Forest community creates eco-friendly products

Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Never could Edi have imagined that the rattan handicrafts, produced by local residents in South Sulawesi, and now on display in an exhibition held at the Surabaya Youth Hall, would be sought after by the public.

Edi, who heads the Sipakilala rattan craftsmen group in Palopo, South Sulawesi, said that rattan material gathered up by area residents from the nearby forest, had been turned into household furniture and sold for up to Rp 150,000 at the exhibition. Previously, the residents were engaged in illegal logging of teakwood.

Even though he is not exactly wealthy, his products have gained recognition among the public in spite of just being involved in the business for three months.

"This is the first exhibition participated in by the rattan craftsmen from Latuppa village, Palopo, South Sulawesi. We are grateful to the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) for promoting our products that have received recognition from the public," said Edi.

The business, managed by Edi, is a project initiated by Walhi and the People's Forest System Consortium (KPSHR), in their efforts to preserve the forest.

Walhi and the consortium have empowered local residents so as to be able to produce non-timber handicrafts, in place of their past activity of processing teakwood, as the basic material for making traditional handicrafts.

"We have educated people in the area and provided them with an awareness of forest sustainability. We have taught them that forests have been damaged and illegal logging must stop," said the coordinator of the consortium, Joko Waluyo.

The program has been running for about five months, and now comprizes dozens of community network groups around forest areas that are working with non-timber forest products.

The consortium has also provided training in the manufacture of a variety of non-timber handicrafts, as well as helping to market and promote the products; as is the case in the week-long exhibition at the Surabaya Youth Hall, which will run through Dec. 14.

Edi added that it was hard to get public acceptance at first because rattan and non-timber materials were considered less valuable in pure economic terms compared to timber.

"They slowly have begun to understand that illegal logging could damage nature's ecosystem. After receiving counseling from environmental activists on the benefits of non-timber products, only then did they truly realize that processed rattan had an economic value comparable to timber," Edi said.

Residents can sell rattan to handicraft producers for between Rp 1,000 and Rp 8,000 per kilogram, which would then be made into various kinds of handicrafts and furniture by the craftsmen.

Another group at the exhibition is the Dukuh Lestari Salak farmers group from Sibetan village in Bali, which produces salak (zalacca or snake-skin fruit) wine.

The leader of the group, Ing Karsa, said that the wine, made from fermented salak, would be exported to Australia. Their success in processing salak has been quite beneficial for the local farmers.