Report on communities living within reach of the Bukit Raya National Park in Kalimantan Tengah

KEYWORD: Community-based Natural Forest Management, Asia. Asia, Indonesia, agricultural intensification, appropriate technology, industrial forestry, logging, non-timber forest products, swidden agriculture, plantation, protected areas, shifting cultivation, co-management, institutions, NGO, communication, community participation, case study. SUMMARY: This report is one of a series of studies produced under the Government of Indonesia's National Resources Management Project. This study surveys the socio-economic conditions of three local communities living either close to or inside the borders of the Bukit Baka/Bukit Raya National Park in Kalimantan. A major finding is that the communities' primary economic activities (swidden rice farming and production of ironwood roof shingles) fail to meet basic subsistence needs more than half of the time and are likely to be unsustainable in the long term. In addition, the communities face land pressures for their rice swiddens from rapid population growth due to an influx of migrants into the area and expanding rattan plantations - resulting in the establishment of swidden fields deep into the park. Rattan is much more economically attractive relative to swidden farming and ironwood production, bringing in a rate of return about six and almost two times higher, respectively. The report provides several suggestions to incorporate the communities' socio-economic aspirations into the Bukit Baka/Bukit Raya National Park Master Management Plan: Develop community programs to adopt wet rice paddies and new technologies for higher rice yields to secure adequate food supply; Work with local timber concessionaires to incorporate community rattan production in their programs in a pilot phase (programs designed to assist local communities improve their economic development), and subsequently as a larger commercial enterprise alongside its timber operations; Work with a local indigenous NGO to develop a local institutional structure to represent community interests in local planning;Work with a local NGO to provide community development training courses with a conservation and resource management focus.