Strategies of Community Empowerment to Manage Protection Forest Sustainably

F Setiajiati,Hardjanto Hardjanto,Hendrayanto Hendrayanto

doi:10.7226/jtfm.23.2.71

Abstract

The Indonesian Government has empowered communities that are living adjacent to forests, but at the same time, protection forests are highly encroached by the local community. In response, our study aims at formulating strategies of community empowerment in protection forest management. Data collection through participatory observation, questionnaire surveys, interviews, and focused group discussions were conducted in the surrounding communities of protected forest areas in Sumbawa District, Indonesia. A combination of descriptive, participatory, and explorative approaches were used for data analysis. The knowledge of local communities on protection forest conservation was found to be on an average level, while their attitudes towards conservation were assessed as being on a higher level. Community empowerment programs implemented by the government were shown to have no significant effect on knowledge improvement, but they were more effective in changing the community's attitudes regarding protection forest management. Local communities were shown to be willing to conduct conservation activities as well as looking for cash income. Therefore, our study suggested that community empowerment programs should link forest conservation with income opportunities for local people, such as implementing conservation agriculture (e.g. agroforestry), partnerships in the production and sale of non-timber forest products, and be conducting clearly reward and punishment for communities.

Highlights

The Indonesian Government divides types of forests based on function; these are production forest, protection forest, and conservation forest
Knowledge and attitudes of local community on protection forest conservation Overall, the knowledge of respondents on protection forest conservation was in average level based on the result of questionnaire survey (Table 2)
The knowledge of local communities on protection forest conservation was in average level, while their attitudes towards conservation were assessed as being on a higher level

Summary

Introduction

The Indonesian Government divides types of forests based on function; these are production forest, protection forest, and conservation forest. Protection forest is designated based on soil vulnerability to run-off and erosion through considering the characters of soil types, slope, elevation, and rainfall. Protection forests require land use systems which can reduce run-off and erosion until the secure rate to achieve the main function is reached. An important reason of forest encroachment is the high dependency of local community on forests. They are often among the poorest communities in Indonesia (Wollenberg et al 2004 cited by Mutaqin 2014). Their livelihoods depend on the forest resources, and their access to land is limited. In line to people growth development, the needs on food and energy have increased as well as the need on land resources which can threat forest land (Brockhaus et al 2012)

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Conclusion