Community forest management restores Yogyakarta's Menoreh Hill
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
Water resources around Menoreh Hill in Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, have been considerably depleted due to illegal logging sanctioned by local forestry office personnel, which has caused severe damage to the 1,047-hectare forest area as well as water shortages.
Heri Margiyanto, representing the Center for Development and Management of Natural Resources of the Damar Foundation, revealed this when launching the small grants program to promote tropical forests in the Bogor Botanical Gardens recently.
Providing guidance for the forest community in Kalibiru, Hargowilis village, Kokap district, Kulon Progo regency, Heri Margianto said nine out of 12 districts in Kulon Progo with a population of over 58,600 shared the same boundaries with Menoreh and their farmers had always complained about the need for clean water.
According to him, 20 years ago there were still a lot of water springs around the hill, but rampant illegal logging with the backing of the forestry office has resulted in partial denudation and the loss of water resources.
"For years, local villagers have faced water shortages and thus have been forced to walk dozens of kilometers to reach scarce pools, where they have to queue for hours to get fresh water. Forestry field officers and rangers should have taken care of forest conservation instead of selling wood for their personal gain," Heri pointed out.
The communities around Menoreh have now inherited a severely ravaged state forest, with some 85 percent of them having a plot of only half a hectare per farmer. Their hunger for more farm land finally compelled them to enter restricted forests to reclaim land for crop planting to meet their daily needs and feed their cattle.
Their encroachment, continued Heri, was due to the reality that the state forests were not properly managed, as evidenced by the repeated failure to implement reforestation and the absence of follow-up programs to conserve the forests, which were well maintained by the communities.
Therefore, the Damar foundation approached the government three years ago and encouraged it to cooperate with Kulon Progo's Menoreh hill people in forest management, which received a positive response. The community-managed forests have turned out to be better conserved than those handled by the forestry office, though the people only control the areas around their villages.
"While helping the communities, the state also benefits because its damaged forests have been restored. It's the reason behind the government's provisional license issued on Feb. 15, 2002 to allow limited forest management by local village people," he added.
Suparlan, a local resident living near the hill, voiced the same grievances. "The forest damage in Menoreh stemmed from the deeds of some people at the forestry office including forest rangers, who frequently sold teak and mahogany, thus setting a bad example as locals strived hard for rehabilitation. Any destruction will cause suffering and that is what we experience now," he said.
The water requirements of the regency have lately been met to a certain degree with the presence of the Sermo reservoir. Kulon Progo is in fact a catchment area, but its badly stripped forests have made the reservoir plagued by a shortage of water because the rate of flow is reduced by forest denudation.