Biodiversity Conservation Network
7. Community Logging in the Buffer Zone of Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan
Location: Gunung Palung National Park (GPNP) West Kalimantan, Indonesia Partners: Harvard University Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology (LTFE)
Government of Indonesia
Ministry of Forestry (MoF)
Local Community GroupsBCN Funding: $547,560 Partner Contribution: $76,604
Grant Period: November 15, 1995 - November 30, 1998
What's at Stake?
From coastal mangroves, through swamp and lowland forests up to the epiphyte rich montane and cloud forests of Mt. Palung, Gunung Palung National Park contains a complete gradient of tropical rain forest habitats. The 90,000 hectare park is home to a vast diversity of plants and animals including endemic proboscis monkeys and the largest remaining population of orangutans.
The greatest threats to this park come from villagers in search of high value timber which can be marketed, albeit illegally, to nearby sawmills. The recent completion of an asphalt highway along the coast improves village access to outside markets and allows outsiders easier entry into previously remote areas. Poor villagers, often recent immigrants to the area, also clear park border areas for wet rice cultivation. Increasingly the park is an island constantly nibbled at the edges.
To counter these threats, the Harvard Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology (LTFE) will establish a small community-managed and owned enterprise in a 5000 hectare buffer zone adjacent to the park in an area that was formerly a timber concession. Rather than being driven by their economic needs to log illegally inside the park, the local villagers will now have alternative employment opportunities outside. The type of logging will demonstrate important technical modifications that reduce damage to the residual forest, encourage forest recovery and logging efficiency. A small sawmill will add value to primary processing and the proceeds will remain in the local villages instead of being exported with the raw timber.
In addition to timber extraction, the enterprise will include patrolling the park border and rehabilitating previously disturbed lands. This project, the first of its kind in Indonesia, has important potential to affect policies regarding community resource management and forestry practices throughout the country.
1997 Update
In 1997 the project made the most progress not in the field -- but in the offices of the Ministry of Forestry (MoF). After painfully slow progress working out cooperative arrangements for implementing the project with the Ministry in 1996, we are now almost there. We approach the final approval slowly, not from a lack of government support, but as a result of the meticulous attention given the project by the Directorate General of Forest Utilization within the MoF. This project will serve as a pilot project for community based forestry activities, and may well be replicated in the future. In light of these policy implications, the due prudence given the project seems appropriate.
Local governments remain supportive of the project, and now they are increasingly anxious to begin field activities. Recent elections and political shuffling have brought in a new cadre of officials, but so far their commitment seems as genuine as that of their predecessors. Community members remain ready to begin as soon as possible, and have expressed concern at current illegal activities, particularly encroachment by outside parties.
Success Stories
The BCN project in the Gunung Palung buffer zone will likely be the first model of community-based forest management put forth by the Directorate General of Forest Utilization. It was highlighted as an approach to community based forest management at a workshop on the Consultative Group on Indonesia Forestry a policy roundtable of NGOs, international donor agencies and officials from the Ministry of Forestry. It is obvious that BCN has created a clear and direct link between community needs and high level policy making.
The project has generated interest from NGOs and donor agencies who have pledged additional support contingent upon initial field implementation. Thus, the BCN grant has provided the necessary initial investment for a project beyond the BCN's original scope and time limitations. However in the past year, it has become apparent that this project must be extended beyond the initial three year funding period in order to ensure legal, economic and biological sustainability.
Harvard (LTFE) has been developing links with Bina Swadaya, an Indonesian NGO, to assist in the community organization and enterprise development components of the project. Bina Swadaya would fill a special role in bringing together the necessary stakeholders at the district and village level. This is exciting as it helps develop technical capacity within Indonesia, and perhaps lays the groundwork for project continuity once BCN is no longer present. We look forward to further solidifying this cooperative effort.
Community members previously affiliated with the LTFE have helped lay the groundwork for BCN monitoring. This includes conducting regeneration studies and background biological monitoring that will complement monitoring in the proposed project site. They have been the key resource for designing the education and training programs necessary for successful project implementation.
Challenges
It seems that the necessary political hurdles have been crossed and now the project will finally enjoy the challenges of field implementation. The main concerns include responding to outside threats to the park and surrounding area, and the development of internal consistency among cooperating parties.
Illegal logging continues to threaten the park, especially in the swampy areas accessible by river. The recent, nearby construction of small sawmills that process illegally harvested wood poses a serious threat to the old growth within the park. Loggers from outside the local communities have begun to enter the park as well. In addition to felling trees, these groups have been hunting park wildlife. Recently, a visitor to the park encountered a logging group that had killed and eaten rare and endangered hornbills. Eliminating all illegal activity from the western park area will be a daunting task.
This project will bring together a wide range of stakeholders who have claims, real or imagined, to the park and buffer zone. Working relationships among these parties are crucial for park security. Such relationships are possible, but developing the appropriate forum will require the cooperation and commitment of parties who have not previously worked together. The coming year should be an exciting time.
Authors:
Mark Leighton, Director of the Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology and Lecturer in Anthropology at Harvard University, has been conducting ecological research within GPNP and surrounding villages for 13 years with his many students and colleagues. His experiences launched this project as a long-term solution for conserving the magnificent rainforest habitats of GPNP.
Ronnie Cherry, the Project Field Manager has a major field responsibility for the project from his base in Pontianak and Gunung Palung. Ronnie is a specialist in community-based forestry and undertook his Master's degrees in the Schools of Forestry and Management at Yale University.
Hikma Lisa, a graduate of Pontianak's Tanjungpura University in Forestry Socio-economics, has managed socioeconomic and community aspects of the project since the planning stage. Her commitment stems from a desire to preserve the forests and improve the welfare of people in her home province.
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