Authors: Ni’matul Khasanah, Sri Dewi Jayanti Biahimo, Chandra Irawadi Wijaya, Elissa Dwiyanti and Atiek Widayati
Communities that reside around conservation areas, such as nature reserves, often rely on the natural resources in the vicinity for their livelihoods, while ignoring aspects of environmental conservation. However, environmental conservation is needed to address community pressure, overexploitation of the resources, prevent further environmental damage and ensure that these resources are utilized sustainably. Environmental conservation efforts often trigger conflict between communities and the conservation management agency. Communities tend to consider environmental conservation efforts as a threat to their sources of livelihood. Therefore, efforts to conserve natural resources should be carefully formulated and include livelihood aspects discussed and identified in participation with the local community involved. Tangale Nature Reserve is located in Tibawa Sub-district, Gorontalo District, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia. It covers approximately 113 ha and is primarily a reserve for flora (250 species) and fauna conservation. However, encroachment on the reserve is unavoidable and causes serious degradation. Therefore, through the environmental component of the Agroforestry and Forestry (AgFor) Sulawesi Project, we have identified the need for environmental conservation efforts not only in the reserve, but also in the vicinity of the reserve, taking into account the livelihoods of the communities living in the area. AgFor Sulawesi is a five-year project that is working to address rural development challenges in Sulawesi by enhancing livelihoods and enterprises, improving governance and strengthening sustainable environmental management. The environmental conservation efforts in the vicinity of Tangale Nature Reserve, covering a cluster of villages (Labanu, Mootilango, Iloponu, and Buhu), have been formulated into a Livelihood and Conservation Strategy (LCS). The aim of the strategy is to improve community livelihoods through environmental conservation principles leading to sustainable management of natural resources. This strategy will be used as a guideline for developing agreements between the government and local communities or multi stakeholder agreements and subsequent action plans for implementation.
Publlished 2016 by World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Southeast Asia Regional Program
Volume: AgFor Livelihood and Conservation Strategy – 03