MASIMPEI, THE GUARDIAN OF FOREST

USAID LESTARI: STORY FROM THE FIELD

By: Jelfi

Masimpei, a biology teacher, hopes that he will be able to inherit the forest for his offspring some- day. That hope drives him to try to establish a village forest in Tangkahen Village, Banama Tingang, Pulang Pisau District, Central Kalimantan Province. In doing so, the principal of Tangkahen’s vocatio- nal school has been taking the bumpy road of advocacy for sustainable forest management and a prosperous community.

And his concern is warranted. His village’s forest has fallen victim to corporate exploitation, name- ly, unsustainable logging. The exploitation has ge- nerated nothing for the local community. The forest cover and the many animals and plants that used to reside within it are now gone, lea- ving the community with no remaining resources for their daily needs. In short, the people have been acting strictly as onlookers.

But, Masimpei refused to stand still. In 2010, he began trying to convince the government to recognize Tangkahen’s forest as a village forest. Luckily in 2015, he finally received help from the USAID LESTARI project, which had also been trying to advocate for collaborative forest ma- nagement in Indonesia. LESTARI then establi- shed Lembaga Pengelola Hutan Desa (Village Fo- rest Management Society) or LPHD. The birth

“When we protect the forest, the forest will provide for us.” – Masimpei.

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of LPHD fueled Masimpei’s passion even more. He ]immediately gathered his friends and neigh- bors and together formed Tim 20, a group of people leading the advocacy efforts for the village forest in Tangkahen.

Under Masimpei’s leadership, Tim 20 formulated a systematic plan to realize the village forest. They first began with establishing Kelompok Usaha Perhutanan Sosial (Social Forestry Business Group) or KUPS, a group of farmers who would later own the right to utilize and manage the village forest. KUPS consists of several branches: KUPS for traditional medicines and decorative plants, ecotourism, canework, forest honey, and mushroom.

While Masimpei was trying to empower the vil- lage members and galvanize them into action, LESTARI worked concurrently by helping to draft the village forest management proposal, map the proposed area, and finally submit the proposal to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK). In response to the proposal, KLHK sent a team of surveyors to Tangkahen for field assess-ment and data verification.

Initially, the proposal requested for an area as large as 1,500 ha. After subsequent verifications, the area shrank to 1,300 ha, 750 ha, 357 ha, and lastly 162 ha. The decree on Tangkahen’s village forest (P.83/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/10/ 2016) was then issued and handed over by the president himself, Joko Widodo, to the people of Tangkahen during his visit to Buntoi Village, Pulang Pisau District, on December 20, 2016, for the inauguration of Sengon factory construction.

The certificate undoubtedly brought joy to Ma-simpei. “My mission has been accomplished. This is the happiest day of my life. One day, I will tell my grandchildren about their grandparents’ struggle for Tangkahen’s forest. When we protect the forest, the forest will provide for us,” he said joyfully.

A year after, the people still have tons of work to do. They want their village to be an ecotou- rism destination in Central Kalimantan. They be- gan with proposing for a 50-million-rupiah grant to the Social Forestry and Environmental Part- nerships Office (BPSKL) of Kalimantan. They plan- ned to use the money to purchase equipment such as flashlights and sleeping bags, and fund

Photo (from top to bottom) 1. Masimpei

2. Masimpei with KUPS member in Tangkahen Village Forest Guest House

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the construction of a forest trek. Masimpei also lobbied the village chief and the entire village to allocate some of the village fund (Dana Desa) to build guest houses.

Luckily, these efforts were not futile. LPHD Tang- kahen earned 125 million rupiah for the cons- truction of guest houses near the forest. They have also succeeded in convincing various stake-holders about their plan to establish an ecotou- rism business. LESTARI helped Masimpei and friends by developing a village forest manage-ment plan for the next ten years and a work plan for 2017–2018. LESTARI indeed supports social forestry as a forest management model which regards the local community as a key actor.

Masimpei believes that Tangkahen’s village forest will be a well-known ecotourism destination. He concedes that it will take a strong commitment from the entire village to do so. He is convin- ced that the residents will keep protecting the fo- rest no matter what. “We are enacting a tribunal law called Singer here. Considering how strong the tradition is, I am sure that everyone will support Tangkahen’s village forest. Regardless, we have to protect the forest for the future generations,” explained Masimpei.

Photo (from top to bottom): 1. Nepenthes

2. Moss in Tangkahen Village Forest

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