The community in Lobu Tayas village is in the process of securing management rights through the establishment of Hutan Desa (Village Forest). Currently, the area is classified as a State Forest (Hutan Negara), comprising 90% Protection Forest (Hutan Lindung) and 10% Production Forest (Hutan Produksi). The legal status will grant the community the right to manage the forest areas for 35 years. As a result, 2,000 ha of already cultivated areas will be allocated for sustainable agriculture, while the remaining 10,000 ha will be fully protected as a village forest, allowing only the sustainable harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFPs).

Grantee Team

Yayasan Pelestari Ragamhayati dan Cipta Fondasi Indonesia (PRCF Indonesia), the project Grantee, has extensive and comprehensive experience in village forest establishment and management in West Kalimantan, providing capacity building, implementation supervision, monitoring, and securing long-term, results-based finance for effective conservation management and community development.  

Since March 2022, PRCF started replicating the Village Forest model from West Kalimantan in North Sumatera via piloting the establishment of one 4,600 ha Village Forest (Pepatang Raya). Currently, there are four additional village forests in the pipeline, with one being Lobu Tayas and the three others situated in the Batang Toru Ecosystem, where PRCF is running a community-based Tapanuli Orangutan conservation program.  

FCF is supporting the village forest in Lobu Tayas village, Aek Billah sub-district, South Tapanuli district, particularly through conservation management and livelihood development aspects, while laying the groundwork for securing long-term, results-based finance for the village.  

Biodiversity

The forests in Lobu Tayas village are home to vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered wildlife species including the Sumatran Tiger, Sunda Pangolin, Helmeted Hornbill, Sumatran Laughing Thrush, Asian Forest Tortoise, Sumatran Tiger, Sunda Slow Loris, Malayan Tapir, Siamang, Agile Gibbon, Southern Pig-tailed Macaque, Long-tailed Macaque, Sumatran Surili, Sunda Clouded Leopard, Asian Golden Cat, Sun Bear, Sumatran Serow and Silvery Lutung.

Both protection and production forests in the village comprise highly valuable plant species that are important sources of food, herbal medicine, and cultural goods for the local community’s livelihood. Plant surveys have not been undertaken for the forest areas; however, the community has agreed to use only 2,000 ha of the already cultivated areas for sustainable agricultural practices and to fully protect the other 10,000 ha as a protected forest, which allows for the sustainable harvest of NTFPs, such as rattan, by the local community.

Threats

Lobu Tayas forest has been mostly protected from large-scale destruction due to its remoteness and rugged terrain, resulting in poor access. However, due to the construction of a dam near Lobu Tayas the access is expected to increase, inviting the influx of oil palm, illegal logging, poaching, and other anthropogenic pressures. If the forest is not under effective community stewardship, then the fate of Lobu Tayas may be similar to that of other villages, where the expansion of oil palm plantations has resulted in the loss and degradation of the forest.

In this context, securing rights for the community in Lobu Tayas village to protect and sustainably manage their forest becomes the most effective solution to address the potential threats.

Project Activities

The project entails the following key aspects:

1.      Capacity building for sustainable agriculture through the Training of Trainers Approach

2.      Sustainable Village Enterprise Development, Institutional Capacity Building, and Facilitation of market access

3.      Biodiversity Monitoring and Protection through Community Conservation Teams

4.      Installing community governance mechanisms for natural resource management through social forestry and investing in the capacity building of the management committee for implementing Community Conservation Agreements in HCV areas that are located outside of the State Forest area

5.      Integration of traditional/customary practices and local wisdom into conservation management

We extend our appreciation to Colgate-Palmolive and The Hershey Company for funding this project for a second year.