Biodiversity Conservation Network
9. Rafting, Honey, and Butterflies in the Rain Forest of Sulawesi
Location: Lore Lindu National Park, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia
Partners: The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
Lore Lindu National Park (PHPA)
CARE - Indonesia
University of GuelphBCN Funding: $584,892 Partner Contribution: $714,767
Grant Period: August 1, 1995 - July 31, 1998
What's at Stake?
Lore Lindu National Park (LLNP) in Central Sulawesi is a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve. The area contains some of the largest unbroken tracts of forest within Sulawesi and is home to 73% of the island's 328 bird species. The wildlife of Sulawesi is one of the most distinctive in all Indonesia, particularly its mammals, and its rare and spectacular butterflies.
As in many places in Indonesia, Lore Lindu Park not only supports wildlife, it provides natural resources to help meet the basic needs of a growing human population living near the park. The park is threatened by over-utilization, encroachment, illegal harvesting of rattan and other forest resources and by infrastructure development.
To try to counter these threats, TNC is focusing on four elements: 1) Developing microenterprises such as butterfly ranching, honey production, and rafting ecotourism, 2) Park Management and Stewardship including drafting a 25-year resource management plan with the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation (PHPA), 3) Working with Communities to increase conservation awareness and respect for the park through sustainable development projects with CARE/Indonesia and a school level conservation program and 4) Ascertaining the impact of the above activities from the social, biological and economic perspectives. TNC's monitoring program also assesses the impact of the ongoing, widespread rattan collection in LLNP. In addition to developing ecologically sound enterprises and introducing conservation awareness programs, TNC also works with the Government of Indonesia on policy issues. This project will allow TNC to work closely with PHPA on community access to and use of protected areas.
1997 Update
Fourteen farmers from the Kamarora area have been participating in the Butterfly Enterprise, and pupae have been exported to the UK since March. A valuable connection has catalyzed the sales. Export has been under the auspices of an agreement with PT Ikas, an existing deadstock trading company whose director has very close ties with Indonesia's first live butterfly exhibit at Tabunan in Bali. This relationship has been fruitful in two ways: firstly, export permits have been issued in PT Ikas' name for pupae produced from Kamarora, and secondly, the Bali Butterfly Park has been purchasing butterflies directly themselves. We hope to build on this relationship in the coming year so that PT Ikas themselves export pupae, and purchase a portion of their domestic and export requirements from Kamarora. The farming group has been issued a trading permit (SIUP) in the name of Kelompok Penangkar Sinar Kupu-kupu(Gleaming Butterflies Farming Group), and a full farming permit has been requested from PHPA.
Already the project has impacted national policy. On 8 October 1996, PHPA formally decided to allow the export of live pupae from Indonesia (under the understanding that these would not be re-exported to countries with the potential for maintaining breeding populations). This allows the growth of a new cottage industry in Indonesia, with potential for increasing income at the rural level and increasing conservation awareness at many levels of the population.
Four species have been reared for export. Difficulties in breeding and maintaining breeding stock, have been partly due to bad weather conditions -- Sulawesi is experiencing a severe drought which has affected both butterfly numbers and availability of the their foodplants.
The average value of shipments was Rp 218,000 (around US$78) with 20 shipments made over the season. Average income per farmer was Rp 16,000 per shipment [in comparison, the wage for a field laborer is Rp 4,000 per day]. Several farmers have applied to be new members, and one farmer has started breeding in Pertigaan Lindu with promising results. With development of the Bali market, additional species are being reared.
One major problem which detracted from this success, was poor butterfly emergence once they arrived in England. We traced the problem to the packaging: we had been using a Tupperware type box to send the pupae -- it was light, strong, comfortably held 300 pupae, and seemed ideal for the purpose. Unfortunately, we discovered that after four days in such a box, pupae mortality was around 50%, so shipments were made in cardboard boxes with far better results.
From May to July, a series of training meetings were held by staff of the Honey Enterprise for bee-keepers, and potential bee-keepers, in Rahmat, Kamarora, and Tongoa. But even though there has been some production of honey, it has been difficult to find enough in marketable quantity - most honey either being eaten on the spot or sold within the village. To assist with this, harvesting of comb honey has been promoted, and the Rahmat group have started collecting and boxing comb honey. More promising perhaps is pollen: project staff have designed and distributed pollen traps, and worked with a local honey trader to market honey-pollen as a nutrition supplement to promote ėvitality'. Demand is so far exceeding supply.
In the Napu Valley, the honey hunting seasons have not been very productive, perhaps because of unusual climatic conditions. Following meetings with the honey hunters' group at Watutau (30 members) in January, the major problem to developing a village enterprise was identified as being the need to immediately exchange honey for cash -- this meant that honey hunters couldn't collect honey and wait for better prices. To overcome this, an agreement was signed between TNC and the honey hunters whereby TNC provided capital funds to buy honey in the village, with the aim of reselling it in Palu at better prices. Through this simple but effective action, the value of honey to the hunters has risen from Rp 2,000 per bottle to Rp 3,750. So far 180 bottles have been bought and resold at Rp 5,000 per bottle, the profit accruing to the agency to repay the loan.
It is planned to build on this success by operating a similar fund with the Winowanga hunters' group, and to negotiate an agreement between the villagers and the National Park Authority (KSDA) regulating the honey harvest.
Rafting Enterprise development continues slowly. Unfortunately the main local partner in PT Lariang Lindu Wisitatirta, who holds operating licenses from the provincial government, went bankrupt so we are seeking another partner. Because of these problems, the rafting operation is still being run as an expedition from Tana Toraja by PT Toranggo Buya. The first training trip was held between 20-25 May 1997, and was very successful. Four rafting trainees from Bada participated, together with experienced trip leaders and guides from Toranggo Buya, two staff from TNC, one member of Sub Balai KSDA, and a camera team from Bali, almost filling the two rafts required for the trip. Any remaining room was taken up by four tourists who joined the trip by chance in the Bada Valley.
The arrival of two boats full of hungry rafters -- 14 souls -- caused a minor shortage of chickens in the village of Au. Not that the villagers complained, at 25% above market prices they were more than happy to see the visitors eat their way through 6 chickens and mounds of vegetables. The trip itself was an exhilarating, sometimes frightening, blend of fast rapids and peaceful floats through virgin forest. The film and photographs obtained are already being used to promote the next Lariang Expeditions.
Success Stories
Butterfly Enterprise
After a slow start, butterfly farmers improved their skills, and even the poorer producers were earning the equivalent of two days labor each week. The most outstanding farmer, Pak Putujiwa, saw his market share decreasing as the season progressed, and he often had left-over pupae. One positive effect of this was that he realized the importance of group development so that other farmers concentrated on the less valuable polytes, allowing him to focus his efforts on more valuable species like ascalaphus, sataspes, and the new fuscus. With money earned from butterfly farming, Putujiwa refurbished his house, built a terrace incorporating a rearing enclosure, and concerted the floor throughout. He now gets two or three visits a month from tourists and local government parties, so felt that home improvements were in order.
Honey Enterprise
In the Napu Valley the wild honey bee Apis dorsata is not producing like it used to. Perhaps the El Niño effect is reaching the bees of Lore Lindu. Nevertheless, honey hunters are still fairly active and are happy to see the value of honey increase. When the next good season arrives they will be even happier. Watutau is a village of born entrepreneurs -- the dormant fund of cash has been used several times for short-term loans, and returned at 5% interest per month! Although not yet a problem, we hope to overcome this by introducing a separate credit union scheme, run by CARE Indonesia.
New Initiative
A lot of interest has been shown in the traditional Bada barkcloth, and TNC has attempted to support an enterprise based on this. A company in Bali ordered 50 sheets of plain cloth per month in March, but after the first shipment this arrangement failed, leaving us with a box full of cloth. More promising is sale of painted barkcloth squares, or siga, painted and autographed by a Bada artist, Antonius Taula. We are trying to get siga into a major mail order catalog by next spring. Discussions have started with local community leaders about planting the bea bushes which provide the raw material for the best quality of cloth -- this will probably become part of the TNC village development/agroforestry program.
Challenges
One of the major challenges faced by the Butterfly Enterprise is to ensure that a local marketing capacity is in place during the next butterfly export season. It's difficult to see this capacity arising in the village itself, particularly if we are looking to export directly from Central Sulawesi; the level of education just isn't high enough. There are several options: to involve a local business and train them as butterfly exporters, to persuade an existing butterfly business to open a branch in Palu, or to organize shipping to an existing business for them to export. This latter seems the best course, especially as the company we are currently working with has its own butterfly farm which can receive excess stock. Shipping within the country is easy, cheap, and involves a minimum of bureaucracy -- the latter would be a major problem for villagers to overcome. There must be a hard-core of innovative farmers who actively look for new species to farm. This was lacking in Kamarora, but the involvement of a new farmer from Rahmat looks to be a step in the right direction.
The main problem facing the Rafting Enterprise is still the physical isolation of the Bada Valley -- a rafting trip involves a major expedition from the current base in Rantepao, Toraja, which is not attractive to passing tourists. However, good promotional material now exists, and is being put into several magazines and travel exhibitions. One attractive market is in Singapore, where many people already travel to Bali and Toraja as adventure tourists.
Author: Duncan Neville has worked in Indonesia for the last seven years, firstly with WWF in the Arfak Mountains of Irian Jaya and now with TNC based in Palu, Central Sulawesi. Prior to this he worked in the largest butterfly farm in the U.K., a tourist and educational attraction which, like many others now in existence, brings the entomological wonders of the tropical forest into the modern city.
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