Sustainable Forest Management Introduction

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1.1.2 Sustainable Forest Management

Sustainable forest management manages the forest yields and functions to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs Bruntland, GH, 2000. In Indonesia, sustainable forest management has been interpreted as a strategy and implementation of activities in producing forest products. In addition to forest utilization, the management strategy should also ensure the continuity of forest productivity, ecologicalenvironmental functions and social functions BSN, 1998. Furthermore, this should be implemented harmoniously and enhance both the current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations NRM-USAID, 2000. According to the results from cooperative research projects conducted by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry and German Development Cooperation Agency 1998, sustainable forest management is supported by: 1. Not harvesting timber beyond actual grow rates; 2. Applying reduced impact logging RIL standards; 3. Implementing stand specific silviculture; 4. Rehabilitating degraded forests; 5. Maintaining biodiversity; 6. Preventing forest fire; 7. Strengthening forest management institution; 8. Meeting social standards of green certification; and 9. Reducing illegal logging. 20 In fact, when it comes to forest rent, the government of Indonesia still perceives the forests as timber production machines. Since 1967, when the government granted the private timber concessions the right to manage the forests, up to the 1990s, about 612 million cubic meters of round wood was extracted Barr, 2002. Further, the sustainable forest management issue is addressed only on how to reform and regulate timber logging and its industrial processes. Barr 2002 reported that since the 1980s, policies toward promoting sustainable forest management in Indonesia have focused exclusively on reforming the timber concessions system. Barr also stated that the government has been ineffective in implementing the reformation. He suggested three major policies that the government needs to strengthen in order to enforce sustainable forest management at the timber concession: 1 the government should be able to increase its capacity to enforce the technical aspects of sustainable concession management among the timber concessions; 2 increase the timber royalties and fees to halt the flow of resource rents revenue above the normal; and 3 lift the ban on log trading in order to avoid internal log trading among the concession and the industry inside Indonesia with the price well below the market price. Sustainable forest management for the government is not only meant to produce the timber in sustainable ways. The forest protection and conservation of wildlife and their habitat is part of the sustainable management as well. The government believes that forest classification areas based on its function are part of the sustainable forest management. Up to the year 2000, the government has stipulated 386 units of conservation areas covering 22.49 million hectares on forestland, open seas corals and 21 mangrove areas. These 386 units included a national park and protection forests open seas national parks Riyadi, 2004. The indigenous people’s sustainable forest management expresses when they can maintain the range of their practices over landscaping and time. The shifting cultivation areas are developed for two or three years following the forest areas opening. The shifting cultivation is followed by planting some fruits, saps and timber trees that are called fruit gardens Kebotn and Simpukng andor forest area Bengkar. These practices mean that the tribe utilizes the forest as their land bank as a means of restoring soil fertility after cropping. The forest or fruit garden development by the Benuaq Dayak could be seen as biodiversity enrichment of the area. Hunting wild game and collecting a range of forest products results in additional food and income as well. The tourism activities and handicraft creations give them an additional cash income. In short, sustainable forest management by the Benuaq Dayak is a way to maintain and provide biodiversity increment, and also diverse and continuous sources of income for themselves and the nation.

1.1.3 Forest Stakeholders