If the Forest is Damaged, The Lives of Residents will be Under Threat

Name: If the Forest is Damaged, The Lives of Residents will be Under Threat
Uploaded: 2021-02-05T05:38:15Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: If the forest is damaged, people\'s lives will be threatened.

If the forest is damaged, people\'s lives will be threatened.

BENEDIKTUS KRISNA YOGA/DHANANG DAVID ARITONANG/MADINA NUSRAT

· 6 minutes read

After 40 years of working as a tea picker, Jaya, 53, was laid off by the company and forced to leave the housing for plantation workers in Kampung Cibulao, Tugu Utara village, Cisarua district, Bogor regency, West Java. In fact, together with other tea pickers, they can reforest the hilly slopes in Cibulao village.

Regreening a tea plantation area of more than 500 hectares (ha) managed by PT Sumber Sari Bumi Pakuan (SSBP) in Tugu Utara village is not an easy matter.

The hilly slopes of Kampung Cibulao are part of the upstream watershed area of Ciliwung River, which is in a poor condition. As of 2018, half of the upstream watershed area, covering Cisarua and Megamendung, was in very critical condition. Therefore, a number of landslide points were found in Cibulao village.

Also read: State-owned Land in Puncak for Free Transactions

In Puncak it is also increasingly difficult for the water to be absorbed into the ground. This happens because of the massive development in the area for various purposes. Overflow in the upper watershed area of Ciliwung River has been difficult to control for decades, and has recently turned to cause deadly disasters.

In the 2000s, the soil absorption capacity in Puncak was getting worse.

The worsening natural condition in Puncak is similar with the findings of the hydrologist of IPB University, Hidayat Pawitan, who has conducted researches for two decades in the area. In the 1980s, the absorption of water to the ground in the upstream area decreased by 50 percent. This means that 50 percent of the rainfalls overflows into surface of the ground.

In the 2000s, the soil absorption capacity in Puncak was getting worse. Up to 100 millimeters of rainfall per day occurs most of the year, but 90 percent of the water runs on the surface. This trend is predicted to continue up to the present.

"The 90 percent of the surface water, as I said, had (occurred) in 2000. Maybe now 95 percent," said Hidayat, Saturday (5/12/2020), in Jakarta.

The Puncak area with the charm of Mount Gede Pangrango has been undergoing massive change of land use from green areas since the New Order. After the 1998s, land use change was rampant, thereby resulting in increased surface water overflow. "Since reformation, deforestation has reached 10 million ha. This condition causes water overflow to increase and there appear flash floods whose overflow coefficient is above 1. According to natural law, this should not happen,” said Hidayat.

Overflow coefficient values are calculated from the number 0-1. If the value is above 1, it means that 100 percent of the water on the surface is overflowing. This means that no water is absorbed into the ground.

Self-reliant regreening

Since 2007, some of the tea picking workers in the PT SSBP tea plantation have independently regreened the hills around their residence. They (residents) are members of the Cibulao Forest Farmers Group (KTH). Jaya is one of them.

Jaya’s coffee plantation area is none other than a forest area belonging to state-owned forestry company Perum Perhutani. Since becoming a member of the forest farmer group, in the social forestry program, KTH Cibulao has been entrusted with managing Perum Perhutani forest area in Cisarua with a total area of 610.64 ha. Until now, 250 ha of land have been regreened, with no less than 500,000 coffee trees and other hard trees being planted.

Also read: Prepare Mitigation in Puncak

KTH Cibulao plants trees in unused land. Following conservation principles, the trees planted are not only coffee, but are interspersed with other hard trees, such as avocado, jackfruit, and suren species, which also have economic value.

Besides Jaya, there is Cecep Zainuddin, 36, a worker on the plantation who was also laid off and asked to leave his house. While working on the plantation, Cecep independently regreened the area around the PT SSBP tea plantation.

Some of the tea pickers were laid off because PT SSBP would use their home area to develop agro-tourism.

Cecep has regreened the watershed area of Telaga Saat, one of the springs in the upstream area of Ciliwung River. This lake is located in the middle of the PT SSBP tea plantation area.

We live here. Life depends on the preservation of nature.

Cecep has also regreened the hilly valley behind his house in Kampung Cibulao. In the valley there is an area along a tributary of Ciliwung River where he also planted coffee trees to prevent erosion. "We live here. Life depends on the preservation of nature. The tea plants must be cared for. Its environments must also be cared for. If there is a landslide, of course the ones who lose are ourselves,” said Cecep.

When confirmed, the head of PT SSBP office, Rusmana, confirmed that the company would build agro-tourism around Telaga Saat, which is located about 500 meters from Kampung Cibulao and Kampung Cikoneng. A tea factory will also be built there.

Also read: Landslide Suspected of Triggering Flash Floods

Rusmana said that even though the area is prone to landslides, a number of inns and tourist facilities, such as ATV tracks and bicycle paths, will be built around Lake Saat.

"There are three landslide points around Telaga Saat. However, God willing, it is safe for tourism because we have done the reforestation,” he said.

On the other hand, according to Rusmana, the potential for landslides around Telaga Saat was triggered by environmental damage due to the rampant actions of Cibulao residents. According to him, the residents used to encroach the forest. "We seem to have been blamed for the land damage," he said.

The chairman of KTH Cibulao, Jumpono, admitted that dozens of years ago Cibulao residents encroached the forest because their wages as tea pickers were very low, amounting to not more than Rp 30,000 per day. Even, 10 years ago, the maximum wage was Rp 10,000 per day. The low level of wages forced the residents to look for additional income by encroaching the forest.