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In this issue
Message from
RUPES Project Office
In
this issue, we feature RUPES Singkarak currently sizzling with the idea
of establishing an environmental education and training center and with the
efforts to revitalize the coffee enclave on top of the hill near
Singkarak Lake of West Sumatra. Last week, a team of experts from the
World Agroforestry Centre, Bogor Agricultural University, and the
Indonesian Coffee and Cacao Research Centre (ICCRI) visited the site to
meet all stakeholders involved and discuss further follow up
actions. Two reports from the visit are presented here.
Check
the link to the 2nd World Agroforestry Congress if you are interested
to,
among others, share your research findings, lessons, experiences, and
ideas that will help influence decisions that impact on livelihoods and
the global environment.
In
our References section, you can find a link to the newly published IFPRI's
discussion paper on the social forestry scheme the RUPES Sumberjaya
developed in the western part of Lampung Province of Indonesia. The
paper was based on the study by researchers of the World
Agroforestry Centre, International Food Policy Research Institute, and
Michigan State University under the financial support of the BASIS
Collaborative Research Support Program.
Happy
reading ...
Aunul
Fauzi
RUPES
Communication Specialist
Top.
Singkarak
Environmental Education and Training Center
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In a
meeting at the Nagari Paninggahan office attended by some 70
persons, including the village leadership, agreement was
reached that village land (up to 50 ha) will be made
available for an 'environmental education' centre that
should cater for local up to provincial needs at practical
level as well as aimed at schools. The local district and
provincial governments are well informed and supportive.
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Located
in West Sumatra province of Indonesia, Singkarak Lake is one
of the six RUPES action research sites. The Nagari Paninggahan
office has
also functioned as the center for RUPES field
coordination.
Among
the many steps needed to make the plan a reality, five stand
out:
1)
Development of appropriate curricula and programs
2)
Development of human capacity and networks
3)
Physical development of the site
4)
Development of a business plan for operations & investment
plan for start up
5)
Creation of an appropriate institution and governance
system.
Ad 1.
Curricula
During
a study visit in 2007, RUPES-Singkarak team secured
cooperation with the East Java Seloliman Training Center on
availability of training materials and curricula. Temporary
exchange of staff is feasible. Issues of environment and
climate change are becoming part of regular school programs. A
number of basic trainings for primary and secondary school
level, as well as for farmers/villagers around Singkarak need
to be developed to obtain broader feedback and 'buy-in'.
Ad 2.
Staffing
While a
number of volunteers and occasional trainers/teachers could be
found in the existing network, a professional leadership will
be needed. A very good candidate for 'founding director' would
be Ibu Gadis, who was worked with RUPES Singkarak from the
start and lives in Paninggahan. Other potential candidates for
the start-up staff can be found among the teachers in local
schools.
Ad 3.
Building
The 40
ha lot made available is a beautiful location with views over
the lake, the village lands and the forest, but it has a
number of challenges for an earthquake proof building on
slopes where the previous earthquake lead to a landslide.
Staff of Landscape Architecture (IPB) has agreed to assist in
the development of a masterplan for the site, that would allow
for an organic growth in a number of phases, a design that is
visually attractive within the landscape, and does not provide
environmental problems itself. Clean water is available. Waste
disposal will need care, as the centre is located above the
main spring that provides for Paninggahan's water resource.
Ad
4. Business/investment
plan
Using the Seloliman
Centre as an example,
external funds will be needed for the physical building
activities and initial operations, but with modest fees per
child/participant and a combination of professional and
volunteer staff, active engagement in continued innovation and
associated project opportunities, a viable centre can emerge.
A small-scale early start in simple facilities can generate
momentum while physical construction may need a 2-3 year time
frame for securing funding, technical plans, approval
processes and construction.
Ad 5.
Institution
The
centre will require a separate foundation (Yayasan) that can
work with government as well as non-government resources. The
way RUPES-Singkarak was institutionalized in a Regency decree
on Environmental Services (and therefore be the potential
recipient of funds from the hydropower company and other
sources) provides an example. The Board of Trustees will need
to have representatives of the Paninggahan village, district
and provincial level government agencies, some of the major
NGO's active ion environmental issues in Sumatra, and a
connection with the University world. The RUPES Singkarak
network can provide a number of founding board members, but
broader contacts will be needed. [Meine
van Noordwijk]
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Top.
Kopi
Ulu Regeneration
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Nagari
Paninggahan has applied for and obtained financial support
for revitalization of its old coffee gardens. For 2008 the
program can support 100 hectares out of the total of over a
1000 ha in the valley. The village has agreed to use
'organic' coffee production rules, to benefit from the clean
history (50 years of no-input coffee exploitation,
essentially just harvesting whatever grew) and to secure
clean water for the village itself.
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Two
experts from the Indonesian Coffee and Cacao Research
Institute (ICCRI), Dr. John Bako Baon and Dr. Aris provided technical
advice. The robusta coffee population in the valley is,
according to their assessment, highly variable (as expected
for a seed-based coffee establishment), but contains 5-10%
of 'plus' trees that can be used for grafting on the
existing rootstock, after pruning. There are large numbers
of seedlings available as well for grafting plants for
interplanting. Target should be around 1000 coffee plants
per ha, with sufficient shade trees (mostly 'cingkareen' or
Erythrina app.; some Gliricidia sepium was recently
introduced) and retention of the available fruit, timber and
other useful trees (incl. nangka (jack fruit), clove,
durian, Suren, cinnamon, petai (Parkia)).
Identification
of 'plus' trees will essentially be based on two criteria:
short internodes in the fruit-bearing stem sections (less
than 5 cm between fruit clusters) and the number of
fruits/cluster (with 30 as the target). The best trees
currently available may yield 5 kg dry berries/tree/year,
so a potential yield of above 2 t/ha is feasible. Current
yield level is estimated to be 125 kg/ha/year.
The
staff of the local 'forest and plantation service' who will
provide the funding are yet to be convinced that sufficient
good quality material for grafting is available. However,
according to the ICCRI team, the long period of natural
selection under no-input conditions makes the existing
population worth conserving and they see it as potentially
contributing to the national coffee variety collection, with
good yield potential. Once tree pruning, management and
grafting has increased physical productivity,
selections can later look for other quality characteristics. A
moderate selection pressure (using 5-10% of existing trees)
is therefore desirable.
As
there is no expertise in the village on the use of grafting
techniques in coffee, it may be useful to arrange for one or
two farmer/trainers from Sumberjaya (RUPES site in Lampung) to come to Paninggahan
for a week. Visual guides on the grafting technique are
available.
Further
discussions are needed in the village on the formation of
subgroups of farmers (around 10 households) to work together
and have accountability towards the larger group for
achieving the project targets and the development of local
rules. The relationship between the 'kopi ulu' and its
surrounding watershed protection forest requires attention.
A form of HKM (social forestry) agreement as in Sumberjaya may be needed to
secure the transition between coffee gardens and forest.
The
village meeting identified the use of wood inside and around
the coffee gardens as requiring further village-level
regulation. For now, the use of wood for local construction
of temporary houses ('pondoks') and bridges is allowed, but
timber is not supposed to leave the valley.
A full
assessment of current 'agrobiodiversity' resources and
establishment of monitoring points for environmental quality
can help the village in preventing degradation. [Meine
van Noordwijk]
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Top.
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Contact:
rupes@cgiar.org
RUPES
Website
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Featured
Links
2nd
World Congress of Agroforestry
The
2nd World Congress of Agroforestry to be held in Nairobi,
Kenya
(August 2009) will assess opportunities to leverage scientific
agroforestry in promoting sustainable land use worldwide.
The
Congress will serve as a forum for agroforestry researchers,
educators, practitioners and policy makers from around the world.
Deadline
for paper abstracts: 31 August 2008 .
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References
Impacts
of the Hutan Kamasyarakatan Social Forestry Program in the
Sumberjaya Watershed, West Lampung District of Sumatra, Indonesia
This
IFPRI's Discussion Paper No. 769 investigates the impacts of a
social forestry program in Indonesia, Hutan Kamasyarakatan
(HKm), based on analysis of a survey of 640 HKm and comparable
non-HKm plots in the Sumberjaya watershed of southern Sumatra, and
of the households operating those plots. The policy implications
of these findings are also discussed in the paper.
Authors:
John Pender, Suyanto, John Kerr, and Edward Kato (May 2008)
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