Social forestry supports communities and biodiversity in Popayato, Indonesia

The communities of Popayato in Indonesia have been fostering the values of the forests for many generations. But until recently, it was illegal for them to harvest products from their natural environment because these rich forests are classified as ‘state forests’. It also meant that permits could be handed out for the extractive activities like logging, mining, and transformation into industrial plantations at any time. This changed when Sawit Watch started working with the Popayato communities to secure a social forestry permit and developing forest management plans, supported by the IUCN NL Land Acquisition Fund.

Header photo: the river protected through social forestry © Evelien van den Broek / IUCN NL

Popayato watershed

The Pohuwato Regency in the north of Sulawesi, Indonesia, is located in the Wallacea region, a biogeographic transition zone rich in biodiversity with many endemic species. A critical part is formed by the Popayato watershed located in the downstream area that has 11,801 hectares of monocrop oil palm and Caliandra biomass plantations. The forests inside the Popayato watershed are also threatened to be logged and converted into oil palm and biomass plantations.  

Sulawesi Palm Oil Belt mega project 

In May 2024, the state-owned company SCI and the Indonesian Plantation Companies Association (GPPI) signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in developing one million hectares of oil palm plantations in Sulawesi. The so-called Sulawesi Palm Oil Belt, which includes 95,000 hectares in the Gorontalo province, would worsen the ecological crisis unfolding across much of Sulawesi. Since palm oil plantations were established, communities in the area already have been experiencing more frequent floods and landslides. Losing the rest of the forest would mean even more frequent and intense floods.

To prevent the expansion of oil palm plantations into the biodiversity-rich forests of the Popayato watershed, Sawit Watch is facilitating communities to acquire permits to manage and access the forests under the government’s Social Forestry programme. The aligned village and community forests will form corridors for wildlife movement. 

Support from the Land Acquisition Fund

The communities in the Popayato watershed have been living with the forests for many generations, fostering the material and relational values of nature. They harvest non-timber forest products (NTFPs) like spices, rattan, honey, and tree fruits. Due to poverty, people also engage in illegal practices like logging and gold mining to generate more needed income.

With support from the IUCN NL Land Acquisition Fund, Sawit Watch developed a structure for integrated watershed management that provides livelihood opportunities and protects the forests’ biodiversity from the expansion of monocrop plantations. Fifteen village communities were informed about the Indonesian Social Forestry programme for sustainable forests contributing to the welfare of the people.

The communities and the Forest Management Units (KPH for its abbreviation in Indonesian: Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan) collaborated to divide the watershed area into conservation partnership areas and community forests where NTFPs can be grown and harvested. After the fifteen communities secured their social forestry permit, Sawit Watch facilitated the establishment of forest management groups and the development of forest management plans. Furthermore, the communities were supported in setting up community enterprises (Social Forestry Business Groups – KUP). 

Social forestry permits and management plans

With the project supported by the Land Acquisition Fund, fifteen communities have acquired a social forestry permits and have developed forest management plans. Nine of them developed 25 community enterprises (KUP) based on products and services from the forest: agroforestry (fruit trees, sugar palm), spices (nutmeg, clove), honey, rattan, fisheries, and eco-tourism. 

Once a month, as part of their daily activities in the forest, the farmers of the social forestry groups check on the environmental and water quality and make sure that there is no illegal logging or mining, and the forest is not degrading.  

Integrated area development 

To consolidate the efforts to protect the Papoyota watershed forest, Sawit Watch is advocating for integration of the forests that are under the Social Forestry Programme into wider policies for sustainable and inclusive landscape planning. 

Collaboration between local governments, government institutions, and communities is the key to success in achieving sustainable development goals through the Social Forestry Programme. An important scheme is the integrated area development (IAD) that should integrate the forests with social forestry permit in a regency. Sawit Watch has organised several sessions with the Forest Management Units, Bappeda Pohuwato Regency (Regional Development Planning Agency), and the Pohuwato Regional government towards the development of an IAD Action Plan for Pohuwato Regency. The IAD document will include a description of the potential of, and local wisdom and synergy between the forest management groups in the Popayato watershed.  

At the same time, Sawit Watch coordinated a team for the creation of a Popayato Watershed Forum consisting of members of regional parliament, CSOs, academics, and environmental observers. This team also joined the working team for the preparation of the Pohuwato Regency IAD Action Plan. 

Butungale village

In February 2025, two IUCN NL team members visited Popayato and talked with community members. The village head of Butungale told them that they have a social forestry permit for 533 hectare and are now together with Sawit Watch working on the forest management plan. ‘It is important to protect the forest, to protect us from natural disasters,’ he says. ‘We used to be visited by the forest police for entering and cultivating the forest, but now we are partners and better able to prevent illegal logging.’ Many farmers are cultivating corn. Over time, however, they want to phase out corn production and increase income from NTFPs, with the ambition to develop a business for essential oil from nutmeg (pala). 

The IUCN NL staff also met with people in the Popayato watershed who do not have a social forestry permit. Seeing the results, other communities in the Popayato and neighboring watersheds also got interested in social forestry. They have asked Sawit Watch if it can support them in acquiring a permit and setting up community businesses.