Issue 108 - Indonesia - Communities Care for Forests

communities care for forests

walhi/friends of the earth indonesia

In Wonosobo, a rural district in Java, Indonesia , you can see with your own eyes how forests managed by people are much healthier than forests managed by the state. People have lived in these forests for generations, relying on rice, fruit, livestock, and vegetables for their sustenance and selling products such as honey, resin and fiber for extra income.

When the colonial government was in charge of managing the Wonosobo forest, it converted most of the lowland forest to monoculture agricultural land and plantations. Local people were hired to work on the plantations and to produce timber, but they no longer had control over the land. They continued however to apply their traditional forest management in a few parts of the forest, and developed a very sound model of agro-forestry in which community members decide collectively how resources should be managed, taking both economic and environmental needs into account.

The difference is striking: the community forest is diverse and flourishing, and the state forest is degraded. The people of the Wonosobo forest have demonstrated that, given the opportunity, local communities can manage not only the forest but the entire local ecosystem.