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Promoting Good Governance of Danau Sentarum National Park under Decentralization
A brief description of this project:
A project in Danau Sentarum National Park began in late 2004 with support from various institutions, i.e. Ford Foundation, CIFOR partnership budget and EU funded Gemconbio project. The project is implemented by two collaborating institutions, i.e., CIFOR and Yayasan Riak Bumi. We are now looking for funding to continue the Participatory Action Research on (1) pro-conservation income generating activities to improve local people's livelihoods; and (2) foster collaboration among key stakeholders of the Park. We are also looking for funding for Orangutan conservation, one of the world's dearest species which is now facing serious threats due to illegal logging and forest conversion for large scale oil palm plantation.
The goals are:
1. To facilitate stakeholders at central and local levels to build good governance in the management of DSNP and its buffer zone, and
2. To jointly find solutions on illegal logging, unclear management authority and conflict by:
- Help providing scientific evidence
- Build capacity of local partners and stakeholders to conduct multistakeholder processes
- Work with communities and other stakeholders to institutionalize self-monitoring and/or other social learning mechanisms that will increase the likelihood of continued joint management
- Develop synergies between population levels and concerns about conservation, by working explicitly with women to manage more effectively while maintaining or reducing population levels.
The project consists of a series of activities of research, multistakeholder processes and shared learning. The diagram below shows the framework and how each activity complements the others,
through an iterative process.
The Research
The research currently on-going includes:
- Analysis of policy and authority in a national park under decentralization
- Documentation of natural resources used by local communities
- Local knowledge and practices on natural resources management
- Stakeholders’ perceptions and decision making processes on land-use. This includes assessment of economic, social and ecological impacts of:
- damming the area
- conversion of the buffer zone into an oil palm plantation
- Sustainable fisheries:
- Analysis of causes of mass fish deaths and decreasing water quality
- Alternative food for Toman in cages
- Gender dimensions in natural resource conservation.
- Analysis of tenure and property rights, according to customary and formal law
- Analysis of threats to the Park
- Identification of native orchids and its conservation by local communities
- Conflict resolution mechanisms used by local communities
Most of the above research has been partly conducted, and preliminary findings have been presented in a multistakeholder workshop, 29-30 September 2005 in Putussibau. The workshop aimed to look for best solutions to management of the park, and also served as a two-way feedback mechanism for our activities.
Multistakeholder Processes
CIFOR and Riak Bumi are organizing and/or engaged with processes involving key stakeholders of Danau Sentarum, aimed to promote collaboration. Some processes we have conducted/participated in/facilitated were:
- Formal and informal meetings with key stakeholders to exchange information and to build mutual understanding
- Multistakeholder workshops on:
- “Looking for Best Management Practices for Danau Sentarum”, Putussibau, 29-30 Sept. 2005
- “Preparation of Management Plan of Danau Sentarum National Park”, Pontianak, September 2006, including a series of preparation meetings
- Public consultation on final draft of the management plan, Putussibau, 29 March 2007
- Annual meeting of communities of Danau Sentarum, December 2006
Capacity Building
- Shared learning across protected areas at national level
- Mentoring partners on research methods, writing and publication, and linking with international networks
- Action research involving local communities on microhydro power development
- Training for representatives of key stakeholder groups (local communities, management unit/conservation agency, district government and NGOs) on Collaborative Management and the Art of Facilitation, October 2006
- Training for local communities on Ecopreneurship (partnering women and youth), aimed to promote gender equity and at the same time build skills for pro-conservation income generating activities, December 2006
Progress until October 2007
Newsletter CIFOR - Riak Bumi
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