Tapio is developing community based forestry in Indonesia

In November 2008 the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland approved an ICI-project proposal "Community Based Plantation Forestry" (CBPF) submitted by the Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia together with Tapio. The Institutional Cooperation Instrument (ICI) enables to launch twinning projects between public sector agencies in Finland and a developing country. In January, the Project Manager of Tapio, Mr. Timo Korhonen, made a preparatory mission to Indonesia.

A big challenge Indonesia faces at present is the rapid rate of deforestation, which is due to illegal logging, forest fires and unsustainable forest management. The aim of CBPF is to increase forest productivity and to reduce the pressure on natural forests by giving people support in establishing community forests. The CBPF programme provides an opportunity to communities living in the vicinity of forests to manage 15 hectares of forest per household.

Villages get more means of income

The area allocated for plantations is 9 800 ha and situated at Mandailing-Natal in North Sumatra. The main partners are the Ministry of Forestry, the local forest authority and a cooperative of 2 000 local villagers. The members of the cooperative will participate in the planning, establishment and management of the plantations.

Rubberwood will be the main species for the plantations, since the local farmers are used to manage rubberwood forests and the species provides a source of income already after four years from planting. It takes about 20 years for the trees to reach harvesting age.

A model for sustainable development

An important goal is to alleviate poverty by establishing a model for successful implementation of CBPF project to generate income for the local communities. Skills needed in the planning and management of plantations are given in several training events during the project-implementing phase.

The project lasts for three years and it is financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. The total budget is 500 000 EUR. Tapio is responsible for the planning, implementation and financial management. The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry and Tapio will together draw up a project plan, which will be given to the Foreign Ministry at the end of February 2009. The project is planned to be started in April-May 2009.

For more information, please contact:
Business Unit Manager, Foreign Affairs, Mr. Klaus Yrjönen, tel. +358 20 772 9186
Project Manager, Mr. Timo Korhonen, tel. +358 20 772 9037