(Sinar Hara­pan August 8, 2008): Based on the SH jour­ney obser­va­tion start­ing from Tues­day (5/8) until Thurs­day, the con­di­tion of the Utik tra­di­tional for­est can be con­sid­ered as gen­uine. Sev­eral tree species of high value such as ramin and jelu­tung well-grown in the area. The gleam­ing water of Sun­gai Utik river flow­ing close to the rumah adat lures any­one to swim in it.

The head of Iban com­mu­nity in Sun­gai Utik,Bandi, also known as Pak Janggut, said that they have man­aged to pre­serve the for­est con­di­tion like the orig­i­nal con­di­tion since they moved to the area for the first time in 1972. “For­est is the well of the earth. From for­est, water flows, the soil is also well-maintained. With­out this land, we are noth­ing,” said Pak Janggut explain­ing their basic thought in pre­serv­ing the forest.

Suc­cess­fully pre­serve the for­est area for 38 years, the Dayak Iban tribe resid­ing along the Sun­gai Utik river is granted the eco­la­bel cer­tifi­cate. “Sun­gai Utik tra­di­tional com­mu­nity has shown the evi­dence that for­est can be pre­served if man­aged tra­di­tion­ally,” said Tau­fiq Alimi, the Direc­tor of Indone­sian Eco­la­bel Insti­tute (LEI) dur­ing the cer­tifi­cate hand­ing over cer­e­mony in the rumah pana­jng of the Iban Utik tribe, Thurs­day (7/8). Accord­ing to Tau­fiq there are three main para­me­ters for the achieve­ment namely the ecol­ogy, social and econ­omy aspects. “At least a total area for­est area of nine thou­sand hectares has been man­aged from gen­er­a­tion to gen­er­a­tion, and the Iban is capa­ble of main­tain­ing it up until now,” Tau­fiq added.
The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, accord­ing to Pak Janggut, has con­vinced them that they have taken the right way in pre­serv­ing their for­est. Most for­est areas located close to theirs are dete­ri­o­rat­ing due to log­ging indus­try exploita­tion. There are three log­ging indus­try ‘sur­round­ing’ their for­est area namely PT Benua Indah, PT Bumi Raya Utami WI, and PT Land­jak Deras Jaya Raya of which claimed owned by investors from Malaysia and send their prod­ucts to Malaysia.

Attend­ing the cer­e­mony, the Forestry Min­is­ter MS. Kaban said that what Utik com­mu­nity per­formed is evi­dence that forests can be man­aged in a tra­di­tional way and with which the for­est can also be pre­served. “Other tra­di­tional com­mu­nity groups can learn from this sit­u­a­tion. Tra­di­tional for­est man­age­ment method can be acknowl­edged by the ‘mod­ern’ world,” said Kaban. The vice Bupati of Kapuas Hulu Dis­trict, Drs Alexan­der MSc, is also grate­ful for the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. In his remark he men­tioned that the gov­ern­ment should take Iban’s con­tri­bu­tion in pre­serv­ing their for­est into account when mak­ing the local bud­get pol­icy. It is time for the gov­ern­ment to con­sider community’s par­tic­i­pa­tion in for­est preser­va­tion effort when deter­min­ing the local bud­get so that the bud­get can be dis­trib­uted not only being based on the total size of the area as cur­rently prac­ticed. (sulung prasetyo)