Biodiversity Conservation Network
10. Butterflies in the Rainforest of Irian Jaya
Location: Arfak Mountain Nature Reserve, Irian Jaya, Indonesia
Partners: World Wide Fund for Nature - Indonesia Program (WWF-IP)
Yayasan Bina Lestari Bumi Cenderawasih (YBLBC)BCN Funding: $179,632 Partner Contribution: $115,760
Grant Period: April 1, 1995 - March 31, 1998
What's at Stake?
Irian Jaya's Arfak Mountain Reserve is a last enclave of lowland rainforests and ethereal montane moss forests. In these forests live an extraordinary diversity of rare and endemic creatures such as tree kangaroos, bandicoots, birds of paradise, bowerbirds and birdwing butterflies. The Hatam people who live in and around the reserve eke out a subsistence existence through agriculture, the collection of wood for fuel and construction, and historically -- by poaching.
Working with the Hatam and other Irianese living in the vicinity of the reserve, WWF-IP and YBLBC have developed a butterfly enterprise. Six spectacular species of endangered birdwing butterfly (Ornithoptera and Troidesspp.) are farmed on the perimeter of the Arfak Mountains Nature Reserve. Iridescently colored and about the size of teacups, birdwing butterflies are highly prized by collectors as "objets d'art". Before the farms were established, birdwing butterflies were poached and sold through the black market, with little economic gain to the local people and no regard for the species' survival. Through butterfly farming, villagers have become guardians of their wild "livestock" policing for poachers and marrying traditional ecological knowledge to scientific studies. The farmers also recognize that their livelihood depends on thriving wild populations of butterflies which increases their support for the survival of the larger reserve.
1997 Update
In the past year, the local NGO -- Yayasan Bina Lestari Bumi Cenderawasih (YBLBC) has become a stronger force working with and for the Arfak communities. While we now realize that the butterfly farms alone cannot and never will be capable of totally sustaining the Arfak population of about 15,000, the organization of the butterfly farms has served as a catalyst for other income opportunities and techniques that support farmers earning cash without encroaching further upon the forests. The average cash income generated from butterfly farming is roughly an average of Rp 50,000 ($20US) per member family per annum. Although this does not sound like much, in aggregate, across the community, it represents a significant proportion of the cash income. The butterfly farming enterprise will have approximate sales in 1997 of $75,000 US. So the butterfly farming is a piece of a larger movement towards biodiversity conservation.
Monthly meetings of group leaders to discuss problems and other income generating activities are held regularly and are well attended. Improved and cooperative vegetable farming is bringing higher economic returns without encroaching on more land. As the vegetable farming enterprise has grown (taking on the organization developed for butterfly farming) women are more obviously in evidence and come to the Manokwari office regularly. While non-butterfly farming activities are strictly outside of the BCN-funded project it is important to the sustainability of the foundation and its conservation aims, that all activities protect the primary forest and the Arfak Nature Reserve. Furthermore, it has encouraged women to come to the office, thus increasing their contact and their awareness of conservation aims.
As is becoming clearer from our monitoring, participation in butterfly farming varies considerably from group to group and most groups have a core of 5 to 6 members who usually have pupa to sell. Only twelve of the eighty-nine groups currently on the register are very active and another fifteen are moderately active in butterfly farming.
Enterprise monitoring has made it more apparent that the butterfly agency is very production driven. While we cannot say that farmers own the enterprise in the strict legal sense they do have a type of ownership in that they own and control the production. To retain the confidence and motivation (and prevent jealousies) YBLBC must purchase what is offered by the butterfly farmers, as long as it meets minimum quality standards. Because of this, it is impossible to maintain stock levels consistent with anticipated sales for each species. Further compounding our attempts to broaden are species product line to reduce both the economic and biological risk is the permitting process. We have not yet received permits for the collection or farming of further species.
For people who traditionally live day-to-day and to whom a market is a physical place where fruit, vegetables, fish, meat and other goods are taken and exchanged for cash, the concept of a "world market" which is not a physical place, where payment is not immediate and a response to expected sales is wanted, is difficult to understand. It is extremely important to take things step-by-step working from accepted traditions of working and cash income requirements.
Domestic sales of display cases have risen substantially over the past year and a new style of frame is currently in production. Numerous local groups (government departments, school groups, etc.) have visited YBLBC in the past year. Some have come simply for recreational interest and others for more specific instruction in the project and its conservation aims.
Success Stories
A major challenge for the project has been to implement a coordinated biological monitoring plan. Without a clear coordinator, the monitoring surveys which have taken place have been piecemeal and failed to build upon previous surveys. It became clear that the earlier monitoring plans were overly complicated with too many diverse activities and that a very simple plan was required if it was to be carried out.
This August, BCN sent John Parks of Ecotrack, Honolulu, Hawaii, to facilitate a biological monitoring workshop and to help in collection of the baseline data and Steve Montgomery (National Wildlife Federation, Honolulu, Hawaii) an expert on anthropoids, to assess the biodiversity of the area and to make recommendations of suitable monitoring techniques.
Plans for the field trips were plagued by our inability to reach Arfak by airplane, which required re-planning trips and loss of days as the teams had to go up and down the mountain by foot. Cloudy weather then prevented completion of butterfly counts. Between field excursions, John led a workshop on biological monitoring for Arfak butterfly farmers from six villages around the Arfak Nature Reserve.
Despite a tight schedule and all the setbacks, the workshop was a great success. The objectives set out by John and Steve for the exercise were accessible and meaningful to the community. They clarified that the biological monitoring should be community monitoring and that the primary purpose was that the results were useful to the community. This was very important for some project staff who had a real fear of reporting results that could easily be attacked as "non-scientific" by the research community.
Monitoring methods and techniques which could be understood and put into effect by the community were established. While scientific methodology should be adhered to as far as possible within the constraints, research for the scientific community was not the main aim of the monitoring. A key requirement of project staff is to assist in the interpretation of the results so that meaningful feedback is returned to the community from which it came, so the community can put the results to use.
For example, by taking a close look at the food plant and making a not of it health and vigor, farmers become more aware of the condition of their vines. Noting whether vines were in fruit served as a reminder that the fruits would need to be planted to ensure future larvae food plant. One larvae was rescued from a completely eaten vine and replaced on a thriving one.
John's drawings and diagrams were a hit with workshop participants. In fact, participants requested the materials with all the pictures to help train other community members. A further requirement is the need for time for clarification and discussion in the Hatam language which most of the workshop participants speak. Proficiency in Indonesian varies, and it is clear that new concepts and ideas require discussion in the native language.
A week after the field study course had been completed, Agus Wonggor, group leader of Mbenti Butterfly Farmers arrived in the office and presented us with a completed butterfly count -- the final result of the survey which had had to be abandoned due to bad weather. Furthermore, the group had sent a question "when are we having a meeting so we can agree responsibilities for the monitoring, sort out who can help which group and coordinate between areas?" The answer -- Wednesday, 8 October 1997.
Challenges
One of the goals of the project is the sustainability of the enterprise. Almost a year ago YBLBC staff expressed confidence in their abilities to undertake management of their own budget and workplans. Following discussions with BCN and WWF-IP this was agreed in principle, but implementation took far longer than expected and presented a major challenge. An agreement on a new contract was finally reached at the end of August whereby YBLBC would contract directly with BCN. Although the local staff are aware of the problems they have to face separating the accounts of the butterfly trading from the community development work, being in control of the budget and ensuring that plans are fulfilled has given project staff a lift, as well as a series of new challenges.
A major setback this year was a series of postal delays and losses. A number of clients received parcels with damaged or missing specimens. It took marketing staff a lot of time to explain to others the importance of correct packaging and specimen counts. Butterfly farming is a finicky business and badly damaged specimens are worthless. The time and effort needed to apologize, draw-up credit notes, and the resulting delays in payment, have been frustrating. After feeling that great strides had been made in the previous eighteen months, this was a setback.
Further disappointment was suffered after we did not get the much-requested permits for collection and farming of non-protected butterflies and other insects. In June, our hopes were raised by a visit from the Head of KANWIL, The Department of Forestry for Irian Jaya Province that YBLBC would receive the licenses shortly but, as in the past, nothing -- just another trip to Jayapura.
Author: Jenny Foster-Smith is a British Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) member and has been working with YBLBC for three years. Prior to coming to Indonesia, Jenny worked for Fixpoint Ltd in London, England. Her primary area of expertise is as an economist with expertise in financial analysis, policy assessment, and econometric modeling.
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