Community Logging in the Rain Forest of West Kalimantan, Indonesia

by Harvard University Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology

Partners:

Harvard University Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology (LTFE) Government of Indonesia, Ministry of Forestry (GoI-MoF) Local Community Groups

Current Accomplishments

The year has been marked by the slow process of working out cooperative arrangements for implementing the project with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry. However, in retrospect this slow pace is not surprising. Contractual relationships between Harvard and BCN/WWF were not finalized until March of 1996. We are also painfully breaking new ground in so many areas of inter­institutional collaboration in the project both within the Ministry of Forestry, and between local communities, government agencies, and ourselves. This process is made all the more complex as we do not fit the usual model of collaborating bilateral development agencies.

The several months in Jakarta did lead to developing excellent market outlets for sawnwood from the project, both for the greenwood international market and local Jakarta­based wood products. This is a major achievement, as we needed to identify agents who we could trust to market products and were genuinely interested in the success of the project.

During this process of getting permits in the cities, we have also tried to develop activities in the field. From January through May, Hikma Lisa, our socioeconomic specialist, worked with local Gunung Palung National Park management staff (KSDA) to signpost the borders of the proposed Community Forest Area and the Park and to initiate patrols of nearby Park borders. Simultaneously, Lisa has been developing the socioeconomic database, ready to initiate baseline monitoring. However, in June, we pulled back from these field activities because as negotiations over the MOU and detailed Project Plan of Operation heated up, we thought it wiser to maintain a low profile a position we currently maintain. Ronnie Cherry, our Field Manager, commenced work in June, and moved to West Kalimantan in late July. Within a few days, Ronnie was initiated into both fieldwork and the confusing, and at times rancorous, meetings with local government agencies. Community members remain committed to the project, but we have been prevented from engaging them in the project until the MOU and Plan of Operation are done, which is frustrating for all of us.

Successes and Challenges

"OK...So What?"

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