Participation of Forest Encroachers in Participatory Ecosystem Restoration Program in Dangku Wildlife Reserve, Musi Banyuasin

Abstract

Land conversion and forest encroachment are one of the causes of environmental degradation, as is happening at the Dangku Wildlife Reserve in Musi Banyuasin Regency. The participatory ecosystem restoration program at Dangku Wildlife Reserve has had several positive impacts. It is necessary to analyze the influence of the level of perception on the level of participation of the forest encroachers in supporting the participatory ecosystem restoration program at Dangku Wildlife Reserve. This research is survey research with a qualitative approach that uses respondents as a sample of a population with a total sample of 118 respondents. Perception and participation scores were obtained from the classification or category of answers or opinions of respondents to the questions given by the researcher. The scoring of each answer from the respondents is obtained using a Likert scale. The results showed that although the community's perception of the program was classified as good, it was not positively proportional to the participation of the forest encroachers which was classified as moderate. One of the factors that influence this condition is that the benefits derived from the program are not in line with the expectations and needs of the forest encroacher communities.