(Putus­si­bau August 8, 2008) – A local wis­dom pre­served and per­formed by the tra­di­tional com­mu­nity of Dayak Iban tribe in Kam­pung Sun­gai Utik, Embaloh Hulu Regency, Kapuas Hulu Dis­trict of Kali­man­tan Barat Province has resulted in the preser­va­tion of the com­mu­nity for­est area. Due to this effort the Indone­sian Eco­la­bel­ing Insti­tute (LEI ) grants the com­mu­nity with the eco­la­bel certificate.

“Dayak Iban tribe holds its cul­tural value strongly, and they refuse the investor’s offer to exploit their tra­di­tional com­mu­nity for­est area. This is why the for­est area is still well man­aged until now. This is a rare local wis­dom, and after under­go­ing a series of Sus­tain­able Com­mu­nity Based For­est Man­age­ment (SCBFM) assess­ment, we grant the first eco­la­bel cer­tifi­cate in Indone­sia”, said Tau­fiq Alimi, the Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of Indone­sian Insti­tute Insti­tute, in Putus­si­bau, Kali­man­tan barat, Wednes­day (6/8).

The hand­ing over cer­e­mony was sched­uled on Thurs­day The eco­la­bel scheme for tra­di­tional com­mu­nity for­est in Sun­gai Utik com­menced in 2004–2006. At that time LEI, AMAN, For­est Watch Indone­sia (FWI), and Euro­pean Union held a col­lab­o­ra­tive pro­gram in Kam­pung Sun­gai Utik. The col­lab­o­ra­tive pro­gram also involved three com­mu­nity advo­cacy orga­ni­za­tions based in Pon­tianak. The three orga­ni­za­tions are Lem­baga Bela Banua Tal­ino (LBBT), Pem­ber­dayaan Pen­gelo­laan Sum­ber­daya Alam Ker­aky­atan (PPSDAK), dan Pro­gram Pem­ber­dayaan Sis­tem Hutan Ker­aky­atan (PPSHK).

On March 2008, a series of SCBFM cer­ti­fi­ca­tion assess­ment was held by PT. Mutu­a­gung Lestari (MAL) as the qual­ity cer­ti­fi­ca­tion body under LEI’s accred­i­ta­tion. The result of the for­est cer­ti­fi­ca­tion (eco­la­bel) assess­ment stated that the com­mu­nity of kam­pong Sun­gai Utik is enti­tled to receive the sus­tain­able for­est man­age­ment cer­tifi­cate. (ant/slg)