OVERCOMING VULNERABILITY OF PRIVATELY OWNED SMALL-SCALE FOREST THROUGH COLLECTIVE MANAGEMENT UNIT ESTABLISHMENT: A CASE STUDY OF GUNUNG KIDUL DISTRICT, YOGYAKARTA IN INDONESIA

Abstract

The timber shortage caused by imbalance between supply and demand is a serious problem in Indonesia. In this context, Privately Owned Forests (POFs) have been spotlighted to meet the demand. The characteristics of POF basically managed by individual farmers, however, have high vulnerability to secure stable wood supply. In order to overcome the vulnerability, a Privately Owned Forest Management Unit (POFMU), which shifts the POF managements from individual management to collective management, was initiated in Gunung Kidul (GK) district, Yogyakarta in 2004. Subsequently, the local people’s cooperative association was established in 2006; and the POFs have been managed using Indonesian forest certification. The objectives of this study are to examine 1) the organization structure of POF management and 2) obstructive factors which impede further implementation of POFMU. Literature research, field observation as well as interviews of key informants and general members of the cooperative association were conducted. Three types of local associations for multi-layered POF management and forest certification were found to contribute to an integrating small-scale POF for joint forest management. On the other hand, harvesting immature trees for personal economic factors, forest shrinkage and land absentee problem due to social factors were found to impede further POFMU implementation. In order to meet the wood demand from wood industries and market, local farmers have to navigate both factors over long periods. While POFMU and