Developing Organizational Structure of Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan (KPH) Limapuluh Kota District, West Sumatra, Indonesia, for Sustainable Forest Management

Abstract

"Government of Indonesia (GoI) has been reforming policy and beaureaucracy in forestry sector as mandated in law No 41/1999. Reform is supposed to achieve sustainable forest management through decentralization. The law also asks for involving people in planning, managing, benefit sharing, and controlling for forest management by acknowledging village customary (adat) law. GoI establishes Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan (KPH), an operational organization at district level. For a big and divers country, challenges in forest management in Indonesia are varies between district due to differences in culture, customs, economic activities and resources abundances of forest itself. Therefore, each district may have difference type of organizational structure of KPH to others. Now each district is developing its KPH that will be the bases for its future forest management. This is a good case and chance for bringing village customary law, and combining with legal state law, into formal operational-forest regulation. We assist government of Limapuluh Kota district, West Sumatra in developing its KPH, which is able to manage forest in sustainable way, improve local livelihood and reduce conflict through absorbing aspiration of all stakeholders and including adat law. We did in-depth interview with adat leaders and head of villages within and surrounding the forest to learn their claim over forest. We also organized public consultation to absorb other stakeholders aspiration. Based on the result of both interview and consultation, we structured the institution of KPH Limapuluh Kota. The organizational structure of KPH Limapuluh Kota will be submitted to local legislature for further inquiry before it is formally accepted and legalized. Hopefully, the KPH Limapuluh Kota could be formally installed in 2015, after follows next step of preparation."