Forest Products in the Rain Forest of West Kalimantan, Indonesia

by Yayasan Dian Tama

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
Successes and Challenges
"OK...So What?"

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