Indonesian team to study forestry model

kolkata: a nine-member indonesian delegation is in the city to study participatory forest management practiced in india and the reasons behind its success. indonesia, which has some of the best teak forests in the world, is plagued by illegal felling. forests in indonesia do not come under the direct control of the government which manages them through a number of organisations.the delegation comprises a senior official from p t perhutani, a company that has stakes in 2.8 million hectares of forests out of the 44 million hectares in indonesia. according to members of the delegation, rise in population was causing increased pressure on the forests. west bengal was chosen as a model as the state was the pioneer in participatory forest management. the first successful attempt was made by dr ajit banerjee in midnapore in 1972-73. banerjee managed to get locals interested in the development of forests by providing them with a stable income from the controlled sale of forest products. known as the ‘arabari’ experiment, the model spread to other forests in the state. finally in 1988-89, the state government decided to pay back forest dwellers 25 per cent of the sale proceeds from forest products such as honey. locals realised the importance of forests for their livelihood. the model was also followed by orissa in simlipal. the indonesian delegation also travelled to orissa to see for themselves, the success of the scheme there. indian institute of technology, kharagpur took up participatory forest management and conducted research to make it more sustainable in the forests of nayagram in midnapore and bandwan in purulia. the delega-tion participated in a workshop on pfm organised by iit, kharagpur from april 20-26. they also visited forests in midnapore and purulia. on saturday, the delegation was in kolkata to participate in discussions with newsmen and know the indian media’s views in this regard. among the delegation were two journalists from pikiran rakyat of djakarta and compass of bandung. the delegation left for delhi in the evening where they will hold talks with forest department officials.