Jambi village has unique take on conservation

Jambi village has unique take on conservation

Jon Afrizal, The Jakarta Post, Jambi

"Ke atas tidak berpucuk, ke bawah tidak berakar, di tengah-tengah
di makan kumbang" (Like a withered plant, without leaves nor
roots, and its stem eaten away by the beetles).

This is the curse that will be directed at illegal loggers if
they dare to damage the community-owned forest in Batu Kerbau
village, Pelepat district, Bungo regency.

The preserved forest (386 hectares) of Batu Kerbau, which
forms part of a total forest area measuring 776 hectares, has
been declared a traditional community forest through Bungo
Regental Regulation No. 1249/2002.

"The curse is intended to serve as shock therapy for illegal
loggers," the traditional leader of Guguk village, Datuk Muhammad
Rasyid, told The Jakarta Post.

Muhammad Rasyid, the former village chief, who retains the
title of Datuk Sinaro nan Putiah, said that timber could only be
taken from the traditional forest in the public interest, such
as, for example, during the construction of the Al-Istiqomah
mosque in the village.

As an effort to uphold customary law, those who plunder
natural resources in the traditional or protected forests face
sanctions, such as a fine amounting to one cow or ox, between 20
and 100 gantang of rice (one gantang is the equal to four
liters), between 20 and 100 coconuts, a certain amount of cooking
ingredients, or between four and eight kayu of cloth (one kayu is
equal to about 20 meters), as well as cash fines of between Rp
500,000 and Rp 2.5 million.

"If they don't accept the sanctions, the violators will be
reported to the police to be prosecuted in accordance with state
law," he asserted. Sanctions may also be imposed on Muslims based
local residents -- such as reciting religious texts up to 40
times.

The efforts made by the village over the last few years have
proved highly successful and gained recognition when the village
received a national-level Kalpataru Award last year.

The Batu Kerbau village chief, Tafrizal, said that application
of customary law had restored the quality of the Batang Pelepat
river, which runs through the village. It was once polluted by
mud from the soil erosion resulting from illegal logging in
upstream areas.

Now, the 800 families living in the village can use water from
the river once more for their household needs. Besides that, the
people can once again exploit the deeper parts of the river,
locally known as the Lubuk Larangan, which literally means the
"Prohibited Deep Pools", which play host to many kinds of fish.
The people are only allowed to harvest the fish once in every
three years, which allows fish species like semah, barau, meta,
dulum, baung, bajubang belang and belido to mature and reproduce.