| |
Lambusango Forest Projects
| By 2004, Operation Wallacea biodiversity survey teams had
identified the Lambusango forests in central Buton Island as of outstanding
biodiversity importance with 21 new vertebrate species to
science having been discovered together with strong populations of
endangered Sulawesi species such as the anoa. However, the forests
were under threat from illegal selective logging, hunting for the
anoa and clearances around the edge to create more farmland.
In 2005 the
Operation Wallacea Trust was awarded a $1 million GEF
grant supervised by the World Bank to establish strong
protection for the Lambusango forests. The Trust
team implementing this project is based in Bau Bau. There are
a number of key elements to the management programme including a
novel approach to managing the forests using a Forum of local
people with the forestry powers from both national and regional
governments devolved to this Forum. The idea is that the best
people to manage an area are those who live closest to it and are
most affected by the management decisions. |
Lambusango forest in central Buton Island showing
the biological monitoring camps. |
An anoa hunt seen in 2004 - Bruce Carlisle |
The Forum is playing an important role in increasing
transparency and community involvement in forest management, and
is developing as an important pressure group as well as a
strategic partner to local government for the implementation of
good forest governance in Buton District. The Forum has
facilitated the development of conservation village regulations or
Perdes (Peraturan Desa) in three villages (Siontapina, Kakenauwe
and Labuhandiri).
A Forest Crime Unit Lambusango (FCUL) has been formed. The FCUL
consists of informants, response units and journalist teams and
has conducted regular joint patrols with government investigators,
forest rangers and journalists. Some illegal timber has been
confiscated (about 35 m3 per month). There has however, been a
lack of follow-up legal actions from the legal authorities (police
and/or district attorney). The FCUL is also assisting legal
authorities to enforce forestry laws in forest investigation
posts. Monitoring on transport routes out of the forest has
suggested that illegal logging may be declining. Based on data
collection conducted in two forest products investigation posts by
Lambusango Project staff who manned the posts in September 2005
and during October – December 2006, reduced by 73% over that
period. Data from the comparison of satellite images between 2004
and 2006 suggests that clear felling of the forest has mostly
stopped. |
Hunting of anoa is perhaps the key concern of the Lambusango forest
management project and it appears from interview data that anoa hunting
has declined over the 2005 to 2006 period. In addition two books on the
wildlife and the forests have been produced. Education, awareness and
skills training elements of the project have included: production of
posters, monthly bulletins and newsletters, story books for children,
jungle training for senior high school students, essay competitions on
environment for senior high school and installation of conservation
campaign boards surrounding Lambusango forest.
| In the long term though the only way to ensure that the
local communities continue protecting the forests are to ensure there is a
direct link between conservation of the forest and prosperity in the
village. Research ecotourism such as that provided by Operation Wallacea
provides substantial income to a limited number of communities, and the
project has employed consultants to expand the ecotourism revenue
outside the normal Operation Wallacea season. However, in order to impact
each of the villages a revenue stream that is more widespread has to be
developed (see Wildlife Conservation Products scheme below). Other products are also being developed for sale through a
similar scheme. Contracted villages have also received help in
agricultural diversification (e.g. ginger). There is also an intensive biological
and economic monitoring programme being carried out as part of this
programme and which is supplemented by the Operation Wallacea surveys and
volunteer input during the July - August period each year. Regular updates
on progress and newsletters with the project are provided.
At the mid-term of the project, the monitoring programmes are
sufficient to assess 12 (63%) of the 19 performance criteria. To
improve this, additional surveys are planned for 2008. The Lambusango
Project appears to be on target to achieve 5 of the 19 performance
criteria. These include levels of awareness about the forests in the
wider community, forest cover, a decrease in selective logging, hunting
and use of the forest as assessed from trails, no changes in bird
communities and maintaining anoa populations. 11 of the performance
criteria are data deficient and cannot be assessed either because
additional surveys need to be completed (8) or because additional years of
data are needed (3). There are only 3 of the performance criteria
that do not look like being achieved without a change in approach by the
Lambusango Project and these are now being addressed.
|
 |
Wildlife Conservation Products scheme
 |
One of the fastest ways to get additional income into remote
rural communities is to use the Fair Trade scheme for marketing
their existing products. However, whilst the Fair Trade system has
many advantages for increasing incomes in communities in
developing countries, the scheme was not developed with any
specific conservation benefit in mind. The Rainforest Alliance has
developed a similar scheme, which has additional restrictions on
how the crops can be grown (non use of herbicides and pesticides).
However, even this scheme does not link price to the wider
conservation performance of the whole village. Indeed there is one
village in the Cusuco National Park buffer zone at the Op Wall
Honduras site, which has achieved Rainforest Alliance approved
prices for its coffee products, yet this village is the one most
involved with illegal hunting in the adjacent reserve!
To overcome this problem the Operation Wallacea Trust has
developed a new scheme called Wildlife Conservation Products where
communities can receive Fair Trade equivalent prices for their
commodities only if they have signed one of these conservation
agreements. If there is evidence that village members are
continuing to hunt or log then the scheme is suspended until the
community can exert the necessary pressure to prevent this
activity. However, the payment of prices significantly above
market rates in these communities provides a strong positive
incentive for ensuring 'their' forest is protected. |
The Trust has started the purchase of coffee and cashews from
communities in the Indonesia and Honduras Op Wall sites. These products
are being marketed as direct action to save populations of the anoa (a
Sulawesi endemic dwarf buffalo) and Baird’s Tapir (a threatened
Central American species). These are just the start of a range of
products that could be supplied through this scheme and the role of the
UK Trust is to develop the markets in Europe and North America for these
products and to organise the marketing for the Wildlife Conservation
Products scheme.
|
