Bulungan Regency Integrates Village Development with Social Forestry

The involvement of various partners in the village development process is a priority for the government of Bulungan Regency, North Kalimantan. A multi-stakeholder meeting entitled "Strengthening Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships to Realize a Bulungan Regency that is Food Sovereign, Advanced and Prosperous, Based on Villages and Rural Areas" was held in Yogyakarta, Saturday to Sunday, 9-10 September 2023. "This meeting is the beginning of sustainable development in Bulungan, " said Regent Syarwani when opening the meeting.

For two days, Bulungan Regent Syarwani and ten senior Bulungan Regency government officials formulated a village development roadmap with his strategic partners. The partners participating this time are Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN), the Pionir Foundation, the Institute for Research and Empowerment (IRE) Foundation, and the Nastari Foundation. Panggungharjo Village Head Wahyudi Anggoro Hadi and academics from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta were present as speakers.

Bulungan Regency has 74 villages spread across 1.3 million hectares of territory. On this land area, the district nicknamed Bumi Benuanta already has a social forestry area of 116,124.71 hectares (2023).

The potential and opportunities of social forestry have moved YKAN and its partners, the Pioneer Foundation and the IRE Foundation, to assist ten selected villages in Bulungan. Since September 2022, the ten villages in the Kayan Landscape have received assistance from the Citizens' Inspirational Action for Change (SIGAP) approach. The SIGAP approach is implemented to strengthen village governance and the governance of Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes), prepare Land Use Plans (RTGL), and develop Village Information Systems (SID). The ten villages are Long Pelban, Long Bia, Long Peso, Long Buang, Naha Aya, Long Bang, Long Bang Hulu, Long Beluah, Long Sam, Antutan.

The villages in Bulungan Regency are located in the Kayan River watershed (DAS) landscape, starting from the upstream area, namely Pelban Village, to the villages located in the downstream area, namely Antutan. The first assistance stage, which ends in April 2023, raises some notes. These include the need to increase human resource capacity from village government officials and the community, the absence of collaboration between villages with similar potential, and a network of marketing partnerships for local products.

This meeting is expected to produce a rural-based sustainable development roadmap. Learning from this region, which has received various international and national titles, can inspire and strengthen the capacity of Bulungan district government officials.

The central government has widely opened opportunities for rural-based sustainable development through Integrated Regional Development (PWT). Bulungan Regency has social forestry that has excellent potential to be managed using the PWT scheme. "Today is the beginning of a strategic step in collaborating pentahelix in thinking about and making Bulungan's future a success," said YKAN Terrestrial Program Senior Manager Niel Makinuddin.

Niel continued that this pentahelix spirit of collaboration has solid cultural roots in the Bulungan community, which is often known to have tenguyun principles (i.e., working together, working together for the benefit and good of the wider community). Pentahelix, Niel continued, are five stakeholders representing the government, development partners, academics, society, and the business world. YKAN encourages regionally based sustainable development so that the people living around the forest, those who protect it, will also prosper.