Capacity Building on Catchment Management and Conservation to Sustain Micro-Hydro Power Scheme in Mamasa (CI)
Restoring forest ecosystems, strengthening community-based watershed management, and promoting sustainable livelihoods through conservation, reforestation, and local capacity building.
Capacity Building on Catchment Management and Conservation to Sustain Micro-Hydro Power Scheme in Mamasa (CI)
Introduction
The Batang Toru Forest is one of the important ecosystems representing the remaining tropical rainforests on the island of Sumatra, alongside several other ecosystems, such as forest ecosystems within national park areas. However, over time, the Batang Toru Forest area has faced various pressures, including the exploitation of timber resources and mining activities. Increased accessibility without effective monitoring has triggered a tendency toward land-use conversion, resulting in forest fragmentation and deforestation.
One of the efforts to protect and improve the Batang Toru Forest ecosystem is through the sustainable management of watersheds encompassing the forest area, both at the micro-watershed or catchment area (DTA) level and at the macro-watershed level, through community involvement. This watershed management approach, which provides greater opportunities for communities at the micro-watershed level, is an important strategy for macro-watershed management.
Conservation International (CI) Indonesia, as the administrator of the Sustainable Landscapes Partnership (SLP) Program in Indonesia, with funding support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Walton Family Foundation, collaborated with Yayasan Operasi Wallacea Terpadu (OWT), involving its local partner, Lembaga Ovata Indonesia, to continue facilitating villages under the Community Conservation Agreement (CCA) established through the previous SLP project. This initiative focused particularly on four villages in Marancar Subdistrict (Aek Sabaon, Aek Nabara, Tanjung Dolok, and Sugi villages, which are located within the same Air Sirabun catchment area) and one village in Sipirok Subdistrict (Batu Satail, located within the Lampasong catchment area).
To ensure the successful implementation of community-based catchment area (DTA) management activities, this project applied a strategy of intensive facilitation and technical assistance for communities (farmer groups), village governments, subdistrict extension officers, teachers, and students throughout all stages of the project. In general, the project implemented four activity phases: (1) the Diagnostic Study Phase, (2) the Capacity-Building Phase, (3) the Collaborative Management Phase, and (4) the Exit Strategy Phase.
a. Diagnostic Study Phase
This phase was carried out over approximately two months and aimed to understand all existing initiatives and identify gaps, determine important factors requiring new initiatives or strengthening, and establish baseline conditions before project interventions. Activities during this phase included socialization and coordination; collection of village socioeconomic, cultural, and institutional data; review of village planning documents (Village Medium-Term Development Plans (RPJM Desa), Village Regulations (Perdes), CCAs, etc.) related to catchment area management; implementation of focus group discussions (FGDs) at the subdistrict level; collection of biophysical data on catchment areas; mapping of catchment boundaries and planned planting locations; surveys of community livelihoods and awareness of protected areas and conservation; review of documents concerning the potential, challenges, and opportunities for developing sustainable livelihoods in the five supported villages; and identification of training topics and resource persons.
b. Capacity-Building Phase
This phase was carried out over two months and aimed to strengthen the capacities of communities, village governments, extension officers, teachers, students, and local community groups and non-governmental organizations (KSM/LSM). Activities during this phase included establishing or strengthening farmer group institutions for catchment area management; preparing manuals, training materials, and environmental awareness materials related to good practices in catchment area management; conducting training on Watershed Management, Village Development Planning and Finance, Seedling Production Techniques and Land Restoration, and Coffee and Sugar Palm Cultivation; environmental awareness campaigns; distributing training and awareness materials; and providing technical assistance throughout the project.
c. Collaborative Management Phase
This phase was carried out over four months, beginning in the second month of the Diagnostic Study Phase and continuing until shortly before the project ended. It aimed to establish collaborative management involving stakeholders in catchment area management. Activities during this phase included facilitating the integration of catchment area management into village development plans through reviews of Green RPJM-Des; establishing village nursery centers; developing organic fertilizers; providing technical assistance for village nursery management; facilitating the development of sustainable livelihoods; and facilitating planting campaigns for land rehabilitation.
d. Exit Strategy Phase
This phase aimed to gradually phase out project assistance to ensure that all initiatives and facilitation activities undertaken by the project could be continued by local stakeholders. At the same time, good practices implemented during the project were documented and promoted at the regional and national levels. Activities included producing a film on good practices in rural catchment area management; promoting good practices in catchment area management; facilitating program sustainability by strengthening farmer groups, village governments, and local community groups and NGOs in developing proposals for catchment area management; and organizing a subdistrict-level workshop or showcase on good practices in rural catchment area management.
Achivement
Based on the results of the project implementation, the following conclusions can be drawn:
a. The establishment of village nursery centers has provided a learning platform for communities and students to improve their capacities in various standard seedling production techniques. These centers also help meet seedling requirements for ecosystem restoration, conservation, and sustainable livelihood development.
b. Awareness-raising activities for students and communities around conservation areas, using various awareness media such as films, posters, and other materials, have had a positive impact on forest protection and catchment area (DTA) management efforts. Therefore, these facilitation activities need to be continued.
c. A series of training activities has improved the knowledge and skills of communities, students, teachers, extension officers, and village governments in catchment area management and soil conservation techniques, seedling production and land restoration techniques, village development planning and financial management, as well as coffee and sugar palm cultivation, which had previously been rarely available in the supported locations.
d. This project has raised awareness among village governments of the importance of mainstreaming environmental conservation and catchment area management components into village development planning documents, including Village Medium-Term Development Plans (RPJM-Des), Village Government Work Plans (RKP-Des), and Village Revenue and Expenditure Budgets (APB-Des).
e. Technical assistance provided to students and teachers throughout the project implementation has been an important component of efforts to raise awareness of catchment area management.
Several of the project's outcome achievements are summarized below:
Output 1: Increased capacity of village governments in catchment area (DTA) management
1.1 Collection of village socioeconomic, cultural, and institutional data (100%)
1.2 Review of village planning documents (Village Medium-Term Development Plans (RPJM Desa), Village Regulations (Perdes), CCAs, etc.) related to DTA management (100%)
1.3 Conducting FGDs at the subdistrict level (100%)
1.4 Training on the preparation of RPJM-Des documents, Village Regulations, and village administration at the subdistrict level (100%)
1.5 Subdistrict-level training on DTA management (100%)
1.6 Facilitation of the preparation of draft Village Regulations on DTA management (100%)
Output 2: Improved quality of DTA ecosystems and establishment of low-carbon land use in five supported villages
2.1 Collection of DTA biophysical data (100%)
2.2 Mapping of DTA boundaries and planned planting locations (100%)
2.3 Training on nursery establishment, seedling production, and planting techniques (100%)
2.4 Establishment of village nursery demonstration plots (100%)
2.5 Facilitation of planting campaigns (100%)
2.6 Preparation of a community-based DTA management manual/module (100%)
Output 3: Increased awareness among communities, students, extension officers, teachers, and other stakeholders regarding the conservation of protected areas and biodiversity
3.1 Survey of awareness levels regarding protected areas and conservation (100%)
3.2 Preparation of awareness-raising materials (100%)
3.3 Distribution of awareness-raising materials (posters, leaflets, stickers, etc.) (100%)
3.4 Screening of awareness-raising films at the village or school level (100%)
Output 4: Development of diverse livelihood sources originating from outside or within protected and conservation areas
4.1 Review of documents on the potential, challenges, and opportunities for sustainable livelihood development in the five supported villages (100%)
4.2 Training on sustainable livelihood development (organic fertilizer production, crop cultivation, and renewable energy/pico-hydro) (100%)
4.3 Preparation of a sustainable livelihood development module/manual (100%)
Output 5: Promotion of good practices in DTA management at the regional, national, and international levels
5.1 Production of a film on good practices in rural DTA management (100%)
5.2 Subdistrict-level workshop on good practices in rural DTA management (100%)
5.3 Promotion of good practices in DTA management through Lestari Desaku magazine, websites, international/national workshops, and other communication media (100%)
Output 6: Initiation of proposals to strengthen village resources and DTA management
6.1 Facilitation for farmer groups, village governments, and local NGOs on strategies for preparing DTA management proposals (100%)
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