Umi keeps alive dreams of the forest

Ridlo Aryanto, Contributor, Yogyakarta

There is nothing that Umi Haniin is more proud of than collecting two prestigious national awards at age 71 -- an age when people in general would rather retire and enjoy what they have gained in life.

Umi, forestry science professor at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, has twice, in 1989 and 1999, received the Kalpataru, the highest award from the government, for her outstanding role in environmental conservation.

Not only that, her pioneering role in the development of Wanagama, a 600-hectare reforested zone in Gunungkidul, 35 kilometers southeast of Yogyakarta, had also won her the Karya Satya medal of merit from the government.

"Winning awards has never been my end goal. What counts is that I can maintain my working spirit despite my age," said Umi who remains as active as ever.

She had the idea of regreening the barren land in Gunungkidul regency in 1964 with the aim to create a forest that would be useful for the locals and for scientific studies.

Thanks to the support of surrounding communities, the originally barren 10-hectare land has expanded 60 times thanks to the awareness of local people that Wanagama is important to the conservation of their own environment.

"I have been trying to make them realize that the presence of a forest provides clean water throughout the year besides fodder materials and firewood. To be honest, the two Kalpataru awards were thanks to the local people's hard work, too," she said.

To Umi Haniin, forests serve not only as the lungs of nature that supply oxygen vital to living beings, but also as a means to assist diplomacy and a medium to strengthen international friendship. In the latter, she has a proven track record.

Wanagama has drawn the admiration of various statesmen from Prince Charles of Britain and Dutch Prince Bernhard to former presidents Soeharto and Abdurrahman Wahid -- not to mention foreign ambassadors and dignitaries.

Umi recalled the visiting Singapore minister of education in 1994 complaining about the huge sum of money spent on sending hundreds of students from his country to Africa every year for forestry study.

"I promptly offered him Wanagama, where they can save a significant amount of money to study 200 plant species, with adequate accommodation facilities and the most complete museum of wood in Indonesia, possibly in Asia," she said.

Since then, lots of Singapore students have come to do research in the tropical forest, she said.

"Some of them saw ground nuts for the first time in their lives and they are excited to know that the plant blossoms on top but bears fruit in its roots," she said gleefully.

"Others were scared away by the sound of geckos," recalled Umi.

Wanagama and its surrounding communities have come into harmony thanks to the hard work of Umi and her colleagues at Gadjah Mada University's school of forestry, which started the pilot project in 1964.

As a young researcher she was concerned with the absence of natural forests around Yogyakarta, apart from those in Kaliurang on the slopes of Mt. Merapi, which were also shrinking.

As a sign of the local government's support, Sujarwo, the then head of the Yogyakarta provincial forestry office who went on to become Indonesia's first forestry minister, contributed 10 hectares of land near the Oya river in Playen district to the university's project.

"We began to grow trees on the barren lime soil such as mahogany, acacia, teak and sandalwood. After they thrived, lots of birds were attracted to the mini forest to eat fruit and spread seeds over different places, thus naturally expanding the area," said Umi, who was widowed in 1980. She has no children.

While seeking funds to maintain Wanagama and support its 35 rangers, the professor admitted she had two more big ambitions to realize.

First, helping reforestation of the millions of hectares of tropical forests already denuded. "All regents with forest areas should send field officers to attend forest management workshops and practical training in Wanagama."

Second, the necessity for Indonesian students to be assigned to Wanagama from now on for the same tropical forest study.

"I'm convinced that if both aspirations are fulfilled, the concept of 'no forest, no future' will materialize. We should rely on ourselves, right?" she said.