”In addition to that, the activity also directly contributes to the increased welfare of the communities members who manage the sustainable forest”, Indra said during the workshop themed “My Forest is Sustainable, the River is Friendly, the Community is Prosperous”, held in Yogyakarta, Wednesday.

Initiated by the Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute (LEI), the workshop was held during a visit from journalists to community forest areas in the districts of Wonogiri in Central Java and Pacitan in East Java.

Indra further explained that LEI, as a non-profit organization working to develop an ecolabel certification system for sustainable resources management, would very much like to introduce sustainable community forest management to public because not only sustainable forest management could help conserve the environment, it could also help further develop the communities which implemented the system.

Indra also added that during 2004–2010, several parties had build a collaboration to promote community forest conservation with thwe aim to help save watershed areas. This was performed by utilizing the LEI-standard ecolabel certification.

To achieve it, the Provincial and District Offices of the Ministry of Forestry, the Watershed Management Hall, the Center for Environmentaal Standardization of the Ministry of Forestry and the Association for Economic and Social Study and Development (Perhimpunan untuk Studi dan Pengembangan Ekonomi dan Sosial PERSEPSI) – a community economy empowerment organization – have worked hand in hand to promote ecolabel certification for community forests located along the 4 watershed areas.

The four watershed areas are Solo and Pemali-Jratun watersheds in Central Java, Sampeyan watershed in Madura and Cimanuk-Cisanggarung and Citanduy watersheds in West Java.

Watersheds’ condition in Indonesia has become more severe as indicated by frequent floods, droughts, and landslides due to the inability of deforested upriver area in absorbing rain water.

The decrease in watershed quality is directly caused by irresponsible upriver deforestation process in meeting the recent urgent demands, such as conversion of forest areas into plantations, agricultural and residential areas.

As the result, the community members must endure the consequences, such as losing their properties, cattle, rice fields, valuables, etc.

LEI’s certification standard is opted to help save the watershed because it promotes a sustainable forest management practice and empowerment of communities performing such practice. Thus, it will stimulate the growth of forest farmers’ welfare.

Apart from that, LEI’s Chain of Custody (CoC) certification will ensure that wood and non-wood products are extracted only from sustainable and legal community forests.

Wood and non-wood products extracted from sustainable and legal sources will bear the LEI-CoC identity on their package or surface.

PT Jawa Furni Lestari have been producing LEI-CoC certified wood products. The company processes the materials, of which generated from LEI-certified community forests, into wooden furniture.

So far, there are 10 LEI-certified sustainable community forest management units (Unit Manajemen Hutan Rakyat – UMHR). Five of them are located along Solo watershed areas, i.e. in Wonogiri, Pacitan, Sukoharjo, Sragen, and Magetan Districts.

The preparations for LEI certification is currently being performed along the Pemali-Jratun watershed area that includes Batang and Pekalongan Districts; Cimanuk-Cisanggarung watershed area; and itanduy watershed area includes the Districts of Garut, Sumedang, Majalengka, Brebes, and Pekalongan, added Indra.

The successful achievement of the above 5 UMHRs was the result of a multi-party collaboration which involves community members, which managed the community forest area, and the Association for Economic and Social Study and Development (Perhimpunan untuk Studi dan Pengembangan Ekonomi dan Sosial PERSEPSI) as the guarantor and partner.

In addition to that, other parties involved in the collaboration are the District Office of the Ministry of Forestry, as partner and facilitator, the East Java Province Provincial Office of the Ministry of Forestry, the Solo District Office of Watershed Management (Balai Pengelolaan Daerah Aliran Sungai — BPDAS) and the Center for Standardization and Environment of the Ministry of Forestry which provided the funding and other types of supports.

Conservation program
Meanwhile, the Manager of LEI Accreditation and Secretariate Gladi Hardiyanto stated that the watershed conservation program is in line with the Minister of Forestry’s programs, of which had selected 108 watershed areas as conservation areas priorities during the five years development period (2010–2014).

Furthermore, the program is also in line with the Presidential Instruction No. 5/2008 on the focus of economic program year 2008–2009 on watershed management strategies and key efforts to be taken for the next 20 years.

To promote environmental conservation movement for community forests in other areas, LEI invited local journalists from various provinces to join a field visi. The journalists were able directly observed the field activity processes, starting from the community forests to the manufacturing of LEI-CoC-certified wooden products.

The objective of the activity, he said, was to give an experience to the journalists on sustainable forest management practices of which have been able to support the community’s development and environment conservation.

The field visit was also aimed at introducing LEI standard ecolabel certification in sustainable community forests and LEI-certified wood products in Wonogiri, Pacitan, and Gunung Kidul areas.
(ras/RAS/ant)

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