Eviction Fears in Lombok Over Conservatory

Fitri R. Jakarta Globe 16 Dec 10;

West Lombok. Around 700 people from five villages in West Lombok district rallied outside the West Nusa Tenggara governor’s office on Thursday to protest the administration’s plan to turn Sesaot forest into a conservation park.

Rusmayadi, the protest coordinator, said more than 6,000 families from the five villages located inside the 3,672-hectare forest stood to be evicted if the plan was enforced.

“We’ll be forced to leave this forest that we’ve managed and lived off for decades, to make way for animals,” he said.

“Where can we go when we’ve lived there so long?”

He accused the administration and the forestry agency of sidelining the interests of the forest dwellers.

The protest’s leader later held talks with administration spokesman M. Faizal.

In their defense, they cited a 2010 study by the central government that recommended that the forest remain under the stewardship of the villagers.

Sesaot forest has since 1986 been managed under a community forestry license, which allows the families to grow crops and do logging in limited quantities.

The provincial administration first raised the idea of granting the forest conservation status in 1999, but was roundly opposed by residents, who said it would cost them their livelihoods.

In 2009, the administration went ahead with its plan and officially decreed the forest a conservation park, effectively stripping the residents of their right to manage the forest. However, it has not yet enforced the decree.

Hartina, head of the provincial forestry agency, said his office would recommend that the conservation status for the forest remain in place, but that the residents be allowed to continue their subsistence farming and logging.