TROPICS Vol. 13 (3) Issued March 31, 2004 ―― Special issue＊)―― Dependency of local people on the forests of Gunung Halimun National Park, West Java, Indonesia Kazuhiro HARADA Department of Forest Science, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan Present address: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Forest Conservation Project, 2108-11 Kamiyamaguchi, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0115, Japan Tel. +81-46-855-3833; Fax: +81-855-3809 e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT This study analyzes the role of Gunung Halimun National Park in the livelihoods of three communities living in and around or near the park, and the impact of the national park on the local people already living in or using resources from the area before it was designated as a national park. Local people practiced agriculture in the park area and collected forest products even within the park itself. Additionally, local people used a variety of plants, including trees, shrubs, herbs and vines, for food, construction, everyday implements, medicine, fuel and so on. Local people in the three villages frequently used domesticated plants, from swidden cultivation or gardens, as food. The use of fuelwood differed among the three villages. The people in the villages adjacent to the park and within an enclave inside the park had alternative places to gather fuelwood. They planted trees that were useful for fuelwood in gardens or took branches of clove or tea trees from neighboring plantation areas. However, as the amount of fuelwood from these resources did not meet their daily needs, they also gathered fuelwood from the national park forest. On the other hand, the fact that one village was located (illegally) within the park did not promote strong incentives for its people to manage domesticated plants for fuelwood; instead they depended largely on the park’s forest. It is concluded that the existence of the national park scarcely changed the relationship between local people and the surrounding environment, but that the presence of local people had fewer negative effects than other disturbing influences like illegal logging or conversion. Rather, the current lack of adequate monitoring has made it possible for customary use of resources and the ideology of nature conservation to coexist. The unclear relationships between the park management and local people may be effective for the ad hoc park management, but may not necessarily ensure biological conservation for the future. Integrated management of the protected areas can be achieved only when institutional arrangements are constructed, in which benefits from protected areas are distributed equally among related stakeholders, leading to effective collaborative management. Key words: co-management, ethnobotany, conservation, Gunung Halimun National Park, West Java, Indonesia INTRODUCTION Forest conservation in state or otherwise-controlled protected areas is still the dominant conservation strategy in all over the world. Protected areas provide a range of benefits, such as eco-tourism, education and research opportunities, watershed protection, and biodiversity conservartion (Dixon et al., 1990; 1991). Nevertheless, in many tropical countries, national parks rarely succeed in achieving all these objectives when a policy of coercive exclusion disregards the right of local inhabitants to use and enjoy natural resources. The objective of protection is to benefit non-local stakeholders, while direct local benefits are ignored. Local inhabitants’ most important benefits from national parks are usually the consumption of natural products. However, this consumption is normally not permitted in a protected area. The prospect or the option of sharing in the global benefits of protected areas is likely to be of little consolation to local residents, particularly to those who, as a result of the establishment of the protected area, have been denied access to natural products that they once harvested freely (Wells, 1992). Local people should benefit from nature conservation through active participation in attaining its objectives, and this should still enable them to live well above the poverty line (Hough, 1988). Gunung Halimun National Park (GHNP), South of Bogor, Indonesia, was established in 1992. As with so many national parks in Indonesia, the park was first designed on a map. As a result, customary rights of local people inside and outside of the park were ignored, and their access to the park’s resources became legally restricted. The exact boundaries of the park are still ambiguous in the field. Several studies exist on the different environments of Gunung Halimun National Park (Adimihardja, 1989; 1992; Harada, in press; Suhaeri, 1994; University of East Anglia et al., 1995). However, the uses of natural plants by local people and the relationships between local people and their environments have hardly been reported. This is a shortcoming, as it is essential to record human activities relating to plants where conflicts between conservation and local economic interests ＊) Edited by Ken-ichi ABE with two referees 162 Kazuhiro HARADA persist. The present study intends to amend this shortcoming and report on the species used as foods and fuelwoods in the daily lives of people living in and around Gunung Halimun National Park. STUDY SITE Until the late nineteenth century, forests in Java were abundant not only on hillsides but also on the plains (Oki, 1988). With increased human expansion, people cleared forests and planted dry rice and other crops under a swidden agricultural system (Elson, 1994). When these lands became exhausted after two or three years, people were forced to abandan their crude hamlets in search of other cultivation sites, where the whole process of settlement and reclamation was repeated. When, in the nineteenth century, the population of Java grew rapidly, land reclamation increased (ibid). The Dutch colonial forced- cultivation system expanded from 1830 onwards and also caused large-scale deforestation (Oki, 1988). This rapid deforestation inevitably caused a decline of shifting cultivation, and replaced it with more intensive agriculture on permanent farmland (Oki, 1993). Inspite of this course of events, abundant forests still exist in the area of Gunung Halimun National Park, West Java. GHNP encompasses three districts: Bogor and Sukabumi in West Java and Lebak in Banten (Fig. 1). The park ranges in altitude from approximately 500m to 2000m above sea level and includes colline, montane, and submontane main vegetation zones (Indonesia Ministry of Forestry, 1997). Until now, 500 plant species, 53 mammals and 203 bird species have been identified, including rare animals such as the Javanese gibbon (Hylobates moloch), and the Javanese hawk eagle (Spizaetus Bartelsi). In terms of human inhabitants, it is estimated that approximately 160,000 Sundanese live within the three districts, in 46 villages in 13 subdistricts (BCP-JICA, 1999). Many Sundanese live in and around GHNP. Villages in and around the park can be classified into three categories that have implications for their legal status and access to land and resources. Villages may be located in areas adjacent to the park (adjacent); villages may occupy areas that are inside the park geographically, but outside the park administratively (enclaves); and villages may be located on land that is part of the Fig. 1. Map of Study Sites in and around Gunung Halimun National Park park (encroachments). Villages in this last category are illegal according to state law. The area adjacent to the park belongs legally to the State Forestry Corporation (Perum Perhutani) and to tea plantation companies. Three villages were selected for this study. The village of Ciptarasa is located within the surrounding areas to the south of the park (category: adjacent). Ciptarasa is located in Sukabumi district, Cisolok sub-district, Sirnarasa village. The altitude Dependency of Local People on the Forests of Gunung Halimun National Park, West Java, Indonesia 163 above sea level of this village is approximately 690 m. It takes about four hours by car from Bogor to Ciptarasa. Public transportation to the nearest town can be easily used from the neighboring village, located one-hour from Ciptarasa. People sometimes go to the town for shopping. The total population of Ciptarasa is 311 individuals, comprising 82 households. Leuwijamang is located within an enclave in the northen part of the park (category: enclave). Leuwijamang is located in Bogor district, Cigedug sub-district, Cisarua village. The altitude above sea level of this village is approximately 650 m. The distance of Leuwijamang from Bogor is a two-hour drive and a one-hour walk. It takes one hour on foot and one hour by public transportation to reach the nearest town adjacent to the highway. Access to the town is not so covenient. The total population of Leuwijamang is 181 residents, comprising 49 households. Cibedug is located illegally within the western boundaries of the park (category: illegal). Cibedug is located in Lebak district, Bayah sub-district, Citorek village. The inhabitants settled in this area before the park was designated. The altitude above sea level of this village is approximately 800 m. It takes about seven hours by car and two hours on foot from Bogor to Cibedug. Because the village is isolated and very far from the nearest town, people seldom visit the town. The total population of Cibedug is 275 residents, comprising 65 households. METHODS