with the old method has put many people’s lives in danger, I started to realize how much I loved the environment, and as the leader of the group I feel a deep sense of responsibility to conserve the forest,” he says.

Along with the other CBO members, Kalvin works to raise awareness in his village and urges locals to farm on a permanent plot of land rather than clear new land each year. Most people in Lonca now grow cocoa and vegetables.

The group, with 16 other CBOs in Sigi, has also planted 240,000 tree seedlings.

“If you came to our village a few years ago, you’d see the whole area was brown. But now as you can see, it’s all turning green,” Amos says proudly.

Community empowerment

Residents in Simoro, in Sigi’s Gumbasa subdistrict, have proudly embraced their new livelihood and work enthusiastically to develop various activities improve the economic status of their village.

“Everything started to change in 2004 when our village was flooded and we saw giant logs floating everywhere,” says Herry, the head of the Gumbasa CBO.

Gumbasa was severely affected by flash flooding that year, which swept away several homes.

“At that time, slash-and-burn clearing was still very common. People would clear the land and started farming anywhere they wanted to,” Herry says.

“We even cleared land inside the Lore Lindu National Park.”

Lore Lindu, east of Lonca, is a protected forest area that was designated as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. It spans 2,180 square kilometers and is home to numerous rare species, including 77 birds endemic to Sulawesi.

CBO groups around it were taught to make the best of their environment by cultivating honeybees, cows and chicken. They also grow vegetables and fruit, as well as producing snacks from the produce to sell in Kulawi.

To be able to join their local CBO, each person has to plant at least 15 trees in a watershed area.

The village has planted nearly 70,000 seedlings along the riverbanks since 2011, and an evaluation shows that more than 60 percent are growing well.

Simoro village has also issued a regulation that farmers can still farm in Lore Lindu as long as they are committed to preserving the environment.

“If they want to use the land inside the national park, they have to plant at least 50 trees and they have to promise they will not cut a single tree inside the protected forest,” Herry says.

The CBO there has done so well that it was named the best CBO in Indonesia during an award ceremony in Bali recently.

Localization

Saeful Rachman, the national program manager of the SCBWFM, says the project was created after a report was published about critically degraded watershed areas in Indonesia.

“Some changes happened because of natural disasters like floods, climate change and landslides, but most were due to illegal logging,” he says.

Saeful says the Forestry Ministry has started replanting trees, but its program is not very successful due to rapid population growth and declining vegetation area.

“Most of the time the watershed areas are degraded because of land conversion,” he explains.

Therefore, he says, the UNDP and the Forestry Ministry proposed the program to increase awareness and empower communities so they can find another source of livelihood that is sustainable.

“Most farmers were very skeptical at first when we introduced the program, but when we asked them to be the main actors and the agents of change instead of the subjects, we saw significant progress,” Saeful says.

“Not only did they stop cutting down trees, but the villagers actively started working on regulations to punish illegal loggers. We are so proud of them.

“The locations were chosen because of their biophysical conditions and the local government’s readiness to implement the program,” he adds.

Persuading the locals to stop slashing and burning was a tall order.

In Omu village, also in Gumbasa, the program had to deal with an indigenous tribe that had been living inside a protected forest for generations.

Aris Pasasa, the leader of the local CBO, says that when the project first started there were 13 families from the indigenous tribe living inside the forest.

“They had been living inside the protected forest since the 1960s, and every year they moved to a new location and cleared land,” Aris says.

“Approaching them was a difficult thing to do, not only because they did not speak Indonesian, but also because they would hide every time they saw someone who was not from their tribe.”

With much effort and the help of a translator, the CBO finally managed to persuade the families to move out of the forest. Aris even lent his land to the families to build huts and got other residents to hire them to work on their land.

“Now we worry less about flash floods or polluted and damaged water sources,” Aris says.

Additional goals

Saeful says the main objective of the program is not only to improve the condition of the watershed area, but also to push for the government to give its support and encourage local officials to come up with regulations that help the environment.

Aside from community empowerment to stop people from cutting down trees, the program also asks the communities to restore the critically degraded areas to pristine condition.

“Every year we plant 450,000 to 600,000 seedlings provided by the government, but the really special thing is that sometimes the villagers themselves are even willing to spend their own money to buy the seedlings and plant them, and that’s a very good sign,” he says.

Going Green Empowers ‘Shining Mothers’

A new program is encouraging women to care for nature

Jakarta Globe, Sylviana Hamdani, May 7, 2013

Participants at a recent meeting. (Photo courtesy of Unilever)

Large companies are often seen as enemies of the environment. With their large production capacities, many generate lots of pollution and waste.

But not all corporations are the same. Some have business plans focusing on continuity through the sustainable use of natural resources and the wellbeing of their customers. Unilever Indonesia is one example.

This large consumer goods producer, which has been in Indonesia since 1933, aims to grow its businesses while preserving the natural environment at the same time.

“We intend to keep growing our business in this country,” said Unilever Indonesia corporate communications head Maria Dewantini Dwianto. “And the only way to do so, is to ensure people and resources touched by our business are sustained.”

Unilever plans to double the size of its businesses globally, while at the same time decreasing its environmental impact and improving local communities.

“Our sustainability plan is to help 1 billion people [globally] to lead better and healthier lives,” Maria said.

In Indonesia, Unilever recently established the Komunitas Ibu Bercahaya (Community of Shining Mothers).

“Bercahaya” is also an acronym of bersih (clean), cermat (carefully considered, smart), ramah lingkungan (environmentally friendly) and diberdayakan (empowered).

Through this group, Unilever hopes to inspire Indonesian women, their families and local communities to lead cleaner, smarter and more eco-friendly lifestyles.

Recently, 60 Indonesian women from various backgrounds were welcomed as its first members in Jakarta.

“Women are our main customers,” Maria said. “The life and death of our businesses depend a lot on them.”

Women also have a central role in their families.

“By educating the women, we’ll also [indirectly] educate their husbands and children,” Maria said.

Unilever, in collaboration with educational institutes and universities, will provide regular training and workshops to teach the women easy and practical ways to conserve the environment.

Minister Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar.
(Photo courtesy of Unilever)

The first members of the community were selected from a list of active participants in the environmental programs of Yayasan Unilever Indonesia (Unilever Indonesia Foundation).

“Most of them are homemakers,” Maria said. “But they’re also leaders in their neighborhoods. By participating in our previous activities [with Yayasan Unilever Indonesia], we know they have a strong passion to create a change.”

In this new community, these agents of change will learn new ways to manage garbage and water, as well as cultivate more trees in their surroundings.

They will then introduce these new methods to their neighborhoods. Each member is also be expected to bring in 10 new members from their local communities.

“As a person and educator, I’m touched,” said Firdaus Ali, the chairman of the Indonesian Water Institute. “This is what we’ve been waiting for for a long time: a large corporation that collaborates with local communities to share its knowledge and expertise in natural conservation.”

According to Firdaus, such a movement is necessary as Indonesia, especially Jakarta, is facing a huge water crisis.

“There are 13 rivers and 76 sub-rivers in Jakarta,” he said. “Yet, we always lack water during the dry season. While on the other hand, the city always floods during the rainy season.”

In the first training session, Firdaus taught the women how to create biopore infiltration holes and save water.

Biopores are created by making holes 50-100 centimeter deep in the soil. We can put organic waste into these holes.

The waste will attract worms, which create more bioporic tunnels into these holes.

When it rains, these biopores will also absorb rainwater and thus help to prevent floods in the city. The organic waste inside the holes will turn into compost that fertilize plants.

During this training session, Unilever also promoted one of its products — Molto Ultra Sekali Bilas (One-Rinse Molto Ultra).

According to the company’s research, people usually rinse their laundry three times and thus consume around 40 liters of water. With Molto Ultra Sekali Bilas, one can save around 20 liters of water.

The community plans to create 1 million biopores and conserve 1 billion liters of water within a year.

“Just imagine,” Firdaus said, “if we have saved 1 billion liters of water within one year, approximately 30,000 other families will be able to get clean water.”

According to him, there are presently about 29,000 families without access to clean water in North Jakarta alone.

During the training, Firdaus also encouraged community members to grow more trees in their neighborhoods.

“I’m so inspired,” said Ratih, a woman from East Jakarta. “We don’t have a large yard at home, but I can plant in pots. With more plants, the earth will be greener and cooler.”

The 60-year-old housewife also plans to introduce these eco-living techniques to her five children, who all have families of their own.

“I think we should start within our own families,” she said. “The change should come from within. And then the people will see and do as we do.”

Sri Endang, a kindergarten teacher and mother of two from West Jakarta, was also inspired by the training.

“Water is so crucial to our lives, yet we rarely respect it,” she said. “We only realize how precious it is during the dry season, when we lack it. But we never do anything to save it.”

Sri plans to replace her traditional bak mandi (bathtub) and gayung (water dipper), which use lots of water, with a modern shower kit.

“Change doesn’t have to be expensive,” the 42-year-old said. “I can buy a second-hand shower kit at the market, clean it and install it at home. It’ll save a lot of water.”

Sri also plans to ask her local community heads to mobilize people in her neighborhood to create biopores in their yards.

“To be effective, men and women should work together in these programs,” Sri said.

M0inister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar, who attended the inauguration of the community’s first members, was impressed with the corporation’s initiative.

“I truly appreciate what Unilever Indonesia is doing,” she said. “With this program, they show that they care about people and support the government’s efforts to develop the country.”

According to the minister, the community programs will not only preserve Indonesia’s natural environment, but also empower women.

“Women and children suffer most in natural disasters,” she said. “But women have large potential. They should be empowered to become the solution, instead of victims of their circumstances.”

According to the Central Statistics Bureau (BPS), women made up 49.6 percent of Indonesia’s 240 million total population in 2011.

The activities of Komunitas Ibu Bercahaya will be evaluated by an independent jury and a winner will be selected every three months. The winner will appear in a special program on national television.

All women in Indonesia can join this community free of charge by registering online, or by calling directly.

www.ibubercahaya.com