HARAPAN RAINFOREST: CULTIVATING OR IGNORING HOPES?
The Livelihoods of the Forest Dwelling People and Their Perceptions (A Case Study in Harapan Rainforest, Jambi Indonesia)
Nyimas Wardah
Study Program: MSc International Development Studies (MID)
Student Registration Number: 810909 613 020
Course Number :RDS 80433
Supervisor : Dr. Ir. Pieter de Vries Dr. F. Michiel Köhne
Wageningen University, Rural Development Sociology Group
August, 2013
ii Acknowledgement
Alhamdulillah. Firstly I wish to thank my supervisors Pieter de Vries and Michiel Köhne for their valuable guidance and patience throughout all the months from the preparation for my field work to the completion of my thesis. Secondly, my gratitude goes to those I encountered in the Harapan Rainforest; the indigenous Bathin Sembilan, Mr. Yusup Cahyadin who gave me the opportunity to learn and work in Harapan Rainforest project and Mr. Yulius and Mr. Budi Aulia who volunteered their supervision, advice, and many discussions. All my friends from the Community Partnership Department: Desri, Yudha, Eka, Herry and my roommates Sulis and Susan who kindly permitted me to stay with them for five months. I also enjoyed the privilege of insightful discussion with Mr.M.Silalahi from Burung Indonesia and other colleagues from the Non-Governmental Organizations; CAPPA and KKI WARSI in Jambi. I also wish to extend heartfelt thanks to my family in Palembang, Indonesia. To my parents Kemas Mas’ud Khan and Nurlela, and my four siblings: Without your support, love, prayers and encouragement my goalto study in the Netherlands would remain only a dream. To the Indonesian Student Association PPI (Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia) Wageningen: you welcomed me warmly, became my second family and made me comfortable living in Wageningen. Additionally, my appreciation goes to the Ford Foundation for its sponsorship through the International Fellowship Program. Last but not least I must recognise the tropical forest and the bee that are my constant source of passion. Working there was a truly awesome experience which I wish to repeat.
iii Abstract
This research aimed to investigate the impacts of the Harapan Rainforest project on the livelihoods of the forest dwelling people in Jambi Indonesia, and to contribute to a better understanding of their perceptions of the forest and the restoration project. This study focused on two groups living in the Harapan Rainforest area: the indigenous Bathin Sembilan people and the encroachers who are mainly the migrants. This research was conducted as a case study with an ethnographic approach in order to permit a flexible response to social processes. Data were collected through various methods, including participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, desk study and document analysis. This study produced two major findings : (1) The Harapan Rainforest project has not had a significant effect on the livelihoods of the forest dwelling people who already have a long history of engagement in large scale economic activities, including working as labours at nearby plantation companies. Additionally, the transformation of the natural forest into monoculture plantations and the depletion of forest resources have forced the forest dwelling people to become independent of the forest (2) The Harapan Rainforest Project draws support from the Indigenous Bathin Sembilan in the Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan Dalam but faces opposition from the Indigenous Bathin Sembilan in Simpang Macan Luar and the encroachers in Kunangan Jaya, who take a sceptical view of the project. This study demonstrates that the livelihoods of these various groups have affected the way how the forest dwelling people perceive the forest and the project.
Keywords : Harapan Rainforest, restoration projects, livelihoods, perception, Jambi, Indonesia
iv Abbreviations
AMAN Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Indigenous People Alliance of Indonesia Nusantara CIFOR Pusat Penelitian Kehutanan Centre for International Forestry Research Internasional CP Kemitraan Masyarakat Community Partnership
CSR Tanggung Jawab Sosial Corporate Social Responsibility Perusahaan FGD Diskusi Kelompok Focus Group Discussion GPS Global Positioning System HGU Hak Guna Usaha Land Use Permit HTI Hutan Tanaman Industri Industrial Timber Plantation HTR Hutan Tanaman Rakyat Community Timber Plantation HPH Hak Pengusahaan Hutan Forest Concession Rights HRF Hutan Harapan Harapan Rainforest ICI International Climate Initiative IGAs Kegiatan Peningkatan Income Generating Activities Pendapatan IP Masyarakat asli Indigenous People IUPHHK RE Izin Usaha Pemanfaatan Hasil Restoration Ecosystem within natural forest Hutan Kayu Restorasi Ekosistem Kadus Kepala Dusun Head of sub-village (hamlet) KEHI Konservasi Ekosistem Indonesia Ecosystem Conservation of Indonesia KTP Kartu Tanda Penduduk Legal Identity Card Menhut Menteri Kehutanan Ministry of Forestry (MoF) NGO Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat Non-Government Organization NTFPs Hasil Hutan Bukan Kayu Non Timber Forest Products Polhut Polisi Hutan Forest Ranger PTP Persero Perkebunan Plantation Company Pusling Puskesmas Keliling Mobile Medical Services RKL Rencana Kerja Lima Tahun Five Years Planning Activity RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds SK Surat Keputusan Decree SPORC Satuan Polisi Kehutanan Reaksi Forest Ranger Cepat STN Serikat Tani Nasional National Peasant Union UK Inggris United Kingdom UUD Undang-undang Dasar Constitution PT Persereoan Terbatas Limited Training/Company REKI Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia Ecosystem Restoration of Indonesia SPI Serikat Petani Indonesia Indonesian Peasants Union TNC Taman Konservasi The Nature Conservation TSM Trans Swakarsa Mandiri Transmigration VRMA Perjanjian Pengelolaan Village Resource Management Agreement Sumberdaya
v Table of Contents Acknowledgement ...... iii Abstract ...... iv Abbreviations ...... v Table of Contents ...... vi List of Figure ...... viii List of Table ...... ix 1. Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Background and Problem ...... 1 1.2 Research Objectives and Research Questions ...... 5 1.3 Research Methods and Methodology ...... 5 1.4 Research site ...... 6 1.5 Research informant and source of information ...... 6 1.6 Time Frame ...... 7 1.7 Information Gathering Strategy ...... 7 1.8 Constraints and Limitation ...... 8 1.9 Structure of the Thesis ...... 8 2. Theoretical Approach ...... 10 2.1 Sense of Place ...... 10 2.2 Livelihoods ...... 10 2.3 Legal Pluralism ...... 11 2.4 Actor Oriented Approach ...... 13 2.5 Conclusion ...... 14 3. The Project and the Organisation ...... 15 3.1 The Harapan Rainforest ...... 15 3.2 The Organization Structure ...... 18 3.3 Department and Activities ...... 18 3.3.1 Forest Protection Department ...... 18 3.3.2 Forest Restoration Department ...... 19 3.3.3 Community Partnership Department ...... 19 3.3.4 Research and Conservation Department ...... 19 3.4 Activities Carried Out by Community Partnership Department ...... 20 3.4.1 Income Generating Activities (IGAs) ...... 20 3.4.2 Primary School for Children...... 20 3.4.3 Health Services ...... 21 3.4.4 Conflict Resolution ...... 21 3.5 Conclusion ...... 23 4. Forest People and the Livelihood Issues ...... 24 4.1 The Forest Dwelling People ...... 24 4.1.1 The Indigenous People Bathin Sembilan ...... 24 4.1.2 The Encroachers, the Landless Farmers ...... 25 4.2 Livelihoods before PT.REKI ...... 26 4.2.1 Livelihoods of the Indigenous People Bathin Sembilan ...... 26 4.2.2 Livelihoods of the Encroachers, the Landless Farmers ...... 27 4.3 Livelihoods after PT.REKI ...... 28
vi 4.3.1 Livelihoods of the Indigenous People Bathin Sembilan ...... 29 4.3.2 Livelihoods of the Encroachers, the Landless Farmers ...... 33 4.4 The Livelihood Transition ...... 35 4.5 Conclusion ...... 39 5. People’s Perceptions and Responses ...... 41 5.1 People’s Perceptionof the Forest ...... 41 5.1.1 Prohibited Area for Cultivation ...... 43 5.1.2 Prohibition to cut big trees ...... 44 5.1.3 Poisoning fish with tubo ...... 44 5.2 Support from the Indigenous People in Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan Dalam ...... 45 5.3 Sceptical views (From NGO, Indigenous People in Simpang Macan Luar, and Migrants in Kunangan Jaya) ...... 46 5.4 Land Conflicts ...... 51 5.5 Environmental Purposes ...... 53 5.6 Some Critical Questions ...... 54 5.7 Conclusion ...... 54 6. Conclusion and Recommendation ...... 56 6.1 Livelihoods Issues ...... 56 6.2 The Perceptions ...... 57 References ...... 59 Annex … ...... 62
vii List of Figure
Figure 1.Ecology VS Economy. The different interest between Harapan Rainforest and Forest Dwelling People ...... 4 Figure 2. The Forest Dwelling People (Nomadic Group) ...... 8 Figure 3. Different stakeholders involved in Harapan Rainforest Projects ...... 17 Figure 4. Organizational Structure of Harapan Rainforest, 2012 ...... 18 Figure 5. Household Proportion according to Land Occupation ...... 22 Figure 6. Number of HH Based on Ethnics, Tribes ...... 34 Figure 7.Livelihoods Transition of Forest Dwelling People in Harapan Rainforest Area...... 37 Figure 8.Sketch of Land in Simpang Macan Luar...... 43 Figure 9.The occupation of Harapan's guardhouse in Sungai Jerat by SPI members...... 47 Figure 10.Perintisan and marking the area with red paint by the Indigenous People...... 49 Figure 11.The direct border between PT.REKI (in the left) and PT.Asiatic Persada (in the right)...... 52 Figure 12. Boiled Jelutung ...... 65 Figure 13. Ambung and small basket from rattan material ...... 67
viii List of Table
Table 1. Land Occupation by Households in Kunangan Jaya 1...... 22 Table 2. Ethnics or Tribes who occupied the land in Kunangan Jaya ...... 34
ix 1. Introduction
1.1 Background and Problem Forests are one of the resources on the ground which have attracted foreign investors to start business in Indonesia. In line with this phenomenon, the government of Indonesia welcomes those potential investors who mainly divert the forest into palm oil plantations. Palm oil and its derivative products play a pivotal role in world business and Indonesia is currently the third largest producer(Rianto, et all., 2012)and inevitably, the palm oil becomes the most important industries. The Indonesian government was strongly motivated and since the 1990s invited the private sector in palm oil plantation to come to Indonesia and invest in plantation and because of this there is a significant increase of forest degradation.
It is a fact that the national economy of Indonesia very much relies on the natural resources in the forest for its economic development since 1970s(Kartodiharjo & Supriyono, 2000). Indonesia owns abundant of forest and resources and it becomes the main reason to ‘sell’ the potentiality by giving the HPH (Hak Pengusahaan Hutan)/ Forest Concession Rights to the holders (investors). Furthermore, the HPH being the main tool to legitimate action performed by the HPH holders– mainly big oil plantation company- in order to utilize the forest maximally including other resources. Additionally, the more forest concession results on declining forest area which also affects the forest dwelling people’s livelihoods.
The fact of declining in forest quality in Indonesia through degradation and deforestation in the last 20 years has brought massive influences for the forest itself and the forest dwelling-people. Along with that, Indonesia suffers from forest deterioration as the number of degraded area continuously increases every year(Leimona, et all., 2006). There are various reasons behind this and the report from CIFOR (Centre for International Forestry Research) highlighted the activities which brought the huge impact to forest deterioration. The conversion of natural forest into timber and tree crop plantation (palm oil plantation) is the main cause of the impact. A political legitimation process has to take place when the timber plantation development policies ‘allow’ the shifting of functions from natural forest to plantation areas. Plantation developers demand for extra land in order to achieve more revenue and this fact exacerbates the situation.
Other sources of forest deterioration are still related to human activities for instance illegal logging, forest fire, and unlimited exploitation of forest products. As previously mentioned, forest is used to support economic development, not only for Indonesia as its union but also specifically to local people who live around the forest. The forest utilization to fulfil the needs of the daily life without taking into account the restoration and rehabilitation issues would inevitably influence the forest’s value, both ecologically and socially in the long term. The forest diversity may decrease and there is a possibility to give social impacts on the relations among forest people as everyone needs access to the forest and its resources as means of survival. Hence, the imbalance of ecological and economic needs will potentially create conflicts among communities. Due to these problems, 59.2 million hectares forest in Indonesia need urgent treatment for rehabilitation to prevent further destructive activities (Leimona,et all., 2006) and to limit the negative impact of forest deterioration. For this reason, a number of projects have been implemented over the past decades to link the livelihood of people who depend on natural resources for their daily life and the request for biodiversity conservation (Salafsky & Wollenberg, 2000). These projects require support from local communities to obtain the positive attitude and to reduce different priority interests that might cause frictions between the natural resources and forest management body and the indigenous communities. Furthermore, the approach of participatory natural resource management requires local control (Davenport & H.Anderson, 2004)which provides the opportunity for local people to be involved in deciding how the area should be developed, how to manage resources, and the most important, how the communities play the roles in the restoration development programs.
The Harapan Rainforest which is considered in the following thesis includes the idea of nature restoration as well as income generating activities for forest dependent people in the area of South Sumatra and Jambi Province. It has geographical borders in the north and northeast border with a palm oil plantation and another area with active logging concession. There is a huge challenge for this project to demonstrate responsibility to conserve nature as well as to bring prosperity for forest dependent people. Harapan Rainforest has developed main activities covering forest protection, restoration, and community development(Rainforest, 2012) as a response to this challenge.
The aim of forest protection is to prevent further damage in the forest area by setting up regular biodiversity monitoring which is executed by patrol teams mostly recruited from local people. The project implemented capacity of development and skills training for the teams in using GPS (Global Positioning System) and maps, forest fire management, first aid, as well as off road motor skills training for effective mobility are the initial step to enforce the forest protection. The main task of the patrol teams is to monitor and report any signs that they found in the forest related to illegal activities and to record the wildlife sightings in the forest area. Since its establishment, Harapan Rainforest claims that during 19 months, the team has significantly contributed to forest protection by successfully distinguishing 82 occurrences of forest fires.
Harapan Rainforest owns a permit for forest area management for restoration purposes, therefore forest restoration being one of the main challenges. In line with forest protection activities, restoration activities also aim at preventing the hazardous forest related activities. There is still a lack of experience and of pilot activities in this type of large scale management. Hence, new techniques and approaches are continuously developed in forest ecosystem restoration. Chiang May University, Thailand, is a project partner and provides support, for example a book entitle “How to plant forest” which is translated into Bahasa Indonesia for education purposes. Furthermore, the project uses GIS (Geographic Information System) to identify and classify different forest areas to determine the most suitable forest restoration approach. There is a vision that the most appropriate approaches can be developed in the coming years and can be adopted in a large scale restoration management approach.
Income generating activities under community partnership programs carried out by Harapan Rainforest is one of the focuses of this research. It is argued that the indigenous communities who stay in Harapan Rainforest area depend on the forest and its resources to earn a living. People harvest the forest products and are involved in shifting agriculture practices, applying the rotation techniques. People planted in one area and moved to other areas after harvesting to let the previous land recover from nutrient loss before using it again in the following session. In the past, this was not a serious problem which threatened the forest because the population density was low. Conversely, in the past 20 years, the population density gradually increased and people started competing with one another
2 for survival. Additionally, the expansion of timber and palm oil plantations on a big scale rapidly changed the forest dwelling people´s lives and livelihoods. People are robbed from their natural resources and some of them are displaced by working in the plantation as low wage labourer and leave the way how they normally consumed the natural resources from nature. When working in the palm oil company, the indigenous people usually get lower employment positions than outsiders due to level of skill they possess (Rainforest, 2012). Most good jobs and higher salaries go to the employees with more skills, usually the outsiders. These indigenous people become slaves on their own lands and loose interest in its restoration. That is the main reason of Harapan Rainforest to initiate a collaborative approach with local communities to preserve the forest and providing hopes for forest based lifestyle. Harapan offers to sustain people’s well-being as well as to develop economic opportunities for those who are affected by the expansion of plantation companies and forest deterioration.
Harapan Rainforest manages the area of +101.355 hectares in the area of South Sumatra and Jambi Province. It is such a big project initiated by a consortium in UK and Indonesia (Birdlife, RSPB, Burung Indonesia) and hence involves a lot of actors in the implementation. The government of Indonesia gave the license to the company of PT. Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia (PT REKI) which is the unit management of Harapan Rainforest to manage this area with the environmental scenario agenda to restore the forest and return its diversity.
Nevertheless there are controversial about the project in some cases. Opinions and critical positions arguing that the project is not the answer for the community and the environmental problems because it demands restrictions how the indigenous people take benefits and manage the forest based on their own knowledge and manner. This is controversial to the need of local control for participatory natural resource management discussed by Davenport & H. Anderson (2004) who request that the highest decision on how to manage and develop a conservation area should be in charge of local people.
Running mandate of the restoration program, Harapan Rainforest applies restriction to people around the area, for instance using fires to burn area for agriculture purposes, poaching the animals, cutting tree, and poisoning the fish in the river. All these restrictions are applied on behalf of keeping the environmental sustainability. On the other hand, these forest dwelling people were used to apply these practices. They do not have enough capital and skill to cultivate their farm except using fires as the easiest and the cheapest method of opening the rice field.
Another problem happens in Harapan is the ‘encroachment’ and when I met one of the doer, he was aware that he has occupied the state land yet he did not want to be labelled as the ‘’encroacher’’. He had sold his entire asset in his origin place and came to this area, starting a new life with his two hectares palm oil trees. “I will struggle my right”. That is what he said then furthermore telling me that as an Indonesian citizen, he has right to utilize the natural resources referring to the Indonesian constitution UUD 1945 article 33 (3) :
“Bumi, air, dankekayaanalam yang terkandung di dalamnyadikuasaioleh negara
dandipergunakanuntuksebesar-besarnyakemakmuranrakyat”
***
The earth, water, and all the natural resources are controlled by the state to be used for the prosperity of the Indonesian citizen
3 As an Indonesian citizen, he has the rights to struggle, and when the government did not do any action, he is going to take the initiatives. In the case of Harapan Rainforest area, some people who has already been settled before the concession right given to PT.REKI even struggle harder arguing that the government should recognize their right before giving the concession right to PT.REKI. On the other hand, PT.REKI argues that the ownership the concession rights is a mandate from the government of Indonesia for the company to manage the area and to set up the regulations as well as to implement the activities for ecosystem restoration to save the last low land forest in Indonesia.
These two clashes are problematic as two parties have different interest toward the forest. Harapan Rainforest speaks on behalf of ecology, while the people prioritize their economy. Thus, the restoration program which full of restrictions towards people’s way of earning living is considered disturbed the livelihoods of these people. The picture below how the two interests – ecology and economy have opposite interest toward the forest. For forest dwelling people, forest is a place to support their livelihood as it provides timber, food, income from forest products, and land for cultivation. All of these activities are considered as the impediments for the restoration program since it does not allow people, for instance, to take the timber or to burn forest when people opening area for rice field cultivation.
In the forest: Don’t cut the tress (exemption applies) Don’t pouch the animals Do not poison the fish Do not burn The forest is source of: Ecology - Timber - Food - Income - Land cultivation area Economy
Figure 1.Ecology VS Economy. The different interest between Harapan Rainforest and Forest Dwelling People
But, what are the needs and expectations of the local people. In how far are they aware of the forest deterioration and motivated to take responsibility of rainforest restoration? To answer these questions, I have a look to the ground level and to investigate what exactly people think about the restoration development project which exists in their surroundings and I also investigate what is going on in the field level. It was extremely important to listen to the local people and to understand their perspectives because Harapan Rainforest speaks on behalf of their names – to provide hopes to community for forest based lifestyle (Rainforest, 2012)- which obviously would position them as one of the most important stakeholders in the project implementation. How the forest dwelling people perceives the project and how the project activities take place on the field level is considered to be more essential than putting the project’s concept on idyllic but unrealistic assumptions. This research
4 has tried to discover whether the forest dwelling people can be treated as one homogenous entity or whether it has to be diversified into smaller groups with different interests and influence. The aim of this research is to find out whether this project is only ‘cultivating’ people’s hopes promising that it could solve environmental degradation problems as well as poverty problems, or on the contrary, whether the project does not accommodate the indigenous knowledge in forest management and may even have a negative impact on people’s livelihood.
1.2 Research Objectives and Research Questions Since one of the main focuses in Harapan Rainforest besides restoring the nature is the forest dwelling people, hence, the overall objectives of this research are to investigate how this project brought impacts to the livelihoods of forest dwelling people and to contribute to a better understanding of their perceptions of forest and restoration development projects. Furthermore, the results aimed to be used to develop recommendations how the project could address people’s need by working together with forest dwelling people to sustain live and livelihoods and in the same time helping the project to restore the nature.
In order to reach the objectives, the main research questions are: (1) How the livelihoods are transformed in relation to Harapan Rainforest’s intervention? (2) How do forest dwelling people perceive the forest and the Harapan Rainforest project?
To answer the main question, the following specific research questions are formulated: 1. (a) Whose livelihoods is affected by Harapan Rainforest? (b) How were the livelihoods before Harapan Rainforest project started? (c) How are the livelihoods after the beginning of Harapan Rainforest project? (d) How do the livelihoods change and affect the forest dwelling people?
2. (a) How do people from different sex and age perceive the forest? (b) How do people response to Harapan Rainforest project and its intervention?
1.3 Research MethodsandMethodology The research was done in the format of a case study to allow a flexible response to social processes evoked by the events analyzed(Mitchell, 1994). This ethnographic approach was chosen as the methodology because this research requires a comprehensive understanding of community perceptions and what is happening in the community related to the project (Atkinson & Hammersley, 2007). Additionally, it allows researchers to investigate and examine fundamental parts of human experiences embedded in local practices, cultures and societies.
To get the information related to people’s livelihoods, I used participant observation. During this study, I lived and participated in daily activities with the indigenous people Bathin Sembilan and gained deep understanding of their behaviour and beliefs embedded in their local culture and practices(Green & Thorogood, 2004). Conducting the ethnographic study has enabled me to stay with the natives and to know how these people create their livelihoods. Observations were done in a way that I did not interfere with the process occurring in the natural setting
Furthermore, I used the interview as a method to investigate how people perceive and response to Harapan Rainforest. Green and Thorogood (2007) defined the interview as a conversation guided by
5 the researcher´s need of data. In this research, I used the question lists and let the flow of the discussion open as I became aware that the people preferred to tell their own stories. Some interviews I did informally while accompanied them fishing in the pond or lake, or when I helped them to weave leaves for their roof. For some informants, the multiple interviews were conducted as I thought they had a lot of stories regarding the forest and its surrounding. I also did some haphazard interviews when I met people in the first exploration of the site. The entire interview was done in the local dialect in combination with Bahasa Indonesia.
To get an in depth understanding on people’s livelihoods as well as their perception which influence their responses towards the project, I conducted Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Some people were more likely to talk in a small discussion although to gather people to sit together was a bit difficult since in some places people live far away from one another. Their culture runs like it does, because they are used to and prefer to live not in a close distance each other to avoid conflicts(R.28, 2013)1. The FGDS had helped me to recognize the controversial perceptions inside the community which might have been invisible to the outside researchers
To get to know the project activities and how other people (the local NGO, government, etc) perceive Harapan Rainforest, I did desk study and document analysis. Documents help me to encapsulate information concerning the settings in which the study was conducted and about the wider social context and local culture. The data has been collected through literature analyses from relevant documents; newspaper, websites, journals, scientific books, activity reports, theses, proceedings, colloquia and conference.
1.4 Research site This research was conducted in the area of Harapan Rainforest/PT.Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia in Bungku Village, Bajubang Sub District, Batanghari District of Jambi Province, Indonesia. As Bungku is a big village covering 3 hamlets (Bungku Indah, Johor, Kunangan Jaya) , so the ethnography study was conducted in some location in Bungku Indah. They are Mitra Zone – the relocation area, Gelinding, Simpang Tanding, Simpang Macan Luar, Simpang Macan Dalam, and my informant from Kunangan Jaya kindly told me the situation there. I also interviewed people from NGO, university, and government services in Jambi, Palembang, Sekayu, and Malang (East Java).
1.5 Research informant and source of information Due to the fact that I did the internship for four months in the same site, the situation was familiar and most information was already available. During the internship program, I also conducted non formal interview with many stakeholders. To assess the perspective of the involved parties toward the restoration program, interviews were conducted with diverse stakeholders. Cross checking was done in regards to the information which involves two parties or more. The response was most likely affected by the difference in gender and age; hence different groups were involved in the interview process, including : (1) youth, (2) elderly, (3) village government, (4) sub district government, (5) district government, (6) university, (7) HRF’s staffs, and (8) NGOs. After the interviews, I found valuable information and different perspectives on how the forest restoration should be addressed.
1R.28. A woman.Villager. The Focus Group Discussion was conducted on 06 January 2012
6 In total, in depth interview with 32 persons (21 men and 11 women) during November 2012 to January 2013 were conducted and this does not include people whom I interviewed during my internship program since September 2012.
The primary data is the information I gathered from the field work and by recording all the activities in which I involved with. Different sources are also used as secondary data to support this research such as the HRF’s documents and reports, study results, books, journals, newspapers, e-documents and other related materials relevant to this thesis.
1.6 Time Frame This research took place in the area of Harapan Rainforest Restoration program in the site of Bungku Village, Bajubang Sub District, Batanghari District, Jambi Province, Indonesia. It was carried out for two months, since the end of November 2012 to January 2013. Before the time, on September – November 2012 the internship program was also done in the same site.
1.7 Information Gathering Strategy During the research, I talked a lot with the forest dwelling people in the area of Harapan Rainforest in Ds. Bungku, Jambi. In the beginning, I found that these people were really shy and unwillingly talk to me. The first time I came with a colleague, who works in Harapan, I passed a house with the door opened and saw a woman was sitting behind the door. I walked closely just to say hello and to introduce myself yet she was hiding herself behind the door till I could only see her face. I quitted and turned back deciding to leave her and promising myself I would come back to her someday.
Realizing that these people were really shy, the interview was started with some informants in Mitra Zone area in which the indigenous people stay and have the acculturation and therefore the level of mixture is quite high through a marriage. People here were more open and willingly to spend hours talking with me and eventually I found a woman who could bring me to the woman sitting behind the door, mentioned above. We set the schedule and I waited for her until she came back from working in palm oil plantation company. I brought some biscuits and she brought some green bean ice. What a way to start a kinship!
We walked to the shy-woman’s house and another woman – my gate keeper, introduced me as her friend, and that I was a student currently doing the research. She smiled and soon the small talk started which was followed by an interview. When the dialect was understandable, the gate keeper would repeat it in her way. She was really helpful and eventually the shy-woman recommended me to other people to talk to which is known as snowball sampling method.
The other strategy created was through the children. Since the beginning I was involved with the children and being their teacher for some occasions. I loved to share stories and they also liked to hear them. Subsequently, I had successfully built a strong rapport and trust in a few weeks and the children asked me to come to their homes. They introduced me as their teacher to their parents. Since then, almost every afternoon I walked to their place, sometimes accompanied by my friend who was an anthropologist just to discuss the small stuffs.
7 1.8 Constraints and Limitation This qualitative research entails a comprehensive social interaction with the forest dwelling people to get the main understanding of what people think and what they want to achieve in the future. Some people were really shy and unwillingly to talk at first albeit after few meetings they could share some stories.
There are some categories community or forest dwelling people in the area of Harapan Rainforest. During this research, I only interviewed indigenous people who have been settled in the village and have the mixture culture with local people. I also had an interview with an ‘encroacher’ yet unfortunately I could not meet another forest dwelling people – the nomadic group as shown by pictures below:
Figure 2. The Forest Dwelling People (Nomadic Group)/Picture by Riskova Dept, HRF (2012)
These pictures were taken from the camera trap which was put hidden in the forest. According to available information, they are the pristine forest people whose live depend on the forest for survival. A group consists of one family of 5-6 people. These people harvest the forest products and bring it to the people whom they know and change it – in the local language known as ‘barter’-, for instance, by rice, sugar, coffee, cigarettes, etc. Some of them speak different language which could not be understood by most of the villagers. People in Harapan said that there was an old lady in Mitra Zone who is able to speak the language yet when I came to her and asked, she said that she does not speak the language of these pristine indigenous people because these group tend to avoid people and when they came to forest and meet someone, they would use the gesture instead of verbal language.
Despite the fact of how the people who were being my informants perceive the forest and their livelihoods, I do believe that these people have different opinion as they stay closer to the forest and make it as if their home to stay in. This research could be more interesting and be longer to get the comprehensive views from other group of stakeholders and more in depth information as well as mutual understanding. Nevertheless, limitation in time and other resources made me have to end the field work and elaborate all my findings with sources from relevant literatures.
1.9 Structure of the Thesis This thesis comprises of six chapters namely three descriptive chapters, two result chapters, and one chapter for the conclusion and recommendation. Initially, I wrote the descriptive chapters to provide ample information for readers of what the research is about, what are the theoretical approaches that were used, and the basic information of the project in which I did the research. Following the
8 descriptive chapters, I explain the results in two chapters. Lastly, a chapter is written for the conclusion, recommendation, and a learning point from the case.
Chapter one provides the background of this research. It gives explanation of why I do the research and what are the strategies applied in talking with indigenous people whom shy away from the outsiders.
Chapter 2 and 3 are descriptive chapters. Chapter 2 describes the selected theoretical approach for this research. It is important to know how these theoretical approaches fit with the case and how they have guided the whole research. Likewise, chapter 3 describes the project and the organization. This chapter elucidates the history of the Harapan Rainforest and how the seven departments work accordingly to their responsibility. Knowing the overview of the project is necessary to identify how its intervention affects the forest people.
The main results of this research are described in two chapters namely (a) the forest people and the livelihoods issues, and (b) People’s perception and responses. Chapter 4 starts with the explanation of forest dwelling people whom involved in this research. Firstly, it is important to know whose livelihoods have been affected by the project. Furthermore, explanations about these people’s livelihoods before and after the Harapan Rainforest are elucidated and ultimately, at the end of the chapter, a livelihood transition is also drawn.
The people’s perception and responses are incorporated in chapter 5. It is necessary to know how people perceive and response the Harapan Rainforest after knowing their livelihoods. People whose livelihoods are safe have different perception and response from those whose livelihoods are threatening. Furthermore, the land conflict that appears as a result of sceptic response is also discussed.
The last chapter is the conclusion and recommendation section which elaborates the whole previous chapters. I also add the lesson learned that can be obtained from the Harapan Rainforest project.
9 2. Theoretical Approach
I apply several theoretical approaches in this research to analyze different cases. I started the research by looking at how the forest dwelling people attached meaning to the forest and the restoration project. People from different ages and gender experienced things differently during their life, which influences their perspective toward the forest and the restoration program brought by Harapan Rainforest. Furthermore, I identified that both parties - the forest people and the project – in fact, have different interest towards the same object and these interests lead to conflicts that have large impacts on the people’s livelihoods. Additionally, the situation between the forest dwelling people and the Harapan Rainforest has become complicated due to the existence of more than one legal order in the arena. Below are some explanations of the theoretical approaches that were used for this research and at the end of this chapter, I described the main approach that was applied which guided the whole process of my research.
2.1 Sense of Place The approach “sense of place” for place management has been widely used to analyze the meaning of a particular place and the community perception of that place (Davenport & H.Anderson, 2004). People might attach a stronger meaning to a place in comparison to other places due to their different experience, culture, and community relations. Davenport and Anderson argue that the sense of dwelling in which people live with their family and earn their living around the village will set up the framing on how people interrelate with the environment and resources. In addition, the community also plays a role in constructing the social meaning and the way to understand the place and its value in contributing to their livelihoods.
Analyzing the sense of place should enable the researcher to observe intensively how people interact with the environment and how the relationship is established between these two elements; human and environment. There are two major factors that differentiate the sense of place, namely the geographical and social context (Hay, 1998). They are normally related to the aesthetic perception and feeling of owning the place as a home.
This approach was selected to focus the study on a better understanding of the meaning of the forest in the area of Harapan Rainforest for the forest-dwelling people. Moreover, it enabled me to explore the connection between people and the forest, how people attached meaning to the forest. It helped to address the different kind of forest related activities that people perform and to discover their orientation following cultural values as well as interactions with community members on how the restoration activities should be addressed.
2.2 Livelihoods The livelihood issues have been an important aspect that needs to be taken into account by the humanitarian and development actors to help recovery of people from natural disaster or other uncertain situation. (IRP & UNDP). Many scholars refer to the definition offered by Chamber and Conway (1991) that livelihood is the way how people develop the strategy to ensure their life. Livelihoods is activities for a means of living (Chambers & R.Conway, 1991)and livelihoods associated with access to resources and the ability to utilize the resources to meet the basic needs. In practice,
10 the livelihood concept is engaged with environmental and social sustainability. The livelihood is environmentally sustainable when it preserves assets and benefits on other livelihoods (Chambers & R.Conway, 1991). It is socially sustainable if it can adapt from pressure and recover from external shock to the livelihoods system and is able to provide resources for future generation (H.Allison & Horemans, 2006).
For the forest dwelling people, the environmental changes play a pivotal role on how they adapt and sustain their live. The depletion of forest resources, the soil quality, the availability of water have influenced their livelihood strategies to cope with the situation and to meet their necesitties(IRP & UNDP). To contribute to a better understanding on how people sustain the livelihoods and factors that influence the process, the UK Departement for International Development (DfID)in 1997 committed to give more focus to the poverty and livelihoods (Scoones, 2009). Furthermore, the DfID developed the sustainable livelihoods framework as a tool to analyze the factors that influence the livelihoods and how these factors influence each other. The livelihoods framework has been used as a guide for various researches which are interested to investigate the changing livelihoods circumstance at community level(Ellis & Freeman, 2004).
In Harapan Rainforest case, the livelihoods framework helps to bridge the restoration program and the roles of multiple stakeholders in the restoration process which take account of the project itself, the forest people, and other parties which are directly and indirectly influenced by the livelihoods. Additionally, it is useful to gain a better understanding on how local people cope with the circumstance and apply various strategies to earn a living and to survive in their environment. For this case, the livelihoods is not only concerned about how people make a living but also how the interaction between people and their environment looks like, which in turn aim at the improvement the quality of living and the preservation of the nature.
Currently, many scholars have developed a new paradigm to describe the livelihood in a broader sense. Scoones (2009) argues that the livelihoods perspectives should address the complex question of the rural development by accommodating other components and broadening the livelihood concept at a macro level. Scoones includes the needs to cope with the agrarian changes, climate changes and the economic globalization. In this research, I use Scoones idea by observing the changes of environment and the forest landscape and how it influences the livelihoods of the forest dwelling people.
2.3 Legal Pluralism According to Agrawal & Gibson (1999), interests/aims of planned interventions very often collides with community interests. They illustrate that an environmental project usually requires a protection of the wildlife and resources, for instance the forest. However, local communities in the area depend on the usage of these resources. As a result, conflicts of interest potentially arise between the two actors in which one of the parties might be considered as the impediment for the other.
In the restoration policy, Harapan Rainforest applies several normative in the implementation to reach the aim of the project while the local communities have their own order to manage the relationship between human and nature. The fact is that these orders compete with one another and bring on conflicts between the parties. The existence of more than one legal order which coexist in the same field was defined by Griffiths (1986)as legal pluralism. He first established the description of Legal Pluralism as a critique to the ideology – of what he says – legal centralism. Legal centralism is defined
11 as the dominant conception of law that is set and administered in a single system by the state. It is exclusive and prevails upon all people and other laws which exist in the community, creating a system of hierarchical subordination. The other laws mentioned for instance are from the church, the voluntary association, the economic organizations, the family, and the communities that are put in less normative ordering (Griffiths, 1986), and other social rules considered as informal rules.
The notion of legal pluralism takes into account the practice of executing order in local community, for instance by applying the customary law which has the same strong position as other laws (normally established by the state) which exist in that field. In a restoration project, it is important to include the perspective of legal pluralism because it considers ‘outsiders’ intervention will give implications to the establishment of the regulations in the project area. In a recent term, Weilenmann (2009) refers to the notion of “project law” by adding that the intervention as a result of a development agency might influence the existing legal relation and alter the situation in which people normally use their rights. He goes further by explaining the two roles of project law: (1) as planning instrument, and (2) as implementing tools. The project law is a procedure of development cooperation among parties, covering a set of memorandum understanding, the structure of accounting and auditing, term of reference, and other regulations attached to the cooperation among parties(Weilenmann, 2009).
Laws shaping the social life, and the project law is a power instrument in a fragmented manner which probably clashes and does not fit with the local norms and values (Weilenmann, 2009). In the case of Harapan Rainforest, the conflict that occurred between the company and the community arose from a feeling that the conflicting parties have the rights over the forest and nature management. The project is aiming to conserve the nature and to save the last low land in Sumatra, which is endangered due to the massive depletion in this area. This company owns the legal right to “manage” this former logging concession and to restore the diversity of the forest to its initial condition for a period of 100 years. Meanwhile, before the project came up with the idea of restoration, there were already people inhabiting the area and earning living from the forest and/or working in the palm oil companies which has a direct border with PT.REKI. In certain sub-villages, for instance in Kunangan Jaya, the people came in later following their relatives or friends to buy land for cheaper prices than in their initial places (as witnessed and experienced by one of the “encroachers”)2. On the one hand, these latecomers argued that they have the rights over the land based on the human rights to get access to nature for survival, referring to Indonesian Constitutions that the natural resources should be used for the prosperity of all Indonesian citizens. On the other hand, the indigenous people argued that they have a strong position as the original tribe who have stayed there for a long time before the company existed.
The conception of legal pluralism aims to accommodate the local order since it puts the local order in the same position as other existing orders. The time has changed and the way of keeping the forest and the way people earn a living from the forest have also altered. In the case of Harapan Rainforest, both the project and the forest dwellers draw a different image and create their own orders to conserve the nature, along with their own interest and priorities.. The legal pluralism perspective helps to analyze the interrelation between these orders and to see how they influence the social life of the different actors.
2Interview was conducted on 8th January 2013
12 2.4 Actor Oriented Approach The Actor Oriented approach helps to analyze the phenomena from the perspective of social actors who are involved in the interactions. It indicates how the communication surrounding this interaction can build a better understanding of the different positions which in turn helps to understand practices in the micro level perspective(Long, 2001). The nature of the change which can be observed by studying the micro level enables the researcher to explore the livelihoods and cultural practices, by becoming part of the social actors during the process of observation.
The actor oriented approach takes into account that the community is dynamic and experiences a lot of changes. That dynamic determines power relations of people and their behaviour which again influence changes(Djasmi, 2005). Likewise, Long (2001) adds that the discussion in the late 1970s divided the social change into areas on macro and on micro level. Macro level was associated with huge structure and framework conditions while the micro level focuses on the nature of the change itself, how it appears in the individual reality. The introduction of the actor oriented approach accommodates scholars to study the micro level of social changes happening in the community.
The Actor Oriented approach discusses and links the social phenomena with various elements namely social capital, knowledge, networks, agency, power and social interface. Tony Bilton et al (2002) elucidates that Giddens (1984) defined the human agency as ‘knowledgeable agents’ whose reactions are based on their capacity and consideration of what they do in their daily lives. The construction of the social world is being shaped through the human agency as people become aware and reflect about the circumstances in which they live. They can articulate the practices they perform and provide the reason why they do so.
……. this is due to human beings’ special ability to reason, to reflect upon themselves, their behavior, their experiences, and their environment – in short, their capacity for conscious and self-conscious thinking and creativity ….. (Bilton, 2002) (p.17)
Bilton et al (2002) argue that human beings are unique, different from one another and characterized by agency. People have the ability and capacity to behave independently in certain circumstance in a society. Furthermore, the book argues that everyday human’s behavior towards environment in the social life settings is interactive and there is no easy pattern of this interaction. Yet it involves a process of creating, improving, adjusting, and negotiating(Bilton, 2002). It is obvious to see how people relate to each other and how people behave in the context-related circumstance and how kinds of negotiation influence the process.
The process of negotiation in interfaces enables different actors to meet in the arena with different powers and interests towards particular cases. Long (2001) highlights some key elements of the importance to see the case from the interface perspective because interface is ‘the critical points of intersection of linkage between different social systems or levels of social orders’ (Long, 1989).The author emphasizes that an interfaces analysis focuses on processes of transformation and change and on how these affect the actors involved .
The intervention is always open towards two possibilities, whether it causes the problem or on the contrary, whether it creates more chances for the local people to become involved (Doutwaite, et all., 2001).Applying the interface concept of actor oriented approach to the Harapan Rainforest case has
13 helped me to understand the different responses of the forest people towards the project’s intervention and how these people translated it into their daily life.
2.5 Conclusion In this section I elaborate how the concepts that were used fit with this research. The principle of restoration management must take into account three important aspects namely ecological, economic, and social aspects. These three elements should be included and support each other in practice for harmonization, which is necessary to accommodate different interests. In this research I used different concepts to assemblage these three aspects. To gain understanding how the communities perceive the conservation development project I used the concept “sense of place”. The notion sense of place emphasizes aesthetic values representing the element of ecology. Furthermore, the notion of “legal pluralism” has helped to understand the existing orders set up by the forest people, the project, or other legal institutions which coexist in that area. The “Actor Oriented Approach” guided the whole process of this study, specifically the main focus of the discussion namely “agency” and “interface” have facilitated my research for the social life and relations among people. I observed how the local people reacted and used their agency to respond to the Harapan Rainforest which includes their village in the area of work for restoration purposes. Along with that, the “interface” in which various actors meet in the arena has provided chances to observe how people with different interests meet in the same field. Last but not least, the important purpose of activities in the forest performed by the forest people addresses means of gaining a living closely related to the “livelihood” concepts.
This research aims at a better understanding of why things are the way they are and why people act in the way they do. Through actor oriented approach I have identified and examined different actors and their relationship among the different social actors in the arena of the social change in which the interface takes place. Some important approaches offered by the scholars have helped me to carry out the research accordingly to its purposes. In this research, however, I need to analyse cases at the micro level which involves some actors in the field. Therefore, I used the actor oriented approach as the main approach on the whole process of my research.
14 3. The Project and the Organisation
This chapter starts with the explanation of the project, its departments and the implementation activities. I will pinpoint the major activities carried out by each department in the Harapan Rainforest especially when it relates to the forest dwelling people. Since my research was closely related to the Community Partnership Department, more attention was given to the activities implemented by this department. The issue of livelihood and conflict will be shared because the CP department works on it. A further explanation about the livelihoods and the conflict occur due to different perceptions and sceptic responses will be discussed in the following chapters.
3.1 The Harapan Rainforest Harapan Rainforest is a former area of Production Forest which has been diverted as a management unit of PT. Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia. It is an Indonesian Restoration Ecosystem with the main task is to restore and to recover the ecosystem structure and biodiversity to its previous condition. Harapan Rainforest is a ground breaking initiative to protect and to restore around 20% of the remaining dry lowland forest in Sumatra and it is the first forest ecosystem restoration concession licensed for 100 year(REKI, 2013). It comprises two production forestry concessions on the border of Jambi and South Sumatra provinces which managed the ecosystem restoration and it is known to be one of the biggest in the world and the first initiated in Indonesia.The license management is hold by Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia (REKI) based on SK Menhut No. 293/Menhut-II/2007 ; 28 August 2007 concerning the IUPHHK RE for the area of 52.170 hectares in South Sumatra Province and SK Menhut No. 327/Menhut-II/2005; 25 May 2010 concerning the IUPHHK RE for the area of 46.385 hectares in Jambi Province(REKI, 2012).
Harapan Rainforest is a collaborative initiative of BirdLife International, Burung Indonesia (BirdLife in Indonesia) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife in the UK). This consortium works closely with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry. This work is being undertaken by two organisations established by the consortium: the not-for-profit foundation Yayasan Konservasi Ekosistem Hutan Indonesia (Yayasan KEHI), and the company PT Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia (PT REKI).
The project received the funding from the German government’s International Climate Initiative, via KfW Development Bank, the Danish government through Danida, and the European Union.The vision of this Ecosystem Restoration is to recover and to utilize the ecosystem unity of production forest and natural resource in a sustainable way and carrying the economic capacity at the critical lowland forest of Sumatra.To achieve the vision, this project runs several missions, namely: 1. Implementing the natural production of forest management systems in a sustainable way 2. Eradicating, preventing the illegal logging, encroachment, wildlife poaching, and the forest fires 3. Research and develop the techniques of forest restoration and sustainable management of forest ecosystems, 4. Conducting the forest restoration and enhancing the economic potentiality 5. Improving and managing the biodiversity of the natural forest ecosystem through the area protection and population management of priority species and its habitats 6. Exploring and developing income from the eco-friendly environmental services (eco-tourism) and the sustainable use of NTFPs
15 7. Involving the local community, local governments, and other parties in the ecosystem restoration program 8. Conducting research to be used as guidelines and benchmarks of ecosystem restoration 9. Providing the opportunities and educational facilities as well as training and research Harapan Rainforest is a big project with a long concession year and it involves a lot of social actors, who come from the internal area of Harapan Rainforest that encompass a direct relation. The project also involves the outsiders who care and actively monitor every cases happened around the Harapan. The involved parties – both the internal and the external- have different interests towards the projects and thus will lead to contention among parties.
Being one of the biggest restoration programs in the world, Harapan Rainforest receives much of attention from the international public. Furthermore, discussion among scholars concerning the project implementation has emerged. Some issues are still questionable regarding who benefits from the program and how the rights of indigenous people, livelihoods and the sustainability of forest are managed. In the field, I found many people supporting the Harapan’s activities and they opposed the ‘encroachers’ that have damaged the forest and jeopardized the future. On the other hand, there were also some parties who thought that Harapan was only a tool of a foreign donor on behalf of the sustainable environment to further govern the forest and take the benefit. I personally think that Harapan is a unique project as it was initiated by the 3 environmental NGOs which are apparently concerned to save the nature yet at the same time, the project received $ 9,4 million from International Climate Initiative (ICI) through the KfW Entwicklungsbank – Development Bank. This fact, to some extent, supports the observation that the institutions which fund the development projects are mostly banks which have purposes for business and the economic growth(Hart, 2011).
I display a picture (picture 2) that shows how many parties are involved in Harapan Rainforest project. For the indigenous people – Bathin Sembilan who has been living there for many years, Harapan Rainforest is their home to stay and to earn a living. In the next livelihood chapter I describe how these people benefit from the Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) which were abundant and how they survived as forest provided all their necessity in the past. For the ‘encroachers’, the forest provides them land to be cultivated and to yield the agriculture products. Since it is a state land, they argued to have rights on cultivating as they have legal status as an Indonesian citizen. On the other hand, as written in Harapan’s website that many endanger species made Harapan Rainforest as their home (REKI, 2013)because the others natural forest have been diverted into plantation. These animals need a habitat to stay in. As an example, I once experienced walking in the forest with some villagers and people from Harapan, we found elephant waste. By going through its trace, we checked the waste carefully and the old man who came with us explained the possibility that the elephant migrated from its initial place which has the direct border with Harapan area, because its habitat has been converted into HTI (Hutan Tanaman Industri). For the elephant and other animals and plants, Harapan Rainforest is the only safe place for them to stay (Villager, 2012) and it drives them to migrant for a new habitat. Additionally, scientists and the researchers would argue that nature is agiant laboratory to conduct research and therefore Harapan Rainforest becomes “one of the best place for rainforest research in the world” (REKI, 2013). It was not only me but also many researchers Asia, and some European countries came because Harapan Rainforest is an interesting study area for both natural and social scientist.
16 Foreign Donors
Consortium
Others - ?? - ??? - ????
The Indigenous People HARAPAN Government (local and RAINFOREST national) The ‘encroachers”, The landless farmer
NGOs
The Scientist, Researchers
17 Figure 3. Different stakeholders involved in Harapan Rainforest Projects 3.2 The Organization Structure Harapan Rainforest has seven departments that work under the operational director. The chart below draws the structure and followed by explanation of job description from each department.
Note : Department 1 : Administration and Operational Department 2 : Forest Protection Department 3 : Forest Restoration Department 4 : Research and Conservation Department 5 : Community Partnership Department 6 : Finance Department 7 : Communication and Data Management Figure 4. Organizational Structure of Harapan Rainforest, 2012
3.3 Department and Activities To implement the activities in the fields, each department of Harapan Rainforest is engaged with different tasks accordingly. Below are the brief explanations on how each department works:
3.3.1 Forest Protection Department The main task of this department is to secure the area of forest restoration. Based on the Indonesian regulation, Harapan Rainforest can react toward the criminal who does the forest violation by a persuasive approach. Furthermore, the task to halt the activities which can devastate the forest such as illegal logging, encroachment, fires, and animal poaching are under the responsibility of this department (REKI, 2012)
The Forest Protection Department performs a lot of activities to overcome the problems. For instance, the patrol team is preventing the forest illegal activities. This department staffs are also responsible to list people who come to the concession area. Additionally, this department also monitor activities in the field and conduct the ground check.
This department works to obtain some outputs to support the Harapan Rainforest to create a secure and conducive situation which will reflect to the smooth HRF activities. Additionally, the patrol team
18 works to reduce the activity of the encroachment and illegal logging and eventually there is an awareness of the people around not to disturb the forest in the restoration area.
3.3.2 Forest Restoration Department This department works under three major activities namely nursery, planting and planning. The nursery sub department mainly produces seed addresses for restoration ecosystem. All the activities concerning the nursery are performed, for instance preparing the natural fertilizer and the plants’ media, which is continued by collecting (timber) seeds from the forest, taking care of the plants as well as to grow the plants in the forest and do the ground field monitoring which is done in a collaboration with other sub department (planting) that focuses on planting to recover the ecosystem. The last sub department – planning – contributes to draw the sustainable work plan both in Jambi and South Sumatra Province. Additionally, this sub department is responsible for land use planning and to determine the border and the area to be planted (REKI, 2012).
The main target of this collaboration works is to provide the seeds which filled the standard both quality and quantity which eventually will be planted in the defective area to gain its recovery.
3.3.3 Community Partnership Department The CP Department is addressed to build a network and partnership with local and indigenous community to support them and to create income generating activities to develop their economy. Another task is the mediation approach when there is occurrence of land conflict between the company and the community.
As a baseline to set up a strategy for community partnership, the CP staffs apply a simple approach to conduct the social economy survey and to list the migrants and the encroachers come to the area. Other activities conducted are related to income generating, health and education issues. For income generating, the CP team has already developed a honey bee production. The yields are sold by the farmers to HRF for further processing (bottling) and the marketing is under the responsibility of HRF. In some areas in which the rubber plantation and jelutung (resin) become favourites, the CP team involves the local community in rubber seeds activity and resin production as both of these products have high economic value (REKI, 2012).
Beside income, education and health also contribute to the human’s prosperity. Therefore HRF builds some schools and recruit some teachers to teach the children and other local community members. As the initial target, the school aims to be able to teach the children on how to read and to write. To support the health system, HRF builds a clinic which provides free services for the people and HRF also hires the medical staff (nurses and doctor) to provide the health services.
3.3.4 Research and Conservation Department The main tasks of this department are divided into three different sub departments namely fauna, flora, and abiotic according to their specialization (eq. fauna, to monitor the animals in the forest, fauna for the plants, and abiotic for abiotic organism). A camera trap and transect methods will be used to monitor the fauna while the forest inventory methods mainly applied for flora. Furthermore, the research department also supplies data for the rain, weather, and river stream. To develop a networking system, this department conduct field research collaboration along with academicians and researchers from universities. collaborates The other departments mainly work for: (1) the
19 administration and operational works to manage the staff’s stuff, transportation, purchasing, and other logistics needs, (2) the financial works, for instance, to pay staff’s salaries and all other payroll stuffs, and (3) Communication and Data Management establishes the communication both for HRF staffs and outsiders
3.4 Activities Carried Out by Community Partnership Department As I did the research closely with the Community Partnership Department, I got more information about this department compared to others. Moreover, the major issue which being discussed by the forest dwelling people, is the livelihoods issues and the conflict resolution of the ‘encroachment’, were under the responsibility of this department. Therefore, I will elucidate some findings related to activities carried out by this department.
3.4.1 Income Generating Activities (IGAs) It was mentioned previously that this department aims to build a partnership scheme and help the indigenous people to develop their income as well as to sustain the environment for future. The idea that the forest dwelling people depends on the forest for the livelihoods has brought Harapan Rainforest to develop some activities to generate income. In October 2012, Harapan Rainforest through the CP Department was awarded a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) award from the government of MUBA district which was given to 10 companies (REKI, 2012). CSR award is given as the appreciation towards the company who has developed their activities and involved or bring the benefit to the people around it. Under the CP Department, PT.REKI has been facilitated many activities which aim to generate income of the indigenous people. Some of them were halted due to some reasons, and the others were continued until present. A further explanation about the IGAs will be discussed in the Livelihoods chapter.
3.4.2 Primary School for Children KKI WARSI – environmental NGOs based in Jambi – has been working for many years with indigenous people in Jambi Province. According to their empirical experience, education is crucial for people to prevent them for the increasing amount of outsiders coming to the forest and to enable them to interact with those outsiders without being gullible(Warsi, 2012). Being able to write and read was expected to minimize the fraud that might happen. For instance, people would know if someone gave them a letter and would be more critical when asked for a signature.
To educate the children of indigenous people, Harapan Rainforest has recruited four teachers for elementary school “Sekolah Bersamo”. The teaching process runs daily from Sunday to Friday for a half day (08.00 – 12.00). The lessons followed the lessons taught in the regular school in the city. The process of delivering the lesson is slower than the regular school because these IP children were really active and preferred to play outside rather than sitting in a room. For some occasion, the learning process was done outside the class, in the forest.
The parents – which mostly were illiterate – conveyed their happiness to the school facilitated by Harapan because the formal school were unavailable from the government or other companies around them. Parents send their children every morning and the school bus picked these children and brought them to the joined school in Simpang Macan. I met a woman whose son has passed the
20 national examination and already graduated from elementary school. Now,he continues study in another place outside the village.
3.4.3 Health Services To provide the health services, Harapan has developed a health service called “Klinik Bersamo” with two nurses to help people when they are sick. For emergency situations, an ambulance is ready 24 hours a day to take the patients to the hospital in Sungai Bahar or Jambi. The indigenous people can see the nurses for free every day. During my stay, I knew a women whose nose was always bleeding due to an illness. After several treatments in the clinic, the woman was sent to the hospital in Jambi accompanied by the nurse and all the expenses were covered by Harapan.
Previously, the indigenous people used to seek for alternative medicine and consulted to the shaman for their disease. This practice was known as ‘besaleh’ and there were at least two shamans who were very popular. One of them often comes to the clinic to get health treatment. The people in Mitra Zone, Gelinding, Simpang Tanding and Simpang Macan were greatly helped by the clinic as they could get medication for free and did not rely on the practice of shaman to cure from illness. An old man in Mitra Zone depicted that currently he rarely found the traditional medicine in the forest, the plants which he knows were efficacious to cure certain diseases had disappeared and therefore, many of people now rely on chemical medicines.
Another activity relate to the health service was ‘pusling’ or puskesmas keliling which was scheduled regularly every two weeks. Pusling is a mobile health services using an ambulance car and was equipped with medicines and medical equipment. A doctor from the Health Services of the sub district and two nurses from PT.REKI were involved for the pusling program. On a regular day, the people would come to the clinic to get treatment yet in pusling service, the doctor and the nurses would come to their house to check people’s health. Currently, pusling provides services for people in Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan and I think it would be more helpful if it covers a broader area, because the idea of pusling with ambulance was to reach a patient whom unable to come by themselves, while Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan are relatively close, thus these people are able to walk or to come by motorcycle to see the nurses.
3.4.4 Conflict Resolution Harapan Rainforest encounters conflict for long period with both the ‘encroachers’ who mainly consists of migrants from Java, Lampung and North Sumatra and with the indigenous people, specifically in Simpang Macan Luar. The CP department responsibles to develop conflict resolution strategy and some agenda have already been implemented. I took a case of conflict which happened between PT.REKI and people in Kunangan Jaya I. Since 2011, series of meetings for mediation and negotiation have been conducted. The meetings also involved the government services in province level, the local NGO, and facilitator from Burung Indonesia. The major discussion was about the land status, as the people claimed that they have been resident the area and have cultivated the land before PT.REKI had the concession. Therefore, they think the land belongs to them and to be able to cultivate it without any fear. Conversely, the company obtained the legal concession rights from the government and is the official party who should manage the area.
Meetings for conflict resolution and mediation had already started in December 2011 when a team was formed consist of 18 persons; 8 representative from PT.REKI and 8 villagers and companying
21 NGO. The aim was to collect data collection on the exact population number and mapping the land area owned by the people. People in Kunangan Jaya claimed their existence as the legal citizen in that area. Therefore they sent letter to PT.REKI on January 2012 describing their legal position by attaching some legal documents related to: (1) hamlet history, (2) legal identity, (3) map of cultivation area, (4) data on governance and population. This letter was also sent to Forestry Services office in Batang Hari District and Jambi Province, Ministry of Forestry, and to the government of district and province level.
In the following month, there was another meeting on Forestry Services within the Batang Hari district regarding land identification and inventory to accelerate the conflict resolution between two parties. A team was also formed in which many parties were involved: the company, the villagers, the NGO, and the government. The team was legitimated by decree of the head forestry service Batang Hari district. Previously, with the similar purpose, REKI had conducted a field survey in December 2010 – June 2011 and found out around 300 hectares land was being occupied by 110 households(Priana, 2011). The ownership varied between 0, 2 – 17 hectares depending on the capital they have. Below is the table that shows the land ownership during the survey period.
Table 1. Land Occupation by Households in Kunangan Jaya 1
No. Land HH Percentage 0.2 -0.4 0.5-0.6 0.8-1.3 1.4-1.6 Occupation (%) (Ha) 2.0-2.3 2.5-2.8 3.0-3.5 3.6-4.0 1. 0.2 -0.4 36 32.73 4.1-4.8 5.0-5.4 7.0-10.0 11.0-17.0 2. 0.5-0.6 19 17.27 3. 0.8-1.3 11 10.00 5% 3% 3% 4. 1.4-1.6 3 2.73 6% 5% 5. 2.0-2.3 5 4.55 33% 6. 2.5-2.8 6 5.45 6% 7. 3.0-3.5 7 6.36 8. 3.6-4.0 5 4.55 5% 10% 17% 9. 4.1-4.8 7 6.36 4% 10. 5.0-5.4 5 4.55 3% 11. 7.0-10.0 3 2.73 12. 11.0-17.0 3 2.73
Total 110 100 Figure 5. Household Proportion according to Land Occupation Source : REKI’s survey December 2010 – June 2011
After series of meetings and the explanation of the available data for the site, there was a meeting in CAPPA office Jambi (local NGO)in September 2012.During this meeting, both parties agreed to some points as the pre-condition for mediation. The agreement was mainly about the prohibition to commit illegal activities in the forest such as selling land. The pre-condition agreement also insisted PT.REKI not to use violence and do not involve the policeman. Military, polhut (police), and SPORC in land conflict resolution3.
3Points of pre condition for mediation between parties is delivered in Annex 2
22 3.5 Conclusion It is necessary to get insight of the project background because every intervention made by the project is related one another among its departments. There are many departments established to work in an integrated way in this ecosystem restoration project. Each of these departments is expected to cooperate to support PT.REKI to protect the last low land in Sumatra Indonesia and to be the model of other similar projects in Indonesia. However, in practice these departments might clash each other due to different actions implemented in the field. I picked the example of the indigenous people who experienced conflicts and they were disappointed in PT.REKI that used violence to solve the problems. Forest was prohibited for cultivation and the forest dwelling people were afraid of being arrested by the patrol team that monitored what they did in the forest. The restrictions and the consequences of violating the prohibitions were under the responsibly of forest protection department. This department hired many indigenous people for the patrol team. The team, as mentioned previously is supposed to create security in the area of Harapan Rainforest and will exclude the offenders that practised illegal activities in the forest.
Conversely, the community partnership department is expected to be able to work with people; both the indigenous and the forest dwelling people in the ‘encroachment’ area. The conflicts that occurred in the field were under the responsibility of this department and the conflict resolution strategies should be initiated by the CP team. This might be a big challenge for the team to discuss and to work together if these forest dwelling people experienced a violation. CP department demands a lot of time as this process needs a chain of activities which involves peoples with different characters.
Thus, these departments are supposed to work together in the field to avoid confusion and conflict in the community. The forest protection department that works based on the law enforcement accordingly to the constitution and regulation tends to take action in a strict way; people who are not supposed to inhabit the forest should go out. Meanwhile, the CP department has been initiating a discussion with the indigenous people, which have taken a lot of time. The process seemed long because it requires the solution which could accommodate the indigenous people’s interest. These two approaches were different from each other in the field level and often bring confusion to the people. One department works firmly based on the strict regulation, while the other department prioritizes the negotiation through series of discussions.
23 4. Forest People and the Livelihood Issues
There are some groups of forest people who live in Harapan Rainforest area accordingly to their history. This chapter provides explanation about two groups of people which are being the focus of this research: (1) the Indigenous People Bathin Sembilan, and (2) the Encroachers. These two groups have different livelihoods, therefore it is necessary to know who they are and their historical background. After the explanation about the people, I also describe their livelihoods before and after Harapan Rainforest exists to observe how these people changed their strategy to earn a living. Additionally a livelihood transition is also drawn to see how people experience a living and create livelihoods in the forest from the late 1960s to the present.
4.1 The Forest Dwelling People The forest dwelling people in Harapan Rainforest area were divided into some groups according to the place of origin and history. In this research, I focus on two groups of forest people namely (a) the indigenous people Bathin Sembilan, and (b) the encroachers, the landless farmers.
4.1.1 The Indigenous People Bathin Sembilan The indigenous people who live in Harapan Rainforest area are called Bathin Sembilan. They are the original tribe who have lived in the forest for many years. Historically, there are some versions regarding their ancestral background. By quoting Muchlas (1975), an initial report from AMAN (Aliansi Masyarakat AdatNusantara)/Indigenous People Alliance of Indonesia mentions that the ancestor of the indigenous people in Jambi came from ; (1) South Sumatra, (2) Minangkabau West Sumatra, and (3) Jambi (AMAN, 2012). Meanwhile, the verbal explanation from some of the community figures in the area said that during the Dutch colonization era, there were people who could not abide by the situation and chose to run away. They left stayed in the forest. These people set up their own small community in the remote places and disconnected any contacts with people who stayed outside the forest.
The Bathin Sembilan name originally comes from the names of the rivers in which they stayed. Bathin means river, and Sembilan means nine. In the previous time, Bathin Sembilan people stayed in nine rivers namely Batin Bulian, Batin Jebak, Batin Bahar, Batin Sekamis, Batin Jangga, Batin Singgoan, Batin Burung Antu, Batin Pemusiran, and Batin Telisak (R.21, 2012)4. My informant added that the spirit of togetherness and sharing were kept well. For instance, if one family got a big fish from the river, they would cut it into nine pieces and shared it with the other families. Currently, the spirit was reflected when one had problems, the others would come to help showing their solidarity.
These indigenous people were spread almost in all the main villages of Harapan Rainforest; Bungku, Lamban Sigatal, Sepintun, Pagar Desa, and Sako Suban. Accordingly, these people are divided in two categories, depending on how and where they live. The first refers to indigenous people who live in small group and stay inside the forest. These people earn their living by hunting animals and harvesting the NTFPs to be exchanged with their needs, mainly rice, sugar, cigarettes, with some people that they know in the village or in the sub district. They stay nomadically from one place to other place yet they naturally set up their own territory. For instance, group A are those who used to live in the area of Forest A, close to the river A. They are not really nomads actually, but they do the
4 R. 21. A man (elderly).Sub-village government. The interview was conducted on 04 December 2012
24 rotation because after some years these groups will return to the area where they stay before (R.12, 2012)5. These people never talk to non-indigenous people and when they meet people, using gesture will be the only way of communication. Some sources in HRF told me that some people in the villages around the HRF are able to communicate with them using their ‘own specific’ language, but when I asked, they said that the language is not understandable. The second group refers to the indigenous people who have stayed at the periphery of the forest or in the village. They are mixed groups of people and they are more open to the outsiders as they have interacted with the migrants or the local people. The assimilation happen through a marriage or a family relationship(Yuhendri, 2012) and in some places, these people invited other people to come to their village and considered them as being part of their family based on kindness. Thus, the degree of the assimilation was really high and the population of the indigenous people has grown rapidly in numbers.
In this research, I focused on the Bathin Sembilan people from the second group: those who have stayed in the periphery of the forest or in the village. The Bathin Sembilan people whom I met stayed in different spots in one village; Desa Bungku. People who live in different spots, in fact, earned their living differently depending on the resources they have around their residence.
4.1.2 The Encroachers, the Landless Farmers When I met with an NGO representative in Jambi and discussed about some issues happening in Harapan Rainforest area, the issue of encroachment started first. According to him, PT REKI adopted the definition of the encroacher from Dishut (Ministry Services) as parties that utilize the forest area without owning the permit (R.25, 2012)6. Here is the definition stated in the PT REKI’s website.
"Encroachment" is defined as deliberate attempt to clear forest area and other natural plants within boundaries of Harapan Rainforest area by groups who have no legal or traditional rights, in order to plant and/or claimed land rights”(REKI, 2013).
The general term used in Harapan to address these people is the ‘encroacher’ and the villagers I met, for instance in Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan also said the same. The forest dwelling people blame the migrants who mainly came from Lampung, Java, and North Sumatra as the encroachers who have diverted the forest area into palm oil plantation for their individual benefit. These people who squatted the ‘encroachment area’ had cultivated the land since 2001 under the regime of Gusdur - The 4th President of Republic Indonesia- for agrarian reform (Kusno, 2012)before PT REKI settled in that area. Therefore the people do not want to be labelled as the encroachers. They feel that being Indonesian citizens they have rights and access to the resources.
Initially, I also said the same term (encroacher) when referring to these people until an interview made with an NGO that take an opposite stance against Harapan. At the ground level, the people object to be labelled as the encroachers. Referring to the Indonesian constitution, these people argue that they have rights to cultivate the forests to earn their living. Ultimately, after my presentation of preliminary results and research findings in Harapan office Bogor (Burung Indonesia), I called them as landless farmers. A true story of an ‘’encroacher’’ on how he ended up and struggled for his land in Harapan Rainforest is delivered in annex 4.
5 R. 12. A woman.Villager.He interview was conducted on 28 November 2012 6R.25. A man. NGO member. The interview was conducted on 11 December 2012
25 4.2 Livelihoods before PT.REKI PT.REKI got the license for ecosystem restoration in 2007 for South Sumatra concession area and in 2010 for Jambi Area. The livelihoods before PT REKI refers to how people earn a living prior to 2007 when the forest dwelling people experience living in the forest with abundance resources. At that time, there were already some companies around the area with different concession rights; Timber and Palm Oil Plantation.
4.2.1 Livelihoods of the Indigenous People Bathin Sembilan The indigenous people Bathin Sembilan in the area of Harapan Rainforest depend on the forest for their survival since many years (AMAN, 2012). Below are some explanations of how the Bathin Sembilan people benefit from the forest through harvesting NTFPs, fishing, berhuma, and trapping birds.
Harvesting the NTFPs (Non Timber Forest Products) The forest provides abundance of NTFPs namely jernang (dragon blood), dammar (resin), jelutung (chewing gum), honey bee, rattan, bamboo, forest fruits, and many others. The people in Mitra Zone, Simpang Macan, and Simpang Tanding rely on these forest products albeit most of them also rely on their income as workers in the company around the forest (PT. Asiatic Persada). They told me how the forest provides them with abundance of NTFPs which are enough for their daily consumption or even for sale outside the village.
The big trees in which the wild bee nesting have provided people with bush honey. The honey was consumed to fulfil the daily needs of sugar and the women used to boil the honey in the pot (locally known as tanak) to be able to preserve it in a long period of year. The other NTFP, jelutung (chewing gum) was abundance in the forest. Jelutung has a commercial value when it is processed to be chewing gum and people harvest this product by taping the gum from the tree. In the 1990s, there were plenty of big jelutung trees with 2 m diameters and people only need to tap 2 trees to get 4 litres of gums which were enough to feed a family (R.20, 2013). Furthermore, rattan, forest fruits, dammar (resin), and dragon blood (jernang) were also known as potential NTFPs which helped people to survive. The detail explanation about the livelihoods of Bathin Sembilan people in harvesting the NTFPs is in the annex 3.
Fishing To fulfil their protein needs, besides hunting the animals in the forest, the indigenous people in Harapan Rainforest used to catch the fish for their own consumption. People fish in the lake and small rivers and sometimes they poisoned fish with roots of certain trees. In the prior time, the fish was big in size (the same size as an adult’s palm).
Berhuma (Paddy/Cassava/Sugarcane/Vegetables) For the indigenous people, forest is source of land in which people generally use it for agricultural purposes. The Bathin Sembilan people in the prior time opened the forest area and built their hut which was locally known as pondok and people did berhuma. Berhuma refers to planting the area with staple food-types-plants, for instance paddy and cassava. Additionally, the sugarcane was also favourite plants to fulfil the needs of sugar beside the sweets they got from honey. The vegetables namely eggplants, typical local bean, and other vegetables were also planted in the yard. In the past these people never bought rice from the market as their field yield enough rice for one year consumption for the whole family
26 Trapping birds (pulut) In local term, the activity of trapping called pulut and it was done by using the jelutung gum put in the tree branches in which the birds often alight. Types of birds were varied: punai, bengkoak, pergam, pialing. The indigenous people could recognize the high economic value of birds from their sound.
Another way to catch the birds was by trapping them at a pond in the forest in which the birds often land on. The Bathin Sembilan people said that the pond was a place for the birds to take a shower, and people used a trap called bubu made from bamboo and the shape looks like a big tube. The bubu was put into the pond and when these birds came into the water, they would be trapped in the bubu.
Hunting the animals “When we felt hungry and need something to eat, we went to the forest to hunt the small animals like kancil, napu, and porcupine. The porcupine was used to hide in the big trees ....” ~ R.7, R.12, R. 18, R.21,) villagers
When forest was in a good condition, in a sense that there were a lot of big trees, limited shifting natural forest into palm oil plantation, people could get 2-3 porcupines in one hour hunting. People used a traditional trap which they called jerat , spear and sometimes they used dogs to chase up the prey. Another animal which was also hunted by the people was deer and it could be sold with a reasonable price.
Working in the companies As indigenous tribe, the Bathin Sembilan people could get an easier access to work in the company around the forest. Most of them worked in the prior companies (PT.Asia Log and PT.Asiatic Persada) as daily or monthly workers. A woman in Simpang Macan Dalam told me that they did not need any legal documents such as school diploma degree or identity card to apply for a job in the company. Being an indigenous in that place was recognizable and the company accepted every indigenous people who applied for a job, particularly for daily labour.
4.2.2 Livelihoods of the Encroachers, the Landless Farmers
Farming; Palm Oil The land conversion to palm oil plantation had occurred since 2005 and my informant said that the forest opened for the land cultivation was increasing gradually. It looked like it could not be halted because planting the palm oil trees was really promising for these people. The tendency to plant the palm oil trees was driven by its potential market. My informant also told me that it was easy to sell the products and people also realized that they were surrounded by the palm oil company and wanted to imitate, so it drove them to plant the palm oil. The experience in their origin place was also one of the main reasons.
Farming; Rubber Another commodity which was also planted by the people was rubber. Based on the field survey in December 2010 – June 2011, 44 households or 39.64 % from the total population managed to cultivate rubber plants (Priana, 2011). Rubber is a typical ‘timber’ plant and it is allowed to be planted in forest area because it is considered as forest plants, it could also bring economic benefit to the people. However, the season will influence the production of its latex as farmers would get less latex in dry season.
27 Farming; Other crops The other crops which also contributed to the livelihoods of the landless farmers living in Bungku village were peanuts, watermelon, cassava, vegetables, and paddy field (Priana, 2011). These agricultural products were planted in the yard and the yield were used for domestic household or self-consumed. Some people sold the crops to other people in the village in small scale businesses (in small grocery shops).
4.3 Livelihoods after PT.REKI PT. REKI got the licence for South Sumatra area in 2007 and in 2010 for Jambi province. Since then, the activities related to restoration program were started. Forest was secured from illegal activities which might cause further forest destruction. Some forest related activities which were used to be practised by the forest dwelling people could be continued until now. However, some of activities were restricted for them (on behalf) to sustain the environment.
The Common Property Resources (CPRs) such as the river, the sea, and the forest are the main source of livelihoods, particularly for the poor (Chambers, 1995) and the livelihoods are also related to the capability to survive and access to the resources. In Harapan Rainforest area, the forest dwelling people initially depended on the forest for the timber and the NTFPs for their livelihoods. Since PT.REKI came and introduced the idea of restoration, not to cut the trees, and to limit other activities in the forest, life became difficult (R.24, 2012)
“Before REKI comes, we were pushed from our place of stay by the palm oil companies, and now the situation is even more problematic since REKI comes and applies restrictions on our livelihoods in the name of sustainable environment ” ~ (Villager, 2012)
The contention between the parties - the Harapan Rainforest and the forest people- regarding the forest management and utilization occurred due to the different interest towards the same subject. REKI’s restoration program pays a lot of attention to the ecology as it is also the indicators of how this program runs in the field level. Conversely, many years before, the forest dwelling people who have been there utilized the forest for economic benefit; people harvested the NTFPs to be sold and to get money for daily survival and future well-being. People used to go to the forest, as it provided abundance resources they needed in daily basis.
The restrictions do not apply to people to take the Non Timber Forest Products from the forest. However, PT REKI applies some restrictions related to the practice of slash and burning in opening land for agriculture purposes. People in Gelinding were afraid of the restrictions and chose to obey, yet some others kept their habit because REKI has applied restrictions but has not developed alternative long term livelihoods for them. Nevertheless, I found some people who still continue their forest related activities; harvesting NTFPs (jernang, honey, jelutung), and hunting the animals. There were also many people in Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan involved in Income Generating Activities initiated by Harapan Rainforest under the Community Partnership (CP) Department. Further explanation regarding the livelihoods of the forest dwelling people after the existence of PT.REKI in that area are described below.
28 4.3.1 Livelihoods of the Indigenous People Bathin Sembilan
Harvesting the NTFPs (Non Timber Forest Products) PT.REKI does not restrict the Indigenous People Bathin Sembilan to harvest NTFPs in the forest. Therefore, people could continue earning a living from these activities. However, due to the forest depletion, some resources decreased significantly. For instance people have to dig the soil to get dammar (resin) which they never did in the past. Long time ago, dammar could be found the ground instead of underneath.
PT REKI recognizes some potential of NTFPs to be developed and thus they provided a market for the Indigenous People so that they can sell their products to the company. For instance, currently the honey bee production was quite promising as PT.REKI would buy honey in big amount from the forest people. Since PT.REKI exists in the village, the indigenous people sell the honey to the company and in the time of my research, the company bought IDR 25.000 per kg from the farmers and the honey is processed further through packaging by PT.REKI’s staffs. For the indigenous people, the market for honey production was not a problem. The challenge, however, was to keep the balance and continuity of honey as it was a seasonal products and honey was only available during certain times in a year.
However, there are no significant differences regarding the existence of PT.REKI with people who earn money from Jelutung (chewing gum), dammar (resin) and dragon blood (jernang). PT.REKI does not provide a market for them so they found the market themselves. Some people who have tapped jelutung for many years have already settled with their own market in the Jambi Province. The main problem that the jelutung tapper face is the lack of jelutung trees in the forest due to the illegal logging before PT.REKI exists. The same condition also applied for the people who used to harvest jernang (dragon blood). While for dammar (resin), I recognized that sample of dammar from the Harapan Rainforest was on going to be researched and the market was being searched in Europe. In the meantime, people who collect dammar found the market themselves.
Fishing PT.REKI does not restrict the indigenous people to fishing, so people can continue doing this activity. However, the depleted environment has brought the impact to the lake and the river in the area of Harapan Rainforest and to get the bigger fish is now difficult as the people have to walk far to the big river for fishing. In the prior time the indigenous people used to poison fish with tubo (natural poison) from certain roots or tress. Tubo was used by slapping repeatedly to the water until the water changed colour to white-milk. However, due to the scarcity of the trees, people could not find it in the forest. The latter generation even could not recognize the trees whose outer layer of the skin could be used for tubo. Eventually, these people used chemical material to poison the fish. This practice – poisoning fish with chemical - is prohibited by PT.REKI. Nevertheless, many people whom I met realized that eating fish which were caught using chemical poison was harmful for their health, as conveyed by one of respondents : “Poisoining fish (using chemical) is reducing your ages” (R.21, 2012) .
Berhuma (Paddy/ Cassava/Sugarcane/Vegetables) In the land preparation before planting paddy and cassava, people burnt the area for land clearing. They believed that by burning the land before planting, it could provide the ash fertilizer which is needed by the plants to grow well. People from Gelinding and Simpang Macan told me that planting
29 paddy and cassava without first burning the land would not give a good yield. The cassava even did not have its tuber, or when it had the taste was bitter and people did not like it. On the contrary, the burned-land which is rich in coal let the plants grow well and people would harvest a good amount of cassava with a good taste for their food. I went to their field and saw the comparison about how paddy and cassava grow on the burned and non-burned land. Even, in terms of physical appearance, they look very different. The burned land yields much better crops.
PT.REKI applies restriction of burning for the land clearing although people in that area were used to burn their land before planting it with paddy, sugarcane, or cassava. The solution offered by PT.REKI that people could report to the company if they want to open an area for planting, and PT.REKI would help the land preparation using its bulldozer. Some people have tried to clear the land without burning but the yield has not satisfied them. Others who were afraid of the restrictions decided to abandon their field and not to do berhuma.
People in Simpang Tanding and Simpang Macan kept doing berhuma. Two families, in Simpang Tanding for instance, still planted cassava and vegetables in their yard. These families worked in the palm oil plantation five days in a week, yet they told me that they kept planting cassava because they were used to planting it from their previous generation and the yield would be used for domestic consumption. A family in Simpang Macan developed approximately 1 hectare of his yard to plant banana, some types of vegetables, cassava and paddy. In addition to, he also planted rubber trees.
The commodity which had significantly contributed to his family income was the banana. In 2005 – 2010, his economy was relatively fine as he was able to sell banana and earned IDR 200.000 ($ 20) per week and the amount was really sufficient to fund the family. Nevertheless, when I made the interview on January 2013, his banana stopped to produce fruits since 5 months ago due to the virus and he could find a person who knew how to solve the problem. Additionally, he also planted paddy field for his own consumption and the yield would cover his 5-6 months needs and the rest he would buy the rice from the market.
He knew the restrictions applied by Harapan, for instance not to burn the land for agriculture purposes and he obeyed the rule. However, he told that the paddy and the cassava which he planted did not show a significant development as it supposed to be based on his previous experience.
Meanwhile, people in Mitra Zone and Gelinding had not started berhuma because they were afraid of being arrested by the Harapan. Some people knew that as the indigenous people they may open a maximum of 2 hectares for paddy field yet they had to report the location to Harapan . They also could not practice burning in the land preparation process, instead, Harapan will support the bulldozer to help people in land preparation. These people conveyed that at the time being they were quite busy working, but in some months ahead they would consider to cultivate their farm, while waiting for the exact season to plant.
Trapping birds (Pulut) There were some people, but not many, who used to trap birds in the forest for commercial purposes. The indigenous people in Harapan Rainforest are very aware that PT.REKI does not allow people to trap birds and some of them related it to the company’s donor who concern about the birds. The indigenous people recognized that one of PT.REKI concern is to save the bird’s habitat in
30 the forest. Most of the people whom I met have stopped trapping birds for a long time, therefore I did not get much information about this practice.
Hunting the animals Hunting the animals is one of the restrictions from PT.REKI. For people who survive their living from hunting, this restriction had worried them. To response to that, PT REKI established IGAs to help the family to get income by developing a community nursery. This activity has contributed to the family income but still people earn more money from hunting. A hunter who was also involved in Community Nursery informed me that although PT REKI has helped to generate his income through the nursery, he still continue to hunt animals in the forest because he earns a lot of money from that.
Working in the companies Some other people had started to work in the surrounding companies before PT.REKI existed. Most of the informants whom I interviewed, had worked or had a family member who worked in Asiatic Persada either as monthly paid staffs (Eq. security) or daily labourer.
The existence of PT.REKI has opened a new opportunity for people to work in the company. During the research, I noticed that many people in Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan were recruited as PT.REKI’s staff and they mainly worked as forest patrol under the department of Forest Protection. However, PT REKI could not accept all the applications which were submitted and these had evoked jealousy among the people who were not accepted.
Community Nursery Community Nursery is a program under the cooperation between two departments in Harapan : Community Partnership (CP) and Forest Restoration/Restorasi Hutan (Reshut). The Reshut Department contributes to the technical skill on how to plant and nurture the seeds and the whole process of filling poly bags, watering, etc, while the CP department is responsible for the institutional strengthening of the community group. The scheme which has been developed was that the Harapan supported the nursery equipment (polybags, nets for fence etc), while collecting the tree seeds from the forest would be the responsibility of the forest people. In the initial phase, there were a lot of women involved and paid as daily workers to fill the polybags with the soil, the wage basis was IDR 100 ($ 0,01) per bags.
There are two community nurseries in the research area which are located in Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan. The Community Nursery in Simpang Macan was organized by 6 families and they successfully got the first payment from Harapan in December 2012, accordingly to the number of trees that had been planted. One family in Simpang Macan Luar developed the nursery and took care of 96.684 nursery seed from various tree species and have sold them to Harapan IDR 1000 ($ 0,1) per seed in December 2012 and earned IDR 96.684.000 ($ 9.668) in total. Each family got approximately IDR10.000.000 ($ 1000) and they had spent 7 months starting from the first tree seeds collected from the forest and until the seeds were ready to be sold.
The nursery had helped this family and the other 5 families to create income and for the wives, taking care of the plants could be an interesting activity as they could do domestic works at home while doing some activities in the nursery (watering, cleaning from the fallen leave, etc). The women experienced sharing the time properly between working at home and in the nursery. Some families
31 also involved their children to help complete the light work, for instance filling the soil into the poly bags.
A family in Simpang Macan whom the head family was a hunter, told me that since he involved her wife and children to manage the nursery, he seldom go to the forest as he had to spend time to take care of the plants. He still hunted the animals in the forest, especially the pigs and sometimes the deer, yet the frequency was reduced to 50%. For instance if in the past he went to the forest 5 times in a week, now he went only twice in a week.
“Having this nursery helps us to reduce our activities in the forest. Now, we spend a lot of time taking care of the plants instead of going to the forest for hunting the animals”~ (R.27, 2013)
Nevertheless, in Mitra Zone, the community nursery which had also been developed under the similar scheme, using 0,5 hectares area, targeting 70.000 tree seeds had not impacted the household economy at all. After 7 months, the seeds have not grown enough to be planted in the forest, so people could not sell it to the Harapan. When I interviewed two women out of the 7 members involved in the community nursery, they said that the nursery was started on May 2012 yet the seeds had not grown well because they did mistake when taking the plants from the forest. Instead of taking the big plant-seeds, these people took the small plants whose leaves were 2 or 3 so it needs a lot of time to grow. The Harapan’s staff did not teach them how to choose the seeds from the forest, they only said that the women had to take the seeds by themselves and the staffs showed how to plant the seeds in the polybags. The woman group had noted this as their lesson learnt and experience to develop the nursery in the future. Fortunately they also planted the fruit seeds, so in December 2012, half of the fruit seeds could be sold to Harapan.
Picture 1. Nursery in Simpang Macan Picture 2. Nursery in Mitra Zone
For people who involved in nursery activity (for instance in Simpang Macan Dalam), the nursery has helped to contribute to the family income. These families also reduce their ‘illegal’ activity in the forest (hunting) because they have to allocate more time to nurture the seeds.
Small Groceries Shops Mitra Zone, was a relocation area of Bathin Sembilan people in one hectare area close to Harapan office (approximately 500m). Previously, these people lived in KM. 35 in the long house that belonged to PT. Asia Log when it was there. These people then relocated to Mitra Zone because their
32 house was old and needed to be repaired. Through a series of discussion that took 7 months, the people agreed to be relocated to the new place which eventually called “Mitra Zone”. Each of the family was supported with 5 million rupiah ($ 500) to build their new houses in Mitra Zone and there were 26 households living there close to each other. I observed that in the afternoon after the working hour or at night, there were a lot of Harapan’s staff having leisure time and sitting in the bench in front of people’s houses who had small groceries shops. The shops sold some groceries; rice, sugar, coffee, tea, milk, biscuit, oil, and other daily needs. One shop sold warm food and drink and people could bought instant noodles from the shop and the owner willingly helped to cook the noodle, the same also applied to the drinks
PT.REKI’s staff, people from Gelinding and Simpang Tanding also bought their groceries in some shops in Mitra Zone. The existence of these small groceries shops has created another atmosphere as the social relations were built during the daily interaction among the people.
Rubber Plantation During the research, it was noticed that there were some meetings conducted between Harapan and the indigenous people to discuss the possibility to develop rubber plantation in the area along the street between Harapan and PT. Asiatic Persada. There were some reason conveyed based on agreement between two parties in choosing the site ; (1) It was near the people’s home, to get the easy access for daily care as people do not necessary to walk far away to the plantation and (2) Aesthetic reason. It is nice to see the rubber plantation instead of bush along the street. There were some families involved in Simpang Macan Dalam for land preparation and Harapan also helped using their equipment. At the end of my research, I recognized that the land preparation was an on-going with the indigenous people worked on it and Harapan promised to give the rubber seeds and to facilitate the planting process. I conducted some interviews with people whom were involved in the land preparation and they really appreciated and wanted this rubber plantation for their future investment. The indigenous people also knew how to take care of the rubber tree and the tapping process, so they were quite optimist that they could managed the plantation.
4.3.2 Livelihoods of the Encroachers, the Landless Farmers The way how these people earn a living from the forest before and after PT.REKI was similar. People cultivated palm oil plants, rubbers, and other crops for daily consumption. Nevertheless, since PT. REKI came, the ‘encroachers’ did not feel safe and afraid of being expelled from their settlement because PT.REKI claimed that it was area for restoration. On the one hand, PT REKI could not accept the palm oil plantation in the forest area because it was against the restoration principle. The palm oil plant is considered to be destructive for the ecosystem and environment. On the other hand, the landless farmers were experienced in cultivating the palm oil and they also believed that the farm could be their investment for the future. Inevitably, the land conflict occurred between the two parties and eventually brought the MoF himself had to visit and talk with some people in the field. Below is a woman’s speech during the MoF visit describing their position and their struggle for the land to earn a living.
33
Box 4 . Speech by Mrs. A - the “encroacher”
“My name is Mrs. A , I am a farmer and a mother. I have to convey that the NGOs who are now being our guide (pendamping) were asked by us. I also want to clarify that they are not the criminal and mastermind
behind the encroachment which have been allegedly pointed to them for so long. They just helped to prevent the conflicts which are now occurring between us and the three companies: Agronusa Alam Sejahtera, Wanakasita Nusantara, and REKI. We just want the government to release our land, which is now
being in the concession area of these three companies and we want those area to become HTR (Hutan Tanaman Rakyat) and to be managed by the coop system. We agree to plant the area with the type of trees defined by the government, but the government should first committo our prosperity. If the government
does not release the land for us, the government is contributing to the poverty in Kunangan Jaya and Mekar Jaya and is responsible to thousands folks. It also means that the government neglects our constitution; UUD 1945 Article 33...... I am speaking on behalf of all of us, please release our land”
Data from Harapan showed that almost 20% of the concession area has been encroached and most of the land had been converted to palm oil plantation. The Harapan Citra satellite picture and my encroacher-informant also showed the same fact. Meanwhile during the MoF visit, some of the landless farmers said that they did not only plant the palm oil trees, but also other trees. The survey report in 2011 shows that 39,64% of the people in that area plant rubber trees and 15.32 % plant palm oil trees (Priana, 2011).
When PT. REKI restricted people to open new land for cultivation, these people resisted and this brought to the conflict between the forest people and PT.REKI. The peak was when the people from Bungku village (also from Kunangan Jaya sub village) protested in front of the MoF office to ask government to resolve the land conflict problems and announced that the indigenous people have been expelled from its livelihoods since PT.REKI came to that area.
However, surprisingly, based on the survey done by PT REKI, the ethnic in Bungku village are mainly migrants from some places; Java is the majority (71.17%) while the Bathin Sembilan, the local ethnics, is only 6.31%. The detail composition is shown in the table below:
Table 2. Ethnics or Tribes who occupied the land in Kunangan Jaya
No Ethnic, tribe HH Percentage Number of HH Based on Ethnics, Tribe (%) . (%) 1 Jawa/Java 79 71.17 6% Jawa 2% 4% 3% 2 Medan/North 10 Medan Sumatra 9.01 5% Sunda 3 Sunda 6 5.41 9% Palembang 4 Palembang 2 1.80 71% 5 Melayu/Jambi 4 3.60 Melayu/Jambi 6 Bathin 9 7 6.31 Bathin IX 7 Minang 3 2.70 Minang Total 111 Figure 6. Number of HH Based on Ethnics, Tribes Source: REKI ‘s field survey December 2010-June 2011
34 During the MoF visit together with the Human Right Commissioner from Jakarta, the HAM commissionaire mentioned in his speech in Mitra Zone Ds. Bungku that not only the indigenous people – Bathin Sembilan – has the right over the forest and its resources but also other people – in this case, migrants - whose right should be guaranteed by the Indonesian government to be able to live without any fear in any conditions.
The forest dwelling people in Harapan Rainforest -the indigenous people and the encroachers – earn a living differently. The indigenous people are more likely to harvest forest products and/or hunting the animals. Many of them also utilized forest as cultivation land, yet mainly it was in small piece of land for planting staple food (rice, cassava) and vegetables. My informant described that normally they cultivate a maximum of 2 hectares land for agriculture purposes. The activities of harvesting the NTFPs are not restricted by PT REKI, the problem was the resources depletion which happened prior to 2007 before PT.REKI came. However, the activities of hunting animals and land preparation (slash and burning) for berhuma were restricted by the company. The alternative income offered by PT.REKI (nursery) was not guaranteed for a regular period and therefore some people still continue hunting and berhuma. The existences of the companies around that area also has affected on the way people make a living by working as the daily and monthly labour.
Meanwhile, the encroachers mostly used forest as source of land for cultivation. People opened the forest to plant palm oil and rubber trees. This land utilization is one of the main causes of the conflict because these people planting the trees on the land which were claimed by PT.REKI as forest land for restoration. To protect themselves of being expelled by PT.REKI, the landless farmers in Kunangan Jaya I set up an alliance with some of local NGOs in Jambi province. In a conflict situation, these NGOs helped these farmers in negotiation and mediation between the people and the company.
4.4 The Livelihood Transition In Harapan Rainforest area, long time before PT.REKI existed, the forest dwelling people had experienced different livelihoods. Since the late 1960s a logging company has operated in this area and cut a lot of trees. Furthermore, another company came in the late 1970s with the licence for palm oil plantation has shifted the forest into palm oil plantation. On the one hand, the forest people suffer from the depletion of forest resources, yet on the other hand these companies have recruited a lot of indigenous people as employee as argued by a woman who work in PT. Asiatic Persada.
“We love to work in Asiatic because the company provides three main jobs- specifically in her language she said tiga pekara (three things)- that can be done by us as women. The jobs were cutting the grass, brondol (collecting the fallen-palm-fruits) and arranging the midrib(R.15, 2012)7.
PT. Asiatic had successfully attracted people’s attention by employing many women as daily workers in their estate. The women works from morning until mid-day for approximately 7 hours a day and were paid IDR 45.000 ($4,5) per day . They said that the salary was enough to fulfil their daily needs (for eating) and now most of them love to work in Asiatic rather than cultivating their farm as they do before. “I have been working in Asiatic for more than one and a half year. I love to work there because they give me the jobs that I could carry out. When I am sick, I can skip to work or to send my daughter to replace me. Now I spend most of my time working and I do not have time to cultivate my
7R. 15. A woman (youth).Villager. The interview was conducted on 29 November 2012
35 2 hectares land. The salary offered by Asiatic is much more appealing to me than cultivating my farm”.(R.12, 2012)8.
Most of the people whom I have interviewed work in the companies around their place. The appeal of receiving the daily or monthly salary has shifted their livelihoods from forest-dependent activities to work as low wage labours. The transition of their livelihoods is also influenced by the shock of the changing environment (H.Allison & Horemans, 2006) which cause people adapt their livelihood strategy.
Below is the sketch of the livelihoods transition experienced by the forest dwelling people since 1969 until the present. During the Asia Log era, the forest resources were abundant therefore harvesting the NTFPs became one of the important livelihood sources for forest dwelling people. I also found a man who migrated to the area for doing the illegal logging when timber was plenty. In the 1979’s PT BDU did the massive plantation of palm oil and many trees have been cut and replaced. The activities of harvesting NTFPs therefore declined and people started working in the companies as low paying daily labour. After 20 years, there were only small trees left in the forest and the area was surrounded by palm oil. Consequently, the activities of harvesting NTFPs, berhuma, and hunting animals declined significantly and many of the forest dwelling people are currently working at the companies around the forest.
8R. 12. A woman.Villager. The Focus Group Discussion was conducted on 06 December 2012
36
Description : - Many big trees 1969 PT.Meranti Timber Limited (Hongkong) - Heterogenous Area : 100.000 Ha 1970’s People’s Livelihood : PT.Asia Log (permit until 2011) - Harvesting NTFP (+++) Area : 61.239 Ha - Berhuma (+++) HPH Logging Concession - (illegal ) logging SK. No. 408/Kpts/Um/1971 Adendum FA/NAD/004/II/1971
Description : - There were big trees yet 1979 PT. Bangun Desa Utama (BDU) declined significantly in HGU Palm Oil Plantation number - BDU cut many trees and planted palm oil 1988, 1992 massively BDU changed to PT.Asiatic Persada (permit for 35 years) Area AP = 20.000 Ha + subsidieries = 7000 Ha (PT.Maju Perkasa People’s Livelihoods : Sawit and PT.Jamer Tulen) - Harvesting NTFP (++) Total Concession = 27.000 Ha - Berhuma (++) - Hunting, etc (+++) - Low wages labour in the company (++)
Description : 2005 PT. Asia Log was inactive, lack of security system Migrant - There were only small came trees ------Palm Oil Plantation Consortium initiated PT. REKI (Harapan Rainforest) 2007 PT. Asia Log returned the license to MoF People’s Livelihoods : ------Harvesting NTFP (+) Harapan Rainforest (PT. Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia) - Berhuma (+) RE Ecosystem Restoration - Hunting, etc (++) LIcence for South Sumatra (100 years) - Low wages labour in Area : 52.170 Ha companies (+++) 2010 Harapan Rainforest (PT. Restorasi Ekosistem Indonesia) LIcence for Jambi (65 years, can be extended to 35 years) Area : 46.385 Ha
Figure 7.Livelihoods Transition of Forest Dwelling People in Harapan Rainforest Area. Scheme by author
“ I have been here for a long time and I still remember when PT.Asialog operated in these area. I knew that this company had cut a lot of trees in the forest. However, the forest was rich at that moment and we (the forest dwelling people) also benefit from the forest. When we need logs to build our house, the forest provided many timbers and we could always take them whenever we needed. Additionally, being the indigenous people in this place also benefitted me and my family as PT.Asia Log did not restrict the indigenous people –Bathin Sembilan – to cut the trees” ~ (R.21, 2012)9.
In 1970s a logging company called PT. Asia Log, owned the HPH (Hak Pengusahaan Hutan/ Forest Concession Rights) of the area of 61.239 hectares in Jambi Province. The concession rights refers to the decree of the ministry of agriculture: SK Menteri Pertanian No.408/Kpts/Um/1971 date 23 September 1971 and Addendum FA/NAD/004/II/1983 date 24 February 1983. Before the company
9 R. 21. A man (elderly).Sub-village government. The interview was conducted on 04 December 2012
37 changed its name to PT.Asia Log in 1969 the license for the area was owned by PT. Meranti Timber Limited from Hongkong and it managed approximately 100.000 hectares area in Sungai Kandang and Sungai Penyerokan of Jambi Province. On July 1970, when the Indonesian government announced the regulation for foreign investment to have an Indonesian legal institution, the company therefore changed its name from PT.Meranti Timber Limited to PT.Asia Log. Its head office was in Jambi and the main shareholder was a Palembangness (Wihardjo, 2013). During the period between the 1983 and 1987 due to the insistence from the government to develop the plantation sector beside the forestry sector, the concession area was reduced to 26.265 hectares, and to be allocated for PTP IV Sungai Bahar, PT Bangun Desa Utama (BDU), and PTP IV Durian Luncuk. Hence, the concession area was reduced gradually from year to year and its final concession right was 61.239 hectares. According to the people whom I interviewed, they know of a time when there was abundance of resources. The big trees were plenty in the forest and the kinds of timber-trees were also varied, for instance Meranti (shorea spp), Merbau (intsia spp), Merawan (hopea, spp) and other types of timber which have a high economic value. PT.Asia Log was a logging company and apparently the company cut down a lot of trees for the log production. According to the report submitted to the Ministry of Forestry until August 2006there were 28 species log produced by PT.Asia Log in 2005.
Mr. Wiharjo (2013) who has been working since 1995 with PT.Asia Log, PT. Asiatic Persada and now in PT. REKI told me another history of the companies. PT. Asia Log had the license until 2011, however in 2005 its RKL (Rencana Karya Lima Tahun)/ A Five Year Planning Activity was not approved by the Ministry of Forestry and consequently the company could not continue to do the logs exploitation in the area. In 2007, the company decided to return their concession license to the government through the MoF. He added that during the Asia Log era, the company did not allow people to cut trees without having any permit. Permit was given only for domestic purpose such as for building a hut or a small house. Other commercial purpose was banned, for instance to treat the logs as business commodity. The next era after PT.Asia Log was PT. Asiatic Persada, a license holder of HGU (Hak Guna Usaha)/ Land Use Permit SK 46/SHSU/DA/1986, which uses their right to develop a HTI (Hutan Tanaman Industri), for palm oil plantation. PT. Asiatic Persada owns the permit for 35 years and the first phase will end in 2021 and it can be extended afterwards (Wihardjo, 2013). A report from ZSL (Zoological Society of London) briefly described that the company was originally formed in 1979 under the name of PT.Bangun Desa Utama (BDU) and the concession size was around 27.000 hectares after combining the two subsidiaries of PT. Maju Perkasa Sawit (MPS) and PT. Jammer Tulen (JT) . PT. Asiatic Persada itself has 20.000 hectares while the two subsidiaries have the 7.000 hectares concession (Wiharjo, 2013). The company then changed its name to PT.Asiatic Persada and started to plant the palm oil in the same year (1988) in a large scale and the final planting was in 1996 (M.Maddox, et all., 2002-2004).
PT. Asiatic Persada hires a large number of employees for its palm oil estate. Many of the Bathin Sembilan people were recruited as security guards, plantation foremen/mandor, and other low paying professions. Although so, they receive salary in a monthly basis and get supporting facilities, such as a health insurance (the employee can see the doctor free of charge). In addition, the employee can borrow money from the office or the canteen. The informant whom I interviewed works only for half day to check the estate. If everything runs well, the rest of the day he can do something else with his own plantation.
38 As witnessed by many respondents, in the restoration era of PT.REKI which started in 2007, the forest resources have depleted massively. Some people still continue harvesting the NTFPs in the forest and doing berhuma to plant the staple foods. Many of them were aware of the opportunity to set up networks with the company and to be involved in project’s activities. As mentioned in Chapter 3, many of forest dwelling people could benefit from the existence of PT.REKI because this company recruited many forest people as patrol team in village level. Moreover, some groups of people were involved in Income Generating Activities (IGAs)initiated by the projects. These people could earn income from the projects as well as from the forest by harvesting the forest products. However, other groups of people were threatened by the existence of PT.REKI. These people mainly do not earn a living by harvesting the forest product, yet they claimed rights over the land to support their livelihoods.
4.5 Conclusion Chamber and Conway (1991) define livelihood as strategy to earn a living and it involves assets, capability and activities. Following to this, many scholars argue that some factors should be taken into account to understand livelihoods in a broader term. Following that, the issues of sustainable livelihood emerged in the late 1980s after the Brundtland report which emphasized that the livelihoods should be economically, ecologically and socially sustainable (WCED, 1987). The role of local people to actively participate in nature management and to take benefit from the nature to sustain their livelihoods was acknowledged. The recognition of people’s rights was translated through some mechanisms such as Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) and Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM).The key of these mechanisms is the community participation.
Leach et al (1999) argue that in CBNRM, community could not be seen as single entity. Instead, they involve social actors that are dynamic and could shape their environment. Furthermore, the authors describe the environment entitlement approach which developed from the idea of Sen (1981) which defines entitlements as “ the set of alternative commodity bundles that a person can command in a society using the totality of rights and opportunities that he or she faces” (Sen, 1984). The entitlement is the right to get access over resources (Leach, et al., 1999). The authors have helped me to trace how people in Harapan Rainforest take benefits from the forest for years.
Looking through the arguments of the forest dwelling people it was apparently recognized that the main issue concerned was the livelihoods. People who were pro to Harapan were the people whose livelihoods have been supported by the company by either be recruited as the monthly paid workers or be supported in some activities related to IGAs (nursery, honey bee). These people were ‘safe’ in a sense that they could earn living from the existence of the project and from the forest.
Conversely, the contrary were those who afraid of being robbed from their livelihoods. The fear that they would lose their access to forest and the natural resources which will halt them to get benefit from the forest. To put in a nutshell, the livelihoods and the economy issues are the concern of these indigenous people due to the scarcity of forest resources and the opportunities to work in the companies. Consequently, the indigenous people will take every chances and ways to live on in this forest and the migrant people also do the same. They have sold all the properties in their home place to be able to survive, and there is no way to go back home.
39 Under the CP department, PT REKI has initiated Income Generating Activities (IGAs) for the forest dwelling people to help these people to get income for their households. As mentioned previously, the community nursery and honey bee production are the two most potential activities which can be developed as a source of income for indigenous people. These have successfully increased people’s earnings and have been one of people’s important livelihoods in Harapan Rainforest. Nevertheless, those IGAS are seasonal activities and thus do not provide income for the whole year, but only in certain seasons. For instance, community nursery only yields after 7 months treatment while the honey bee production is only active twice to three times in a year. Therefore, the indigenous people need to have alternative activities with sustainable perspective to earn stable income per day/month during the whole year.
40 5. People’s Perceptions and Responses
This chapter draws people’s perceptions of the forest, the project and the thoughts of other parties related to the Harapan Rainforest. After knowing the livelihoods of the forest dwelling people in Harapan Rainforest area, it is necessary to understand their perceptions and responses to the project because people with different livelihoods have different responses. The livelihoods have constructed people’s perceptions and responses of the forest and the project. I jutted down groups of people who supported the project, people who have sceptical views, and people who have environmental arguments. I also recognized that people with different sexes and ages also shared different perspectives. Additionally, the land conflict issue which appeared due to the sceptic responses will also be discussed.
5.1 People’s Perceptionof the Forest For many years, the women in the area of Harapan Rainforest had a close contact with the forest. Most of the women were born and grown up in the forest were really aware of the importance of the forest for their life. The forest seemed their giant house and they have more aesthetic feeling towards the forest. For them, the forest represents a beautiful landscape in which they often run away from their village just to stay in a tent and spent a few days with some friends. When I asked how important the forest is for them, the main answer would– at first – represent the feeling of joyfulness. “Staying in the forest can refresh our minds, it gives us oxygen and cool air. It is a shady place, and the forest is also a source of amazing sounds as I can remember the sounds of deer or when the birds sang their song every morning and afternoon”.~(R.8, 2012)10.
“When I was a child, I could remember clearly the voice of Kuau birds – the forest singer. When it sang, the sound was really nice and calm. Now I have never heard the birds’ sound for many years. Our forest is poor, no more birds’ voice, even the crickets’ sound is also rare here. Terrible. “(R.9, 2012)11
Kuau is a typical bird species which habitat is in the forest. It has a beautiful appearance and melodious sound. When the degradation increased steadily, these birds disappeared from the forest. Therefore, the forest deterioration contributes to the extinction of these birds.
Long time ago, before the natural forest was replaced to oil palm plantation, these people had a shady forest and they did many activities related to the forest. The women were involved in harvesting rattan to be waved as small baskets for any domestic used. To harvest the NTFP was not so difficult, people just needed to take a walk for one hour and they would reach the forest with abundance of NTFPs ready to be collected. Thus, the activity of harvesting the NTFPs became an interesting work as they enjoyed the views and the walks they had from their place into the forest.
This amazing forest was beautiful in its appearance and beautiful on its resources. “It is better living in the middle of the forest than living in the middle of a palm oil plantation” (R.9, 2012). However, during the past years many changes inevitably influenced the forest and the forest dwelling people. The forest has changed a lot in diversity and resources and this has had massive impacts on these forest people. Due to the degradation, the forest is no longer able to provide ample resources on
10R.8. A woman, villager. The interview was conducted on 24 November 2012 11R.9. A woman, villager. The interview was conducted on 24 November 2012
41 which people relied on for their survival. This unpleasant situation has influenced the people’s activities in the forest. Because many trees were cut off and the land shifted into a plantation, the forest becomes hot and the air is also not as fresh as before. Instead of enjoying the forest atmosphere while harvesting the forest products, the women are now mainly working in the palm oil plantation as daily wage labourers. Working in the palm oil company is now the only source of income for the family. Even though the wage is low, the women very much rely on that job because the company recruits a lot of women workers as daily labour. In recent years, these women experience living in the palm oil plantation, instead of in the forest which promising comfortable place for them.
The men emphasize that the forest is the source of timber and a place where people earn a living to survive. It provides abundant resources which were utilized by the forest dwelling people since many years. The trees were cut to build a hunt, resin (dammar) was used for light, honey was harvested from the forest and the sugar cane from the farm was cooked for children’s daily sugar. Additionally, the forest was also the source of land in which the farmers normally used for agricultural purposes. In sum, for men, forest relates to the livelihoods, meant to earn a living.
Surprisingly, the youth considered the forest as a place in which they could collect the money - if someday, if possible – to leave the forest and to catch up with modernity. Bauman(2005) argues that modernity is happening and cannot be halted and this proposition saying that we are all consumers of modernity. “Ours is a consumer society. A consumer is a person who consumes and to consume means using things up: eating them, wearing, playing, and otherwise causing them to satisfy one’s need and desire” (Bauman, 2005. pp 23).
Most of the Forest Dwelling People in the area of HRF could get access to the electricity, and therefore the opportunity to own amenities and electronic devices were also more possible than previously. The information that they got for instance from television which showed another part of the place seemed to encourage them to experience new challenges in a new place. “I just want to collect some money, because I can work here. After that, I will leave this forest. The city is much more appealing to me” ~ (R.23, 2012)12.
Meanwhile, the elderly presented the forest as a home as well as a field for the forest dwelling people. It could be a place to stay and offered a cozy atmosphere. An old man explained that in the prior time people planted their own rice and never bought it in the shop like he and other people do now. The forest prepared everything for them; a land to plant the rice, and small animals to be hunted to fulfil the daily need for proteins (R.21, 2012)13.
According to Davenport & H. Anderson (2004) people attach meaning differently to an object depending on their experience, culture, and community relations. For the people who live in the Harapan Rainforest area, forest is a means to ensure their survival. Especially for people who have already stayed there before the company exist, they have settled their relationship toward the forest. People have already applied their own rule on how to take benefit from the forest, and how to preserve it. The indigenous people Bathin Sembilan in Harapan Rainforest area have a variety of unique stories and below are some local practices in relation to nature preservation which have been long standing rules.
12 R.23. A man (youth). Villager. The interview was conducted in 06 December 2012 13 R. 21. A man (elderly).Sub-village government. The interview was conducted in 04 December 2012
42 5.1.1 Prohibited Area for Cultivation Long time ago, from the time of their ancestors, people in Simpang Tanding, Simpang Macan Luar and Simpang Macan Dalam believed that there were some prohibited areas for cultivation. People know the border of the forest in which they could cultivate and which area should be left intact. In Harapan Rainforest area, I noted at least three different places known to be prohibited areas: Rawa Kramat, Bukit Pisang Hutan, and Punuk Lingkaran Nago. The forest of Rawa Kramat was really popular among people in Simpang Macan and some people in Mitra Zone. According to people’s belief, this forest area should not have any cultivation activities, thus when people opened forest for cultivation, this area were left intact. Throughout my research, none of those forest people dared to break this unwritten rule. As its name, Kramat (in English : sacred), people believed that this area was a home of supernatural beings ; ghost, genie, and spirit of the dead people. Therefore, it should not be disturbed because these souls also needed places to stay. A hunter in Simpang Macan told me that once he had gone far away into the forest close to this Rawa Kramat. He saw a deer and he wanted to shoot it. Avoiding him, the deer ran quickly into the Rawa Kramat and surprisingly it disappeared, he saw nothing except the shade trees. He considered that to be his supernatural experience and promised himself not to go to hunt animals in the area of Rawa Kramat. A survey and mapping conducted by CP Department in November 2010 also showed the Rawa Kramat which were scattered in three spots (blue colour).
Figure 8.Sketch of Land in Simpang Macan Luar. Sketch by HRF CP team, 2010
The existence of Rawa Kramat has protected this area from the land clearing. People in Simpang Macan were used to open forest for their farm and did it in groups up to six persons (CP, 2011).
43 Nevertheless, Rawa Kramat was untouchable because people were afraid of getting disaster from clearing this place.
Bukit Pisang Hutan and Punuk Lingkaran Nago were the other two sacred places known by people in Simpang Tanding. Punuk Lingkaran Nago was located in Hulu Sungai Kandang, meanwhile Bukit Pisang Hutan was a hilly area with diverse resources, it was located between the area of Penyerukan and Sungai Bungin. An old man told me that people in that area did the activities in the foothills and never exploited the hill due to their belief. This was a sacred place that should be preserved and should not be disturbed. People might cultivate the farm or harvest the NTFPs yet they never went to the hill for those purposes. Additionally, the old man witnessed that in Asia Log era, a bulldozer had been used to open the area, but it sunk into the ground and could not be saved. There were also many people who went into the forest, on the hill and got lost. Eventually, these people never came back to the villages. They disappeared mysteriously. Those experiences reminded the forest people to let the hill as it was and never be disturbed.
5.1.2 Prohibition to cut big trees In land clearing and preparation, the practices of slashing and burning were a tradition known since many generations before. It was the simplest and the cheapest method as the ash also provided the natural fertilizer for the plants to grow (R20, 2012). The trees were cut and burn, yet these people never cut the big trees because they believed that those were homes for bee. They called it ‘sialang’ trees which could reach the height of 40 meters. Almost all people in the research site knew this practice and they kept the big trees because the bee always nesting there and the honey could be harvested for two-three times a year. “This is also another livelihoods source” (R.7, 2012). So people shared the land for cultivation and let the big trees in the same land for the bees to set their nest and by doing this, they could harvest the yield both from the land cultivation and from the tree (honey). This practice was also a mean to keep the tree grew without being disturbed.
5.1.3 Poisoning fish with tubo Tubo refers to natural poison from the outer layer of particular tree or root. When refers to the tree, it was called tubo kayu, and tubo akar was addressed to the root. Around the area of Harapan Rainforest, in particular places, for instance in Sungai Kapas, there were some trees species whose outer layer can be used to poison the fish (R.17, 2012) . When the river was small, people took small pieces of the tree’s skin and used them by slapping repeatedly to the water until they coloured the water (white milk colour) and they would use the bigger part of tubo in the bigger river. The changing colour of the water was for few hours and it killed just the big fish in the surface, not the small fish (R.9, 2012) . Tubo akar was also used in the same manner and the water would be clean again after two hours. According to them these tubo did not harm the environment and it was not dangerous for the people who consume the fish.
Those stories are a few from many stories which exist in Bathin Sembilan group on how people are maintaining harmony with nature. People are allowed to take forest resources but they are not allowed to exploit the forest. Similarly, Hay (1998) argues that people who have stayed in particular place for a long time, have developed a strong bond of tribal territory which impacted the rise of feeling of belonging the place. This feeling of belonging the place also follows by feeling of having right to manage the resources.
***
44 Apart from how each person perceives the forest and behaves in it, the forest dwelling people have produced their own thoughts, stories and perception towards this forest and the restoration project. Furthermore, the other parties also gave their opinion about Harapan Rainforest. Some parties strengthen the Harapan position while other parties oppose it and the stories are described below.
5.2 Support from the Indigenous People in Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan Dalam
The place where I stayed during my research is close to the area of Mitra Zone in which the indigenous people - Bathin Sembilan- live. I was very often involved in their activities, both related to Harapan Rainforest and other informal activities which allowed me to get a better understanding of the situation. People very often talk about the Harapan Rainforest and how it has influenced their lives positively. For the Mitra Zone dwellers, the project really provided hopes as it works to reforest the destructed forest and involves the indigenous people as their partners.
Once in the morning I was at the home-stay and received a call from the office informing me that I and my women colleagues had to be alert because ‘’the encroachers” threatened to invade the office and all the properties. They would probably come from the direction that passed my home stay. At the same time, I found around 6-8 men with four motorcycles in front of the house were waiting for other friends. I came to them and asked what was happening and one of them, Mr.AD, shared me the same information that I received from the office. They expressed rigorously that they would join the Harapan team to secure the area and argued that the ‘’encroachers’’ could not rob their forest and shift it into palm oil plantations. They, as the indigenous people, were ready to defend the forest which is worthy for their livelihoods. The day after the threats, I heard that some of them continued working in the guardhouse to prevent the assault before it goes to the Harapan office.
During the Ministry visit on November 2012 and January 2013 to the Mitra Zone settlement area, the two representatives of the villagers described separately that the Indigenous People were the partner of the Harapan Rainforest and the existence of the project has provided supports which really means a lot for them. The project has provided the adequate sanitation and education facilities which they never obtained from the other prior companies. The women were glad to send their children to the school and to get access to the clean water and electricity. When the ministry asked about people protesting in the MoF office in Jakarta claiming that they had been treated unfriendly by the Harapan, Mr. AN strictly said that it was a lie. Furthermore he added that the demonstrators were the outsider-individuals who spoke on behalf of the indigenous people to get the land right in the area of Harapan Rainforest. He emphasized that the Indigenous People living in Mitra Zone had already been happily living in that place with all the supporting facilities provided by the company.
Similar supports were also given by the indigenous people living in Simpang Macan Dalam. I met a man whose live mainly depends on harvesting the NTFPs,he said that he could continue harvesting the NTFPs and the Harapan project does not restrict the indigenous people to harvest the products. He reflected about the decline of the resources that influenced his livelihoods, yet PT. REKI was not the main cause of the decline. He explained that it was the prior logging company that had cut the trees and that brought the massive impacts, not the Harapan Rainforest. The project works to restore the area by planting the trees and he fully support this idea and the things that worried him were the ‘’encroachers’’. “I am happy that Harapan Rainforest is here to prevent further destructive
45 activities done by the encroachers. If the Harapan Rainforest does not exist, we may not have forest any longer. The encroacher works really fast in shifting the forest into the plantation. I am worry because they might be uncontrolled” (R20, 2012)14. The existence of Harapan Rainforest has provided hopesfor the peopleto have a better forest in the future and to continue living peacefully in it.
5.3 Sceptical views (From NGO, Indigenous People in Simpang Macan Luar, and Migrants in Kunangan Jaya)
The skeptical views come from the parties that oppose the Harapan Rainforest. During my stay, I heard and experienced some threats to Harapan from SPI (Serikat Petani Indonesia). A typical instance happened in the morning at 09.00 on 22 November 2012 when I and some CP staffs had a meeting to discuss the Village Resource Management Agreement (VRMA). We heard the bell rang loudly for 3 times and the staff run out of the office and through a window we could many patrol team members armed with parang (big and long chopping knifes) and bamboo spears. Through a loud speaker, a man asked us to stay in line and he explained that Harapan received very serious threats from the SPI. Since that day, the security system was alerted and many policemen were sent to secure the office for several days and to prevent violence that might be addressed. They also set up the wire fence in front of the office to prevent people from coming inside. On the other side of the office, some teams prepared for the evacuation routes and some cars were readied to carry away, first the women and the elderly in case the SPI comes and attacks the office.
The conflict between Harapan and SPI had occurred for years. The SPI people who settled in the north area of Hutan Harapan refused to leave the forest because they have been there before PT.REKI. Due to the security reason I could not visit the SPI settlement area, but I met a young man who is known as the ‘encroacher’ and he told me about the place. They have a settled permanent residence with supporting facilities such as the mosque, church, school, and others. They also have a KTP (Kartu Tanda Penduduk)- a legal identity card for Indonesian citizen. From a friend of mine, I also know that in Kunangan Jaya people had the legal status which reflected that – administratively – they have been registered as a part of Bungku village by the local government. Similar to that, the head of village and the commissionaire from the human right agreed that being an Indonesian, these people should get the protection to live and to earn their living. On the other hand, PT.REKI argued that the area is prohibited for cultivation as it was a forest area that belongs to the state, and has to be restored (REKI, 2012). The land conflict among these parties often involved violence. PT.REKI through police and forest ranger arrested the SPI farmers who cultivated the forest for agriculture purposes. The situation became worse when the SPI members took hostage of REKI’s staffs while asking the company to free their friends. They also occupied the REKI guardhouse located in Sungai Jerat and they wrote in front of the guard house “Kawasan SPI. Hutan Garapan”(translation: SPI area. Cultivation forest). This was the way how they reacted to Harapan Rainforest, by replacing the word “Hutan Harapan” (translation : Forest of Hope) into Hutan Garapan, showing that they want to use the forest for cultivation area.
14 R.20. A man. Villager. The interview was conducted in 03 December 2012
46 Hutan Garapan
Figure 9.The occupation of Harapan's guardhouse in Sungai Jerat by SPI members. Picture by HRF, 2012
The national and international media discussed this issue and from some videos which were uploaded through some social media, I saw how this conflict has involved violence and trauma for people who experienced it in the field.
To support this opinion, STN (Serikat Tani Nasional) mentioned that the existence of Harapan Rainforest was a disaster for the peasants who have been there since 2005. In one of the media, the head of STN described that REKI was just a tool used by the organization of the birds’ lover and Prince Charles from Britain. Furthermore he added that the prince visit in 2008 was part of forest privatization and to force the Indonesian government to give the restoration license to the company to manage the forest. He suspected the conspiracy of REDD carbon trading in the future and he worried about the diversion of ownership of forest resources from forest people to the private sectors for commercial purposes(Kusno, 2012). The violence, arrests, and the occupation were repeated for many times.
Apart from the encroacher conflict which was mainly involved the migrant people, PT.REKI also faced protest from a group of Indigenous people in Simpang Macan Luar. Posing the same argument that they have been in the forest before PT.REKI even existed, these people asked for the enclave of their 373 hectares that were claimed belong to them. The word ‘enclave’ seemed too urban for them and I was quite sure that this word was not originally coming from this people. The enclave refers to the release of the area which was claimed under the restoration area of PT.REKI. It means that PT.REKI has to re-new the concession license and to reduce 373 hectares from the 101.355 of the total concession area. When I came to a house of one of the vocal person in Simpang Macan, I saw an interesting poster that writes “Jangan Rampas Hak Kami” (translation: do not rob our rights) and he introduced me to the “filosofi dua pohon’ (translation: the philosophy of two trees) by showing his two fingers. “These are the two trees, if one tree can thrives, the other one should also grow well. It should not be left behind” (villager, 2012). He termed the two trees as PT.REKI and the forest people.
47 In his opinion, one tree (PT.REKI) has thrived yet the other tree (the forest people) got nothing unless the restrictions and he considered this as an unfair situation.
Responding to this, PT.REKI has developed a roadmap for mediation and negotiation process facilitated by Burung Indonesia (an NGO, consortium member). Some meetings have been conducted to discuss the problem. On 12 December 2012, some representatives from Burung Indonesia, Harapan Rainforest, Bathin Sembilan people from Simpang Macan Luar, and NGOs held a meeting as a process of negotiation among the parties. The four NGOs that guide the Bathin Sembilan people (CAPPA, Setara, Perkumpulan Hijau, and Agra) noted that there was a serious problem on the way of communication established by PT REKI which tended to restrict the NGO member to meet the people in Simpang Macan. PT.REKI Representative responded by the asking the apology for all the inconvenience and he also conveyed Harapan’s objection by the way of the NGOs did the campaign which mainly responded negatively to the HRF. The meeting concluded with the agreements that each party agrees to resolve the problem in a brotherly and peaceful manner, and that a follow up meeting would be held in January 2013 to let the people consolidate themselves first(Minutes of meeting, 2013).
After the agreement was achieved, REKI found that the Bathin Sembilan people marked the area locally known as merintis -that is to open road in the forest to mark the territory (Dictionary, 2013) and when I talked with one of the people who joined the marking (R.27)15, he said that people planned to marking 4000 hectares of the area around Harapan Rainforest concession. It was surprising as I know that he is involved in many HRF activities and gained benefit from them. When I asked why he joined the marking activities, he said that this was to show solidarity with people otherwise he would be excluded from the society. Therefore, he joined the marking activities for two days and then left by giving reasonable argument that he was sick and that he could not continue. I asked him further that 4000 hectares was large and was concerned about how these people could do it themselves. The relatively small number of households in Simpang Macan would not allow them to open such a huge area. R.27 described that since the idea of merintis came up, many people came to the area and this was also similar with the findings from PT REKI as they found some motorcycles in Simpang Koni whose owners were opening road in the forest. The motorcycles’ number indicates that they came from outside the area. “Those people do not stay in this place, yet we know they have land here since long time ago. When they heard that people are now working to merintis, they come back and set up their territory together with other people who mainly have a family and kinship relation” (R.27, 2013).
15 R. 27. A man.Villager. The focus group discussion was conducted on 06 January 2013
48
Figure 10.Perintisan and marking the area with red paint by the Indigenous People of Simpang Macan Luar
The Bathin Sembilan people argued that the perintisan (noun form of merintis) which was organized on 28 December 2012 was their effort to re-identify their living space which have been left and abandoned for almost 6 years. People left the area due to restrictions to open area for rice field cultivation and restrictions to build houses. Moreover, they argued that this re-identification would further help to make the process of land identification easier with PT REKI. On the other hand, PT REKI considered this marking territory as the unilateral action and the violation of the agreement that has been achieved in the previous meeting.
I went to Jambi to meet some NGOs and discussed some issue related to Harapan Rainforest and the land conflict. I had an interesting discussion in an NGO office that takes a contrary stance to Harapan. One week before, I wrote an email to the head office to arrange the meeting and when I came, he welcomed me very friendly and called his staff who intensively handled the case in Harapan Area to talk to me.
49
Box 1 . True story of R.25 (NGO member – The interview was conducted on 11 December 2012)
We have been working for some years with the indigenous people, and in Harapan Area we guide (mendampingi) some groups in: Durian Dangkal RT 11 Kunangan Jaya 1, Simpang Macan Luar RT. 22, Bawah Bedaro near camp 35. These people asked us to guide them due to the conflict that occurred between them with some companies. Many people think that the indigenous people rely on forest for the NTFP, however, in Simpang Macan, for instance, they were used to berhuma (field cultivation) and apparently they need land for that. This is not only applied for the indigenous people but also for the
Malays. In Simpang Macan, there is a decline in the number of the households because there are now only 15 households. 53 households that have been there before left the area because they could not cultivate it any longer.
For us, the origin tribe consists of people that have the right to live and earn their living there and therefore their right should be protected. The migrant people who lived there and married the indigenous girls and got the recognition from the original tribe could also be considered to own the right of the land. The mostimportant thing is the acceptance from the community. REKI came in 2008 when these people have been cultivating the land and were ready for the harvest. These people complained and this was also the cause of the conflict as they wanted to continue cultivating their farm and did not want to be disturbed by PT.REKI. The company is supposed to have a clear concept to overcome this issue. REKI wants to exclude these people from the concession area, they restricted people from berhuma yet they did not offer an alternative concept. We need a clear partnership concept.
Recently, the governor of Jambi released an instruction that everyone who enters the Harapan area should leave the forest. In our view, he does not understand of what exactly happened in the field. I have two notes; (1) The government contributes/encourages to the human rights violation, and (2) the government does not have a clear concept on conflict resolution.
These indigenous people do not understand about the law, then why should those people talk about the law? Punishment?. They just require a win-win solution and therefore we cursed the violation that happened in solving the problem because it will just worsen the situation and give a negative image to
REKI in the international world. REKI was funded by a public fund gathered from taxes (from Germany and Denmark), so it should respect to publics rights (indigenous people). The repressive action (the arrest) will not bring a solution; instead it motivates people to create a resistance movement and revenge to the company.
The government, in this case is also part of the conflict because they gave the license to PT.REKI and they should be responsible. The governor letter was not a good will to resolve this problem and to respond to this, we have sent letter to the province, district, and to the Ministry of Forestry to inform them about this land conflict.
Lastly we encourage all parties (the indigenous people, the government, and PT REKI) to sit together to talk each other and to resolve this problem peacefully. I want to convey these three messages: (1) PT REKI should not violate the human rights because it uses the public funds, (2) The government should not worsen the situation. The letter should be withdrawn sooner because it induced the problem in the community level, and (3) The indigenous people’s right should not be restricted, for instance when our staff was prohibited to meet people in Simpang Macan. That was a violation.
50
The forest dwelling people - the Indigenous People Bathin Sembilan and the Encroachers- had different perceptions and responses of the forest and the project. The indigenous groups in Mitra Zone and Simpang Macan Dalam who get benefit from the forest and the project supported Harapan Rainforest. However, another group of indigenous people in Simpang Macan Luar and the encroachers whose livelihoods was threaten by the existence of the project were sceptic toward the project. As a result, land conflicts occurred between two parties ; the People and the Harapan Rainforest which involved local NGOs as mediator/facilitator. The conflict is part of how forest people response to the situation and it will be described as follow.
5.4 Land Conflicts Natural resource is a scarcity and recently, the issue of “green grabbing” appears to address the practice of natural resources appropriation. Leach illustrates that “the central idea of green grabbing is that we need to sell nature in order to save it”(TNI, 2012). For instance, the Mozambique government gives license for almost 19 % of the Mozambique’ surface to the company in UK for further carbon market business (Fairhead,et all., 2012). This phenomenon was mentioned by Vidal as a transfer of ownership from the powerless to the powerful, to the people who has a lot of money to pay the license to the government.
The implementation of conservation, ecotourism, ecosystem services - not to mentioned ecosystem restoration -are also part of the green grabbing practices in which the environmental agenda being the fundamental issues (Fairhead et all, 2012). Similar to this opinion, an online site – berdikari – had written that the visit of Prince Charles from British in 2008 to Harapan Rainforest is a means to accelerate the concession rights given by the Indonesian government to PT.REKI just 2 years after the visit in November 2008. He explained that the concession right is another appropriation of forest privatization by shifting the forest management from forest dwelling people to the concession holder (Kusno, 2012).
The forest dwelling people who reside in Kunangan Jaya Ds.Bungku, for instance, has experienced a long conflict story with Harapan and other companies around. My informant told that these people have settled in the area since 2005, before Harapan even existed, and they have started to open the area for the plantation of commodities for their daily needs (paddy, cassava, vegetables). These people realized that the area belongs to the state and they do not have a legal right to own, however, they argued that the Indonesian government should give the cultivation right to them – the Indonesia citizen – instead of giving it to the foreign companies or a company funded by foreign donors. On the other hand, PT.REKI owns a legal permit from the MoF Republic Indonesia to manage the area and apparently, this “encroachment’ area is in the concession of the company. The land conflicts inevitably happened between PT.REKI and the people and the peak was the protest of peasants in front of MoF office Jakarta in November 2012 arguing that their land has been grabbed by three giants companies and PT REKI is one of them. These people who reside in Kunangan Jaya, which is part of Bungku village,claimed that their life was being threatened by the existence of PT. REKI. These people asked the government to enclave the land of 7975 hectares which is in the concession area of PT REKI (Ilyas, 2012). As part of the protest, these people walked from Jambi to Jakarta which is 1000 km in distance and stayed in MoF office for 76 days to negotiate the enclave proposal (Ferdiyal, 2013).
51 Meanwhile, in the other areas of Harapan Rainforest; Gelinding, Simpang Tanding and Simpang Macan Luar, the issue of restrictions has been worried the people. Almost all protests that were launched by the people referred to the restrictions on behalf of the environment. The practice of burning the area (slash and burn) to open a rice field was not allowed, while the forest people have limited skills to develop their agriculture. The ways that they knew to plant rice were to cut the trees, burn the shrub as they believed it provides the natural fertilizer and start planting. Mainly they planted rice, cassava, sugar cane, vegetables and fruit trees to fulfil the daily needs. This was apparently the easiest and the cheapest methods that have been applied for many years.
The restrictions applied were not followed by alternatives way of generating income, so people were afraid and confused. Those who were afraid obeyed the restriction and stopped cutting the trees, burning the area, etc. This was only possible because most of them worked in palm oil plantation, mainly PT. Asiatic Persada which has a direct border with PT REKI in the North. They were paid as daily labour with low wage yet in the time, this was the only source of income they could rely on. The women could work half day (from 06.00 am to 12.pm) and earned IDR 45.000/day.
Figure 11.The direct border between PT.REKI (in the left) and PT.Asiatic Persada (in the right). Picture by Eka Hendri HRF, 2012
...... “Indigenous and tribal people have the right to decide their own priorities for the process of development as it affects their lives, beliefs, institution, and spiritual well-being and the lands they occupy or otherwise use, and to exercise control over their economic, social, and cultural development” (ILO Convention, 1989).
The conflict that occurred between PT.REKI and the community arose from a feeling that the conflicting parties have the rights over the forest and nature management. Based on interviews the people – particularly the forest dwellers – wanted to negotiate the solutions which can satisfy both parties without using violence and pressure. Since 2011, Harapan Rainforest and the indigenous people have initiated a series of discussions regarding the land occupation yet it did not result in a solution and the conflict still occurs. From Harapan Rainforest perspective, on the one hand, the indigenous people have violated some points that were agreed upon during the negotiation, for instance, by doing perintisan ; marking the forest area (for cultivation). On the other hand, the indigenous people argued that Harapan Rainforest’s responses and follow up were too slow while
52 they need to work to save their future lives, therefore they started to open the forest and mark their territory.
Before conflict with PT.REKI arisen, the forest people have experienced another land conflict with the former companies. This experience had strengthened the indigenous people due to the winning of the indigenous people in the court. In 1992, when PT.BDU changed its name to PT. Asiatic Persada, the land conflicts with the indigenous people called Bathin Sembilan arose as many of the land were overtaken by the company for the expansion (Colchester, et all., 2011). Furthermore, my informant also added the same story that the company changed its name in 1992 and when it is named PT BDU the massive-scale logging occurred and a lot of fruit trees that belong to the Bathin Sembilan people were cut down. A lot of mediation, negotiation, and discussions have been initiated among the parties, yet the conflicts still occur until now.
The similar conflict occurs between PT.REKI and the forest people. The company applies restrictions and set their regulation on how to manage the concession area for restoration program. Conversely, the indigenous people argue that some of their areas were robbed by PT.REKI and it should be released from the concession. These people do not want to pursue PT.REKI’s rules in restoration program because it restricts their activities in the forest. According to their norms, the area should be managed accordingly to their local rules, not by the company rules.
This phenomenon is translated by Griffiths (1986) as legal pluralism. Legal pluralism is a condition where there are more than one rules or orders which coexist in the same field. Both parties; PT.REKI and the people argue to have rules and rights to the forest. The negotiation and mediation that have been initiated since 2011 in fact did not result in a solution which satisfies both parties. On the one hand, the company legally owns the right from the government to manage the area, but, on the other hands, the indigenous people’s right should also be protected.
5.5 Environmental Purposes “Forests are the repository of all forms life. They provide numerous goods and services which have ecological, sociocultural and economic values for the survival and benefit of people around the world. There is no living creature whose very existence would not depend on forest in one way or another. So, when the last forest on earth is destroyed, life on earth must die too” (Samuel Kofi Nyame – IUCN)
Harapan Rainforest covers the area of the 101.355 hectares in two provinces in Sumatra and it is the last low land left in Sumatra. This forest is a home for many endangered species whose habitat have declined significantly due to the massive shifting function of the natural forest to palm oil plantation. Harapan was surrounded by the plantation; however, it creates effort to reforest and its existence, for some group of people, has provided a hope to return the forest to its initial condition. Additionally, the reforestation will further benefit the indigenous forest dwelling people in improving their livelihoods as well as keeping the nature. When some interviews were conducted with forest dwelling people and I asked what they know about the Harapan, the most common answer was that Harapan means planting trees in the forest. For the people in Mitra Zone, for instance, Harapan Rainforest is a friendly environmental company who does not cut the trees as they experienced with the two prior companies; PT.Asia Log and PT. Asiatic Persada. The initiation of the Community Nursery has received a positive response from the indigenous people while describing that PT.REKI secures the forest, nurtures the seeds in the nursery
53 and involves the indigenous people to plant the seeds in the forest. A man in Simpang Macan told that he saw his colleagues – the indigenous people – who were planting the trees in the wood despite the concern whether they grow well or not in a few months afterwards.
As has been mention in the beginning of this chapter, the other support given was that the ecosystem restoration project aims to protect the low land forest in Sumatra as it is the habitat for many animals, importantly the biggest species in numbers ; the birds. There is a remarkable abundance of 235 birds species in Harapan Rainforest(Rainforest, 2012) and the consortium – the founder – are the three environmental NGOs whose concern are about to the birds’ issues and their habitat. The environmental NGOs are not interested in commercial purposes in developing a project and therefore there was a strong legitimation for Harapan to save the forest for the environmental purposes particularly to provide a home for these birds’ species and other endanger species.
5.6 Some Critical Questions In addition to the positive responses and the sceptical views toward this restoration projects, there were many queries that have been put forward. The fact that Harapan Rainforest managed by a company called PT.REKI has created some intrigue questions, for instance: What will be the benefit taken by the company in the future? Is the company only interested in the NTFPs and not the timber? Is there any hidden agenda behind the environmental purposes of this project? What will the company do to the trees that they planted now in the next 30-60 years? Are they going to cut them as the logging company did before PT.REKI? To whose pocket will the money go? Will the indigenous people get their ‘’part’’ and play their role? Is the company involved in the preparation of the carbon market for International REDD scheme? Who are the actors that play behind the scene; the Indonesian government, the International Donors, the British, or other parties?
The different perceptions, responses and critical questions, in this section have helped me to perceive the Harapan Rainforest case in a broader sight. Using the actor oriented approach (Long, 2001), I recognize that these forest people have created their own way of living and have interacted with the forest without any intervention. In nature management, these people set their own orders and were not being disturbed by the existence of the project. People have their own agency to act and to keep their own way of living. The project is a project by its own set of regulation while people have already been there and have created their own values.
5.7 Conclusion Harapan Rainforest involves a lot of actors and stakeholders at different levels and therefore, different people have different views on what Harapan Rainforest is, how it can address the indigenous people’s needs, how it will benefit in the future, who will be involved in the implementation, etc. Everyone made up their own story about the Harapan Rainforest. During my field work, I interviewed many people who were diverse in sex and age. As a result, an enormous amount of stories have been gathered from which I could see that the way how these people perceived the forest and PT REKI has influenced their behaviour and feedback.
The forest dwelling people who support PT.REKI are people who get benefit from the project and people who oppose the project are mainly the migrant who have not get access to the project. Some facilities provided by PT.REKI for education, health and sanitation have benefited indigenous people
54 in Simpang Macan Luar. However, the conflict still occurred because these people concern to the land and considered enclave as the only solution.
PT.REKI creates mediation and negotiation to reach agreement with the conflicting parties. However, the process is time consuming since it involves a lot of parties. After series of meeting since 2011, both of parties, the indigenous people and PT.REKI have not been come to the agreement on the land management in the area of Harapan Rainforest. These long processes of conflict resolution without alternative solution have worsened the relationship between these parties. In my view, the conflicting parties should involve the authority in the negotiation process and find the possibility to accommodate the interest between parties. It needs to find the possibility to accommodate the rules of both parties without having any contention of who has more right of the nature and forest management.
55 6. Conclusion and Recommendation
The objective of this research is to investigate how the livelihoods of forest dwelling people are transformed in relation to the Harapan Rainforest interventions. Additionally, the research also aims to contribute to a better understanding of people’s perception on forest and restoration development projects. This chapter consist of two major elements which are the livelihoods and the perception. These two elements become major in this research because they strongly relate each other. The means of people gaining a living in the Harapan Rainforest area have constructed people’s perception and responses toward the project. Furthermore, the conflict is also part of the discussion because it occurred as a part of how people response to the situation. Subsequently, at the end of this chapter a lesson learned has been drawn according to the Harapan Rainforest case.
6.1 Livelihoods Issues The forest people had experienced different livelihoods since 1960s when a company operated in logging concession, to the era of ecosystem restoration. From the abundance diversity, to the era of resource depletion. The experience has transformed the way people earned income in the forest. The livelihoods transition, from being highly dependent on the forest of its timber and NTFPs, has changed long time ago, before PT.REKI came into existence in 2007. The livelihoods have changed since the natural forest had been shifted to palm oil plantation in the 1980s. On the one hand, the forest resources declined, so people could not depend on them to survive yet on the other hand they were given the opportunity to work in companies. Earning regular weekly or monthly salary was much more appealing to them. All the forest dwelling people whom I interviewed were working in companies (Asiatic Persada or PT REKI) or at least had one or more family member (husband, wife, son/daughter) who worked there. This independence from the forest was driven by the depletion and the scarcity of forest resources. When it was still available in the forest, people needed more effort to get it and it became more difficult for them (for instance : dammar is now beneath, the jelutung trees are small and less gum, people have to walk far to harvest rattan, etc).
Concerning the access to land for cultivation, people have always faced conflict with the company regarding the restrictions on how to open the area and the land status. This took a long process and time to negotiate and to get a clear status or win-win solution for both parties. In the meantime during the negotiation process, the land was abandoned. People were waiting to get a clear status of their land before cultivating it. However, the necessities were urgent for everyday life, and working as daily labour in the company is the short cut choices of these forest people.
To sum up, PT. REKI does not affect the livelihoods of the forest dwelling people in the Harapan Rainforest area significantly. For most of the people who get access to work in the plantation company (for instance in Mitra Zone and Gelinding) the existence of the project does not really affect them because these people have another source of income by working as a labour. Additionally, they also do not rely on the forest since it has been shifted into monoculture plantation. However, the restrictions on certain forest related activities might probably put the forest people under more pressure than what they had from the prior companies. People in Simpang Macan Luar and Simpang Tanding were struggling for the land rights and ownership because they want a better future for their children by owning the land as an asset. While the encroachers mainly working on their own plantation and therefore the importance of the land becomes one of their priorities.
56 The forest dwelling people were worried on how to get income from the forest, therefore the restrictions on how to deal with nature was always related to the livelihoods issue; “If we have to halt doing these (burning the land, hunting animals, etc), how can we eat?”. Meanwhile, people loved Harapan’s idea as when there were questions on what do they know about Harapan, they would answer that Harapan means planting trees to restore the forest. However, the interest of getting income from the forest was on the priority list of these people. Therefore, the acceleration of community development activities regarding IGAs would be meaningful for them. The success story of the groups who become partner of Harapan would be a tangible result. This could bring a solution for the conflict mediation which had consumed a lot of time and resources. People tend to see the direct impact instead of surviving in the situation which is not promising – no one could promise how and when the conflict will come to end.
6.2 The Perceptions The perceptions are very different according to sex and ages as discussed in the previous chapter. For the forest dwelling people, the forest plays a pivotal role and they agreed that there is a massive change in the forest and the diversity. For many purposes, people wanted the forest to be restored and to get into its initial condition as they experienced in the previous time. Furthermore, the forest has its natural ability to recover from the depletion as long as there is no disturbance from irresponsible people or other post majeure condition (natural disaster, forest fire, etc). The idea of nursery (taking seed from the forest, nurturing it in the nursery, and planting it back to the forest) was not meaningful for some people as they argued that the monitoring to check whether the seeds grew well in the forest was inadequate.
In fact, the problem was the ‘encroachment’ that has shifted the natural forest rapidly and REKI was considered not to be strict enough vis-à-vis the ‘encroachers’. The forest dwelling people insisted that REKI should focus more on problems and issues regarding the encroachment and they predicted that the forest will decline significantly and deteriorated within 3-5 years if the solution is unavailable.
The forest dwelling people appreciated the services provided by Harapan; the education for school children and the health treatment. Having educated children has evoked their motivation to have a better life in the future and the illiterate-parents believed that education would help their kids to get more prosperity than what they have at this moment.
Considering the people response based on the actual forest condition, the depletion of forest resources and the existence of companies around the site have changed the mind-set of the forest people. They talked more about the life necessities and thus the economic issues appeared as their priority. The forest people, in fact, do not anymore rely on forest for their survival. Instead they rely on the companies for which they work. For short term purposes, working as daily labour is now much more appealing for them compared to harvesting NTFPs in the forest, or to cultivate their farm. These people had been more open and received a lot of influence from outside and the companies. Access of technology also influenced their thought on how the restoration should be addressed. People wanted to sustain the environment and kept the forest yet they wanted it to become the source of their livelihoods and income for future.
57 Learning point according to Harapan Rainforest case
My way of thinking has been adjusted after looking thoroughly on several different perspectives and stories on Harapan Rainforest project and the forest dwellers. Previously, the forest notion which is composed of a natural landscape with big trees and its entire intact ecosystem has drawn my rational logic.
As discussed in chapter 3, Harapan Rainforest project comes with the idea of restoration. It aims to save the last low land forest in Sumatra Indonesia from further depletion. According to its mission, Harapan Rainforest works to combat the illegal logging, encroachment, wildlife poaching, and the forest fire. Additionally, the project also aims to create forest management system in a sustainable way (REKI, 2012).
Harapan Rainforest project imposes some regulations to the area in which people have inhabited for years. The project and all the regulations to protect nature exist, but people have already settled with their own pattern. The actor oriented approach (Long, 2001) has guided to see that these people have their own agency, norms, orders, and framework. They use their own discourse and not become entangled in the project system which comes to apply rules on how to behave to nature.
Chapter 4 shows that the forest people do not rely on the forest in a large part. As mentioned in the livelihood conclusion, people rely on the companies around to work and receive daily/monthly salary. These people are quite happy with this situation. There is no romantic forest live and livelihoods as I (and probably many others) think in which people depend on forest to sustain.
Chapter 5 discussed about the different interest of the forest people and its influence people’s perception regarding the forest and the project. The chapter provides stories and views about the forest from the previous time to the current condition. Massive changes have been taking place. The encroachment has been occurred and the forest has depleted significantly. The project area was surrounded by oil palm plantations and no one can halt them. Forest is forest. It is not an intact natural landscape as my initial notion.
Additionally, forest dwelling people in the Harapan Rainforest already have a long history of relationship with the larger economy. These forest people are part of the palm oil plantation businesses which have already been there since 1970s. The project and the people are part of multiple realities where every party gets benefit from the landscape that called ‘forest’. Ultimately, it is more valuable to look at the project as an arena of struggle and to study the interface as points of intersection where people come to define their interest
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61 Annex
Annex 1. Situation Map Harapan Rainforest
Source : Communication and Information Department, HRF (2012)
62 Annex 2. The agreed-points of pre-condition for mediation between PT REKI and people in Kunangan Jaya 1
1. Do not make new areas accessible beyond the identified locations 2. No addition of new members 3. Replacement of farmer and the land holder is not allowed to the identified land 4. Buying and selling land is prohibited 5. Asking PT REKI to share the information and documents related to the groups of people who have agreed to set up partnership with PT.REKI in Kunangan Jaya 1. For this request, REKI should ask permission from the group, and if not granted, they would ask to the Forestry Services of Batang Hari district 6. There should be no acts of intimidation, violence, arrests, evictions and kidnapping 7. The involvement of the policeman, military, polhut, SPORC and thugs are not expected in land conflict resolution 8. Every activity performed by PT.REKI in the conflict area should be under coordination of the head of hamlet (Kadus) and the head of RT 11 Kunangan Jaya 1 and the implementation should be accompanied by the verification team 9. People can continue doing the activities regarding their livelihoods and to run the local governance activities 10. The team representative from both parties should be the decision maker and should not be replaced and accepted mandate to represent 11. Do not burn the land and forest. Exemption is given to plant paddy, cassava, and vegetables and the land clearing should be coordinated with the verification team 12. No new construction of roads and bridges. Construction of new houses is only allowed for people whom have been identified and verified by the verification team 13. Utilization of chain saw should not oppose the other agreements and should be coordinated and verified by the verification members 14. No felling of trees outside the identified area. Permit is given inside the identification area and only for the important and urgent necessities with the area not more than 0.5 hectare per household is permitted and should be coordinated with the verification team 15. No hunting and trading of wildlife and PT.REKI will give the list of protected wildlife 16. To encourage the process, negative campaigns are not allowed. The supporting party (NGO) advocating the people in Kunangan Jaya 1 should get the agreement permission from both parties (REKI and villagers) in doing the campaign 17. No planting of the new non-forestry plants and exotic forest trees 18. The availability of verification team to monitor the pre-agreed condition. The team is responsible for monitoring and verification in the field. The team consists of four persons who are representatives from REKI and villagers of Kunangan Jaya 1 19. The certainty of the name and location of the member who will join the mediation 20. In case of violation of this pre-condition, sanctions will be given (by a stamp-statement letter). If the violation still occurs, the people will be called.
63 Annex 3. Livelihood of Bathin Sembilan People (Harvesting NTFPs and Fishing)
Harvesting NTFPs
Bush Honey In Harapan Rainforest, there were a lot of bee species which could produce honey and Mr. Junus (2012) in his interview with local people found that the people were able to recognize 33 types of bee in Harapan Rainforest. Two best types of bees known by the forest people are sialang and kelulut. Kelulut is a small bee without sting and generally builds its nest inside the big trees in the forest. The honey produced by kelulut is small in quantity and therefore it is not popular for commercial purposes by the forest people. Meanwhile, sialang refers to bee whose nest is in a high trees and sialang is specifically known as Apis Dorsata species. Apis Dorsata is a wild and aggressive bee with sting and it is very commonly found in Asian forests with high diversity and spread out in the Philippines, China, and Indonesia (Yoganingrum & Sensuse, 2009). In Indonesia, this type of bee is frequently found in the Sumatran forests, particularly in the area of Harapan Rainforest as this forest still has a lot of high trees in which the bee often build its nest which is locally known as sisiran. Not all the high trees were used by the bee to build its nest, and the findings showed that mostly the bee set up the nest in these trees : Kayu Aro (Ficus sp), Kayu Batu (Irvingiamalayana), Kempas (Koompasia malacceusis), Pulai (Alstonia angustifolia), Meranti (Shoren sp) (Usman, 2013).
These high trees are called sialang trees by the forest people and the honey harvested from the trees is also called sialang honey. The sialang trees can reach the height of 20 – 40 meters and therefore to harvest the honey, the forest people need the ability to climb the trees. There are many indigenous people in the area of Harapan Rainforest earning income by harvesting the honey from the wild bee in the forest called “sialang”. People could harvest two to three times honey-bee in a year and could collect 150kg honey per harvest .This number was quite a lot for domestic purposes of a family, therefore the indigenous people sold the excess to Harapan and the company bought the honey with price IDR 25.000 ($2,5)per kg and did some further processes namely bottling, labelling and eventually to find and to facilitate the market for it. The honey has a good quality and Harapan very often introduce the products to the national event when there were exhibitions or visits of any important people or researchers to Harapan. I found many people bought the honey as the souvenir as it has good quality with a reasonable price; A bottle of 220ml was sold IDR 15.000 ($1,5).
The forest people in Mitra Zone whom I met have been harvesting the honey for generations and it contributes to the income to their family. People have their own trees in the forest and they put some mark to indicate that a tree belongs to someone. The common practices is clearing the area around the tree from the bush, giving a cross mark to the tree, or wrapping some parts of the tree with rattan. When they see that the bee has begun to build its nest on the tree, some people make wooden ladders which are tied with ropes and are hung in the tree to have an easy climb for harvesting (Usman, 2013)
My informant who is a skilled-tree-climber explained that the honey could not be harvested throughout the year. There are some months in a year when people have to let two months for the bee to rebuild its nest after the old nest is harvested by the farmers. The way in which people harvest the honey was by taking the nest/sisiran which had the honey inside, while the other small nest in
64 which the young bee lived was left intact for regeneration purpose. People harvest the honey in bulan gelap/bulan kecik/bulan kelam/bulan mati in which the moon was not visible that is the month of April in solar calendar. “If the moon is bright (bulan terang) there will not be honey inside the nest. So we have to wait until the nature gives its symbol through the moon and in a year, the bee builds its nest three times in the sialang trees. Once I climb the tree to harvest, I can collect 150kg of honey” (R.7, 2012) .
In a regular month, one tree can have 8 - 30 sisiran, and each sisiran can produce 15-25 kg of honey. The honey was consumed to fulfil the daily needs as sugar and the women used to boil the honey in the pot (locally known as tanak ) to be able to keep the honey in a long period for a year. People add it to some drinks to get the sweet taste, or to eat it with cassava (Mrs. ER, 2012). When people harvested a lot of honey, they might sell the excess to other people in the village or to the visitors.
Currently, the honey bee production was quite promising as Harapan would buy honey in big amount from the forest people. For the indigenous people, the market was not a problem for honey production yet the challenge was to keep the balance and continuity of honey as it was a seasonal products and honey was only available in certain times in a year.
Since Harapan Rainforest exists in the village, the company recognizes the potential of honey bee production and the forest people can sell the honey which they harvest in the forest to Harapan. In the time of my research, the company bought IDR 25.000 per kg from the farmers and the honey is processed further through packaging by the Harapan’s staffs.
Jelutung (Chewing Gum) Jelutung has commercial value when processed to be chewing gum and people harvestthis product by tapping the gum from the tree. My Informant who lives in Simpang Macan has been a jelutung tapper since 1994 and he is able to finance his family by selling the jelutung. Previously, he sold the jelutung in raw material to the Chinese tauke ( a bigger trader) in Jambi with the price of IDR 600.000 per 100kg (IDR 6000 per kg - $ 0.6); but now he tried another way by boiling the jelutung gum first (the picture attached) and this increases the price. The boiled jelutung smells good and its price is IDR 30.000 per kg ($ 3), 10 kg of raw jelutung can yield 5kg of jelutung after being boiled.
Figure 12. Boiled Jelutung
65 Box 2. True story of R.20 – Jelutung harvester.A man. Interview was conducted in 03 December 2012
My place of origin is Muara Enim, South Sumatera and I have stayed here since 1994. Initially I followed my parent who migrated to Jambi and since that moment we spent a lot of time in the forest and I feel very familiar with it. Forest is like my second home , when I was single I went to the forest everyday to tap the jelutung gum and I found a lot of jelutung trees in KM. 35 ( close to the settlement of Harapan staff’s residence). At that time, there were plenty of big jelutung trees with 2 m diameters yet due to illegal logging, people cut down the trees. We could not prevent these people who came from Jambi and Palembang (South Sumatra). Now, instead of having 2 m diameter of the tree, we only have small tress with 40cm diameter and obviously it will influence the gum that we can harvest from the jelutung trees. Now I got only 4 litres of gums after tapping 20 trees in a day, while in the previous time, I just have to tape 2 trees to get the same amount of gum. When jelutung trees were abundant in the forest, there were many people in this place who became jelutung tappers. However since it has become difficult to get the gum, people diverted their jobs. I keep tapping the jelutung while also do the farming by planting paddy, banana, and rubber.
The jelutung trees cannot be owned privately, people can only take benefit by tapping the gum. When we walk in the forest and see the mark at the tree, it shows that someone else has already tapped it before we came. It means that we have to leave the trees and have to find another one. That is the unwritten rule and we obeyed.
Additionally he mentioned that in the 1990s people did not need to walk far to get into the forest to tap the jelutung. The forest was an everlasting place and there were not many people from outside the area who came to the forest. Conversely, nowadays there are a lot of migrant came and opened the area for plantation and as a result, a lot of big and thick trees disappeared. People have to walk far away into the forest and the trees they find are not as big as the trees in the previous time. Thus, the activities of harvesting the jelutung gum were no longer promised and therefore left by many people. Some who still survived should also develop another source of income instead of just relying only on the jelutung yields.
Rattan Rattan grows rapidly in some areas of Harapan Rainforest. It is a wild species and can grow almost in any season. People in Mitra Zone, Gelinding, and Simpang Tanding, and Simpang Macan used to go to the forest to collect the rattan and mostly thes activity was done by women. They walked in the morning to the forest bringing a knife and cut the rattan. People could earn money by selling the raw rattan material with IDR 1000 ($ 0.1) per pieces. A woman in Mitra Zone told me that she and some of her friends, in a couple of last year often went to the forest to collect rattan and to sell it to Harapan. The raw rattan material was sold IDR 40.000 ($ 4) per 100kg and the rattan would be processed further in Harapan office. These women were also recruited as daily workers to process the rattan: to boil and to rub the rattan with the diesel fuel and would be paid IDR 50.000 ($ 5) per day, working from 08.00am – 02.00pm. I knew some people who have skills in rattan weaving and made some products like small baskets and ambung (a big basket used by people to carry things on shoulder) but they made them only for domestic purposes and not for commercially purposes.
66 When I asked them why they did not sell it, they said that now rattan grows far away in the forest and would need a lot of time to go there. Many years before, they did not necessarily walk far away because their surrounding was forests and everything seemed available to them.
Figure 13. Ambung and small basket from rattan material
Forest Fruits Harapan Rainforest is rich with wild forest fruits such as tampoi, cempedak, durian, rambutan, jack fruits, and many others. When the fruit season comes, people often go in groups to stay overnight in the forest. They left home and made a tent in the forest while collecting the fruits and the most favourite fruits were durian.
“We did not need to walk far to get into the forest, within 2 or 3 hours we could find the fruits (tampoi, durian, etc). Even in the edge of forest when we walked, there were a lot of tampoi fruit. If we stayed some nights in the forest to collect durian, we would bring tempoyak (fermented durian, that can be stored for one year) home for the side dish. Recently, I have walked far to Kapas area from 7am in the morning to 4pm in the afternoon, I did not even found one tampoi fruit. I do not have money to buy fruits and this forest also no longer able to give us the fruits. I have been here for many years, and I never eat tampoi fruit. I ever saw two tampoi fruit close to the river in Bungin area ” (R.8, 2012) .
The forest provides many kinds of fruits for the people and hence, in the previous time, people never bought fruit in the market because the forest kindly provided fruits almost the whole year. The fruits were consumed for their own immediate use and some, like durian, can be fermented and stored for the next one year.
Dammar (resin) The resin comes from tress locally known as dammar and people in Mitra Zone, Simpang Macan, and Gelinding depicted their story on how they harvested this resin in the past. They almost went go to the forest to collect the dammar every time. People used dammar as a source of light by functioning it as a fuel that was used together with lipai leaves which were tied by a piece of rope. The light was enough to brighten the house for the whole night. Long time ago, dammar was everywhere on the ground and once harvested, the people could collect hundreds of kilograms of the resin in one tree and was able to get 2 tons for one week. The people transported the resin traditionally by putting them in the basket and to be brought to the village by walking. The price was IDR 5000/kg and although they spent many days to transport the resin, these people enjoyed the process due to the pleasant forest which offered the fresh air and a shady place (R.8, 2012).
Now there are a lot of disturbances in the forest. Many occurrences of the forest fire and shifting practices from natural forest to palm oil plantation done by both the companies and the migrants
67 whom these people known as the ‘encroachers’. The dammar decreased significantly and they are now underneath, and people need extra energy to dig the soil in order to get it.
Due to the difficulty of collecting this resin, people have to walk far into the forest and need more effort to get it. People in Mitra Zone and Gelinding left the job while people in Simpang Macan still continue collecting it from the forest because the dammar site is relatively closer from their settlement area.
Dragon blood (Jernang) Dragon blood, locally known as jernang is a typical forest plant like a rattan palm and it was harvested by breaking its outer layer and collecting its red resin. The red resin was stored in a solid form before being sold to the middle man. During the internship programme, I met a man who was a jernang hunter and he told me that jernang was really promising to be developed due to the economic value of it. Jernang grows in a clump – one clump consist of 20-30 roots, and 1 root will produce 2-3 tingkil of fruits and to get the lulun/ fruit extract, it will need 26 tingkil (rumbai type) and 30-35 stems (ordinary type). The price was quite promising;IDR 850.000 – 1.200.000 ($ 85 – 120) per kg (Hakim, 2012).
A woman in Gelinding whom I interviewed told me that 13 years ago, the Bathin Sembilan people used to collect jernang from the forest. Jernang just grew in certain places and the best could be found in Kapas area. In its season, people went camping to the forest and walked for many days because they did not have motorcycle and at that time, the price was IDR 30.000 ($ 3) per kg. From her I knew some people in Simpang Macan who still continue to collect jernang from the forest, while people in Mitra Zone and Gelinding have stopped many years ago since they now work as daily labour in palm oil estate and since they now also realized that the forest is not as rich as before in giving them the NTFPs .
Fishing To fulfil their protein needs, besides hunting the animals in the forest, the indigenous people in Harapan Rainforest used to catch the fish for their own consumption. People fished in the lake and small rivers and sometimes they poisoned fish with roots of certain trees. In the prior time, the fish was big in size (the same size as an adult’s palm) but now the fish found in the lake close to their dwelling place are smaller and the number of fish has also decreased. I met a women who walked approximately 1,5 km to the lake and spent 6 hours fishing and got only 6 small fish. On another occasion, I followed an old lady with her two grandsons due to curiosity because I watched her every day passing by my home stay while carrying a hook made from a twig. She talked in Sumatran Language yet sometime she likes mumbling so it was a bit difficult to talk with her. In the morning, I waited her passed the same way and asked to join her with her two grandsons who were probably 2 and 7 years respectively. We walked in the road which becomes the direct border between PT. Asiatic Persada and Harapan. Close to the place where I stayed, approximately about 300 meters, there is a big lake and here this old lady stopped and started fishing. She was digging up worms to use as baits and patiently waited the fish ate the worms. The whole day, since 7.00am she did not eat anything while her two grandsons only ate some guava, locally named as jambu eropa. It is a small forest fruit and very often found at the roadside. It is sweet and it has white-colour when it is ripe and the forest people believe that eating 4 or 5 of these fruits could supply them with glucose and thus they would not feel hungry for several hours.
68 The old lady told that she would fry the fish if she has cooking oil, or she would grill it in fire for their dinner if there is no oil in her kitchen. The depleted environment has brought the impact to the lake and the river in the area of Harapan Rainforest and to get the bigger fish is now difficult as the people have to walk far to the big river for fishing.
69 Annex 4. A True Story of an “Encroacher”
True story of R. 30 – The “Encroacher”.A man. The interview was conducted in 08 January 2013
I come from Lampung and I have been here for two years. I end up here because I heard from a friend of mine that the government opened an area for transmigration and there were a lot of vacant land that can
be cultivated. I made up my mind to leave my hometown and sold all assets that I had there and used the money to buy pieces of land here. I have 2 hectares of land which I bought from local people here and I had the legal letter of it. I planted the palm oil because I have experienced planting it in my original place. Living here is not easy as every day it seems like we drink jamu (traditional bitter drink), and we never know how it will be sweet, every day is bitter!
We were with many at that time, my group consisted of 250 people and gradually other groups also came to this place. What I know that this area was opened in 2005 and Mr. N was the most influential person here as he was the pioneer and at that time he worked in Asiatic. This Kunangan Jaya sub –village was set up based on the idea of Mr. N for TSM (Trans Swakarsa Mandiri) village, for village settlement. He knew that the logging concession of PT.Asia Log has ended and Mr. N proposed to the government and PT. Asia Log to set up the settlement and to help the indigenous people to build their home. He brought the
bulldozer that belongs to Asiatic to the settlement-planned-area and everybody thought he has already the permit to bring the dozer, yet in fact he did not. Unfortunately, he was arrested by the policeman and was sent to the jail. People were in panic and went to leave the sub village, only 9 households decided to stay. Moreover, after knowing that the land we bought was in forest area (tanah kawasan) many people
gave up and went home, they did not want have any conflict with the government and law. However, my Lampung friends and I did not have any money we had to think hard how to survive here. We did not harvest the NTFPs, we did not know how to do and we only know how to cultivate the palm oil, that is
why we used our two hectares for planting the palm oil. I know that the palm oil has brought the massive impact to the environment and I could feel it now. There were landslides and natural disasters, when the rainy season comes it was flood everywhere, when the dry season comes it brings drought and water is difficult to find. But above all, we need to survive and save our life!
We know now we were in trouble yet we want to see how it will end. I and my friends want to follow the government for partnership scheme because the most important things for us is to be able to earn a living and to eat. If then our palm oil had to be diverted to other (rubber), that would be fine for us. I heard that the MoF stated that the encroachers have to be relocated to other places and set up a HTR that also would be fine. I dare to bring all of my friend from “inside” (the sub village, red) to the “outside” (new place/HTR, red). For us, we need a home to stay, a mosque to pray, and 2 hectares per person would be enough. We will live peacefully.
I know some people who have 30 hectares and he made in on behalf of their wives and children. Additionally, I also knew that there are many indigenous people in my place who sold the land to the migrant people from Lampung, Java, and recently there is one person from Jambi who opens a 200 hectare land. They are rich people who have invested their money here by buying the lands and we are
used only for shielding of all the land conflicts here. We are the victim!
We have talked to Harapan people for the partnership scheme and we agreed for some points that we might continue to cultivate our farm, but we may not open new areas for plantation. We would plant rubber and when it could be harvested, we would cut off all of our palm oil trees. However, in the second negotiation there were disagreement in the community level and eventually we were divided into 2 groups, the pro and the con. Consequently, our good communication and relation with REKI in 2011 had to be disturbed and it is not harmonious right now.
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