NANGA PINOH, SP – The verification of the village forest management proposals were conducted by a verification team coming from various organizations and institutions. The field verification itself was carried out to ensure that the village forest proposals were from the local community and to check the locations or points of the village forest plan.
One of the villages verified was Manggala Village, Pinoh Selatan District. This village is one of the villages in Melawi which has also proposed the management of village forest.
The Head of the Village Forest Proposal Verification Team, Nor Ifansyah, in a meeting with community leaders and village officials at the hall of Manggala Village office, Thursday (25/7) explained that the team that conducted the verification came from various parties, starting from the Social Forestry and Partnership Center (BPSK), the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK), the Provincial Forestry Department of West Kalimantan, the Forest Area Consolidation Center (BPKH), the Melawi Forest Management Unit (KPH), to related working groups from Gemawan and Suar Institutes that provided assistance.
“Our presence is to verify facts of the village forest management proposal by Manggala Village community. In this field verification, we checked the documents, whether or not they were actually made by the residents here and at the same time took the area point. “he said.
The man who is familiarly called Ifan explained, after the verification process, there will be a follow-up recommendation on the village forest proposal by the community. If it continues, a meeting with related parties will be held until it is confirmed that there are no problems in this proposal.
“After that, the Minister of LHK can issue a decree so that the proposed forest area can be managed by the community,” he said.
Ifan also explained that village forest is part of the social forestry scheme. Some other schemes, such as indigenous forest, community forest, community plantation forest to partnership forest.
Village forest, he said, gave forest area management rights to the community to take advantage of forest products or cultivate crops without changing the function of the area.
“Because there are rights given, the people who manage it are also protected by law. Even if there are other people who want to take control or penetrate the forest, they can be reported to the authorities because our people have the legality of the village forest, “he said.
Village forest, said Ifan, is the government’s efforts to develop communities from the suburban area. Management rights granting is certainly not for controlling or owning land in the forest area, but for the use of the area so that it can improve the community’s economy by maximizing the existing potential.
“We are together looking for the alternatives which are able to provide benefits for the people who manage this village forest. Certainly, there is also an agreement in the management of village forests, for example it is not allowed to cut the wood so that the forest remains sustainable,” he explained.
The head of the Manggala Village Forest Management Institute (LPHD), Sulaiman mentioned, the proposal of village forest management was indeed proposed by the community and received support from the village government. Initially, his party wanted to propose for indigenous forest, but considering the complicated process, the village forest management was proposed.
“We are proposing a village forest of 543 hectares. The location is in Manggala Village. Some of these have not been managed and some have been planted with rubber and various plants. Part of the land has been managed for dozens of years, “he said.
Sulaiman said there were many potentials that could be used by the community in the area that would be proposed as a village forest. Both from forest products such as resin and rattan to other potentials such as tourism.
“So far, the management has not been able to cover it all. Therefore, with the existence of social forestry, at least there is a plan for the community here in the future, what will be managed or developed in the village forest later, “he said.
Sulaiman admitted that the proposal of the village forest management still brings out pros and cons for Manggala community. However, as the process of the proposal progresses, he believes that the community will later support the program.
“There are also cons, perhaps because he doesn’t understand the positive impact of social forestry. But we will also continue to give understanding to this group of community. “he said. (eko / lha) 24.5 thousand hectares area is proposed.
The Program Manager of Gemawan, Sri Haryanti, who also accompanied the verification team for village forest proposals in Manggala revealed that a total of eight villages have proposed village forest management.
The eight villages are in Belimbing District such as Nusa Kenyikap Village, Upit, Balai Agas, Manggala Village and Sungai Bakah from Pinoh Selatan, Nanga Potai and Sepakat Villages from Sokan District and Nusa Pandau Village, Nanga Pinoh District.
“Three of them have got field verification. Four villages, including Manggala, are currently under verification, “he said.
Sri explained, there were approximately 24,500 hectares of forest areas that were proposed to be designated as village forests. The biggest proposal came from Nusa Kenyikap Village. As an assisting agency, Gemawan also helped encourage these villages to develop programs for the utilization of village forests in the future.
“From the people’s proposals in the eight villages, there are different plans for the utilization of village forest management rights. There are those who use it for tourism potential, utilization of forest products, such as honey to traditional medicines. ”she explained.
Gemawan, with the Suar Institute, Sri stated, continued to assist the villages in submitting the village forest proposals related to what businesses would be managed from the existing forest products. Afterward, an analysis of the village forest potentials will also be conducted with this institute and the LPHD.
“So that later they can manage the village forest maximally because the management period given is also quite long, some are 30 to 35 years, “she said. (eko / lha)
Source: https://www.suarapemredkalbar.com/berita/melawi/2019/07/26/tim-lakukan-verifikasi-usulan-hutan-desa