ICRAF Supports Mapping of Challenges and Potential of Social Forestry in East Nusa Tenggara

“Forests should not become a source of conflict because they provide economic value and can improve community welfare. If communities gain economic value from forests, they will help preserve them. Research will help them protect forests and manage them wisely,” said Nusa Tenggara Timur Governor Viktor Laiskodat, speaking to journalists on 15 August 2022 in the provincial capital, Kupang.

The Governor made this statement while visiting a mini exhibition of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) brought by Forest Management Units (KPH) from across the province. Laiskodat bought a variety of products, including cajuput oil, candlenut oil, and coffee, from various exhibition stalls. “I came here to buy [these products]. This is one way to help those who are working to protect the forest. Buy their products, make sure they enjoy the benefits of having a forest that is sustainable and well-maintained,” he added.

Laiskodat’s remarks were enough to demonstrate the local government’s stance toward social forestry: full support. Yet reality tells a different story, as that support has not automatically translated into resource support, including budget allocation.

However, the limited budget is not without reason. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the central government instructed all ministries and regional governments to shift their focus and reallocate budgets toward activities aimed at accelerating pandemic response. Nusa Tenggara Timur Province was no exception.

The NTFP mini exhibition was a supporting activity for the Coordination Meeting of the Social Forestry Working Group (Pokja PS) of Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, jointly organized by the NTT Provincial Environment and Forestry Agency and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) Indonesia through the Land4Lives project. The coordination meeting brought together representatives from all 22 existing KPHs.

Referring to Regulation of the Minister of Environment and Forestry No. 9 of 2021, Social Forestry is defined as a sustainable forest management system implemented within state forest areas or customary/traditional forests (Hutan Hak/Hutan Adat), carried out by Local Communities or Customary Law Communities as the primary actors to improve their welfare, environmental balance, and socio-cultural dynamics, in the forms of Village Forests, Community Forests, People’s Plantation Forests, Customary Forests, and forestry partnerships. The Central Government allocated 12.7 [million] hectares for Social Forestry during the 2015–2019 period, and this continued into the second period.

Nationally, Social Forestry achievements as of January 2022 totaled 7,479 permit decrees (SK), covering more than 4,901,000 hectares and involving 1,049,000 households (KK).

In January 2022, President Joko Widodo handed over Social Forestry and Land Objects of Agrarian Reform (TORA) decrees to 30 provinces, reminding recipients that land granted Social Forestry Approval must promptly be planted with 50% woody trees, while the remaining 50% may be planted with seasonal crops such as corn, soybeans, upland rice, fruit, or coffee under an agroforestry pattern, or developed alongside livestock farming (silvopasture), or, if the land is located in mangrove forest, developed alongside fisheries (silvofishery).

According to Ondy Christian Siagian, Head of the Nusa Tenggara Timur Provincial Environment and Forestry Agency, NTT has an indicative Social Forestry area covering 496,614.58 hectares, but actual achievement so far stands at only 57,864.13 hectares, or 11.6%.

“In terms of achievement, NTT still ranks relatively small compared to other provinces in Indonesia. Various constraints related to this achievement include the absence of regional budget (APBD) allocation for facilitating Social Forestry permits, a shortage of human resources in the field to guide and facilitate groups, limited knowledge among existing human resources at the KPH level to guide and facilitate groups, insufficient outreach to communities around forests regarding Social Forestry, and low community participation in the Social Forestry program,” Ondy explained.

The Head of the Capacity Building Division for Environmental Management and Social Forestry at the NTT Provincial Environment and Forestry Agency (DLHK), Anindya Widaryati, added that the social forestry program plays a strategic role in community empowerment and, in its implementation, involves cross-sector and multi-stakeholder participation. In NTT, the Social Forestry Acceleration Working Group was established on 1 March 2022.

“The Social Forestry Acceleration Working Group (Pokja PPS) consists of various cross-sector elements, including government representatives, forestry activists, and universities. Its main tasks are coordination, outreach, facilitation, verification, mentoring, and technical guidance, as well as strengthening institutional capacity, and it also has a business development function,” said Anindya.

The coordination meeting, held with support from ICRAF, served as an important moment to align perspectives within the Working Group in gathering data and information on the condition of social forestry across 22 districts/cities.

“Through this activity, we will also plan acceleration measures and strategies to intensify the provision of access or the granting of permits and, most importantly, mentoring after permits are issued,” said Anindya.

ICRAF, through its action-research project Sustainable Landscapes for Climate-Resilient Livelihoods in Indonesia (Land4Lives), sees coordination within the Social Forestry Acceleration Working Group (Pokja PPS) as essential, providing a strong foundation for developing plans and measures that are well-targeted and effective.

The theme raised in the coordination meeting, “The Role of Social Forestry in Realizing Climate-Resilient Community Welfare,” aligns with the spirit carried by Land4Lives, an action-research project in cooperation between the Government of Indonesia and the Government of Canada that aims to improve landscape governance, strengthen food security, enhance climate-resilient livelihoods, and encourage women’s participation in climate change mitigation/adaptation actions.

“One effort to adapt to the impacts of climate change is ensuring that communities have access to land. Having land that is managed well and responsibly not only provides economic benefits but also engages communities in efforts to sustain forests,” explained Land4Lives Provincial Coordinator Yeni Fredrik Nomeni.

Yeni said that this activity is expected to produce work plans suited to the geographic conditions and potential of social forestry areas, aimed at improving community welfare.

“This coordination effort, which involves the Forest Management Units (KPH), is expected to map stakeholders as well as the potential and challenges for improving community welfare through empowerment approaches and the use of forest areas following agroforestry/silvopasture patterns, while continuing to adhere to sustainability principles,” she added.