Towards The License of Village Forest Management
With the community of Piawas Village, Belimbing Hulu District, Melawi, a team from the Social Forestry and Environmental Partnership Center of Kalimantan Area (BPSKL), the Forest Management Unit (KPH Melawi Regency) and an assisting institution, Gemawan, conducted a technical verification of the village forest proposal. This was done for the process of proposing village forest management in the social forestry scheme.
Firdaus Darkatni, Nanga Pinoh
THE COMMUNITY of Piawas Village admitted that starting from early last year, they proposed a license process for village forest management. Dominggus, Secretary of LPHD said that most of the village area is located in the area of protected forest. This is because the managemet of the forest area is encouraged to be done legally through a social forestry scheme.
“People are afraid to do activities or take fruits from the forest. So, with this social forestry program, we are encouraging village forests in order that people can manage them properly and legally,” said Dominggus to Pontianak Post, Friday (26/7).
According to Dominggus, the area that is proposed to be a village forest has great potential, especially for the fruit commodity it has. He added that the potential for fruit in the proposed village forest area has never been managed well by the village party because it is located in a protected forest.
“The protected forest that is proposed to be a village forest has great potential, especially in Tengkawang, Durian and Jengkol fruits. Therefore, the verification steps conducted by the team from BPSKL, KPH Melawi and Gemawan Institute are expected to accelerate us in gaining a village forest management decree so that we can quickly manage this forest area,” added Dominggus who is also the Village Secretary in Piawas Village.
Luki Febri Hamdani, a Field Staff from Kalimantan BPSKL also conducted the technical verification of this village forest proposal. According to him, this verification is a form of monitoring to ensure the area which is being proposed by the community.
“Before a management permit is issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, there needs to be field verification to see the condition of the proposed area. We checked with the community and also did a survey to the location to ensure the proposal submitted by the community, “said Luki.
He also added that the existence of this social forestry program can help the community in managing forest areas which are still paying attention on natural sustainability without destroying the forest.
“This social forestry helps the community in managing the forest. Its potential can be used by the community as a field of village economy. Hence, we continue to protect the forest and take advantage of its potential for the welfare of the community, “he explained again.
Sri Haryanti, the Program Manager at Gemawan Institute who is an assistant in the village forest proposal explained that it is not only Piawas Village that is conducting verification, but there are Nanga Sokan Villages and Sepakat Villages in Sokan District, Sungai Bakah Village and Manggala Village in Pinoh Selatan District. “For this Piawas Village, there are 3,716 hectares that were proposed to become village forests,” she mentioned.
She hopes that the people who are in or surrounding the forest areas have access to participate in forest protection and management in order to achieve prosperity for the community. “With forest area management done by the community through a social forestry scheme, we hope that it can help improve the economy of the people living around the forest areas,” she concluded. (*)
Source: https://www.pontianakpost.co.id/dorong-hutan-desa-untuk-kesejahteraan-warga