Biodiversity Conservation Network
8. Forest Products in the Rain Forest of West Kalimantan
Location: West Kalimantan, Indonesia
Partners: Yayasan Dian Tama (YDT)
P.D. Dian Niaga
Appropriate Technology International (ATI)
Social Forestry Development Project (SFDP-GTZ)BCN Funding: $466,249 Partner Contribution: $177,044
Grant Period: January 1, 1996 - December 31, 1998
What's at Stake?
The forests of West Kalimantan are home to some of the rarest of the rare: flying lemurs, tarsiers, hornbills and orangutans. These animals and others are still hunted because the people who live near and in these forests are also struggling to subsist. Unsustainable hunting and use of forest resources threaten both the region's biological diversity and the future of local communities too.
As a solution, we are attempting to develop a variety of small-scale enterprises that rely on non-timber forest products (NFTP's).The Participatory Forest Management Area (PFMA) where Yayasan Dian Tama (YDT) covers a broad range of natural and human habitats including swamps, lowland forests, riverine forests and agroforestry systems. YDT and its collaborators work within the framework of the Social Forest Development Project (SFDP), a unique community-based forest concession that began in 1990. This 10 year program intends to develop national and local policies to support sustainable extraction and commercialization of non-timber (and, perhaps timber) forest products in West Kalimantan.
A critical aspect of this project is to clearly establish resource rights and to identify alternative income sources. The BCN funded enterprises which are part of the larger overall strategy focus on the harvest, processing and sale of specific NTFPs. YDT and its partners will establish market linkages to process damar, a resin used in paints and other industrial products, and to sell semi-processed rattan and bamboo to a Java-based manufacturer and marketer of handbags. Over 200 families are participating as owners of the enterprises. YDT and Dian Niaga will work with individual harvesters to develop their enterprise skills and capacity, as well as act as the marketing bridge for the unprocessed and semi-processed products.
1997 Update
While last year's activities focused on developing people's skills, 1997 is the year of production and marketing. Although we still need to increase overall production, capacity at the village level is making good headway, thanks to strong leadership. Also, the manufacturers have become remarkably skilled at producing stylish high quality rattan handbags, brief cases, and business accessories. We attended some exhibitions in Indonesia and abroad to gain a better understanding of the market's need and found that our products were enthusiastically received. This year's new designs are in demand by high end retail outlets and customs boutiques. The problem is, our production capacity limits our ability to meet orders on a consistent and reliable basis, which is critical to establishing a stable business relationship. It's exciting to know that people are interested in our product, but frustrating to know that we still cannot reliably fulfill large orders.
This year, three more villages were trained in weaving rattan baskets. The peoples' weaving skills already existed, but we increased their knowledge about selecting the raw materials and using molds to make uniformly sized baskets. We also taught simple management skills and environmental awareness related to sustainable harvesting. The villages are enthusiastic about increasing the quality of the products and as well as protecting the environment.
Out of the 11 villages that have now been trained, we selected six for socio-economic monitoring. The most difficult part was explaining the program to the villagers who are not directly involved in the project. In the past they had had bad experiences where information that they gave out in interviews, was used against them. So at first they viewed our questions with suspicion because they were afraid that the data they gave us would be used to levy taxes on them. But after we explained why the data is needed and how it would benefit them, they became very cooperative about providing the information.
In August, the inventory of natural resources was completed. Villagers that were trained last year to do the inventory are now doing a good job. The data analysis will be ready in October. We are currently preparing the growth and yield study for bamboo, rattan and damar based on the inventory data.
After waiting from August 1996 until September 1997, we were finally granted the collecting permit for damar. This is a great relief. It means this is not the end, but rather the starting point for our future enterprise.
Success Stories
Pak Sunda, 33, lives in Periji, one of the villages that has trained weavers for the rattan production. Originally a slash and burn farmer, Pak struggled to make a living. Although he worked in the field for eight to nine months, his farm yielded only enough food for four to five months of the year. So in order to meet his basic needs, he also worked as a rubber tapper in his neighbor's field. By 1994 he had two children to feed as well and he was having a very hard time making ends meet. When the weaving training started, Pak Sunda became very interested in joining, even though most of the other weavers were women. He followed his feeling that weaving could make him a good income. Since then, he has become a leader of his village's weaving group and a trainer for weavers -- not only in his own village, but he helps YDT train weavers in other villages as well.
Pak Sunda's life has changed from being a slash and burn farmer, to becoming a group motivator and entrepreneur in weaving. Now he is the quality supervisor for all products that his village group produces -- a group which started with four members and now numbers 22. The members pay Pak Sunda because he helps them in many ways. He collects rattan for the group and is always finding new ways to teach them how to increase the quality. Under his leadership, the skills of the group members are slowly but surely improving and so is the quality of their products.
Pak Sunda also understand the limitation of rattan resources in his area. He actively urges the weavers to plant rattan on their farms to provide for the future. Each family is collecting rattan seeds and has planted between 50 to 100 plants which is not much, but it is a start.
After three years, Pak Sunda smiles at progress that has taken place. Under new kerosene pressure lamps, people are happily weaving and chatting. And as the production increases, their income also increases. Recently Pak returned from a month in Jakarta where he worked at a major exhibition demonstrating Kalimantan weaving techniques to people in the big city. He was very proud to be chosen as the representative. Hard work gets its reward.
Challenges
There is a story about a blind man who owns and makes a living from his store. Because he is blind, whenever somebody comes to buy something, he doesn't know whether he has it or not, or how many he has, much less where it is, or what is the right price to ask for it.When first we started the BCN project, we felt like that blind man with his store. We have the 'store' -- 100,000 hectare within the Participatory Forest Management Area with 17,000 people living in it -- but we don't know what kind of specific 'things' are there, where and how much stock we have, or the potential for growth or annual yield. We don't know what exactly what there is to harvest, nor at what levels it would be sustainable.
Using transect methods, the natural resources inventory has been completed. We know the species and the amount of each in the transect. But it still difficult to find out how many damar trees or rattan clumps there are, their growth rate, or how much can be harvested. We do not know what to base the calculations on to determine the potential yield of each non-timber forest product. Our dream -- knowing what the sustainable harvest level is -- is still far off, and maybe we won't know for another year or two.
Even though the transects are established within the forest management area, and there are local villagers that know how to do the monitoring, the information we need from the biological ecological monitoring will take longer than the time we have left in the time of life of the project which ends in 1998. So how will we be able to continue?
Authors: Alty and Rudy Utama. Alty is the head of the BCN-funded project and her husband Rudy is the Director of Yayasan Dian Tama, which is also involved in a "green" charcoal making and marketing venture, as well as an agricultural demonstration site/farm. They have lived in West Kalimantan with their two children for ten years.
 |
WHY BIODIVERSITY FIELD STORIES PARTICIPATE RESULTS MARKETSPACE ABOUT THE NETWORK WHAT'S NEW LEARNING MATERIALS SEARCH LINKS SITE MAP HOME |