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[Anual Report 96 :
Table of Contents]

The Bulungan Research Forest

In December 1995, the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry designated 303,000 hectares of forest in the province of East Kalimantan to be developed as a long-term site for research on exemplary scientific forest management.

The Bulungan Research Forest is adjacent to the Kayan Mentarang National Park where the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has been working since 1990. Together the two areas constitute an expanse of almost two million hectares, lying in the heart of one of Asia's largest remaining areas of tropical primary rainforest. They also form a natural unit for integrated management. The research forest extends into the watersheds of the Tubu, Malinau and Bahau rivers. Elevation ranges from approximately 100 to 2000 metres. Although there are small areas of farmland and secondary forests on the Tubu and Bahau rivers, the area is almost entirely covered by primary lowland and hill dipterocarp forest. It has particular value for biodiversity conservation as it includes extensive tracts of forest on level terrain which is unusual in this otherwise hilly region.

The people inhabiting the area are mainly Punan hunter-gatherers (along the Tubu river) and Kenyah rice farmers. Both groups harvest significant amounts of non-timber forest products including gaharu (Aquilaria spp.). A state-owned logging company, INHUTANI II, will start selective logging in early 1998 in the eastern part of the area. The 303,000 hectares include production and protected forests. The site therefore shows many of the characteristics of other tropical forests, particularly the increasing competition for forest use among different interests (selective logging, shifting cultivation, collection of NTFPs, coal mining, oil palm plantations). Of particular importance in this region is the very rapid expansion of coal mining, and plans for large areas of palm oil and industrial timber plantations.

CIFOR will initiate numerous activities in the area over the next three years. These are mainly within four of our research projects: Forest Ecosystem Management; Multiple Resource Management of Natural Forests; Sustainable Use and Development of Non-timber Forest Products; Local Livelihoods, Community-based Forest Management and Devolution. The objective is to provide a basis for long-term sustainable forest management integrating social and silvicultural aspects. This will include assessing the effects of reduced-impact logging on biodiversity, understanding rural development trends, and predicting the effects of macro-level development activities on people whose lifestyles are dependent on the forest. The activities will build on research conducted by CIFOR and WWF on household livelihood strategies during 1995-96. CIFOR is seeking to develop collaboration with a number of national and international partners for research programmes in Bulungan.

Lini Wollenberg & Plinio Sist