HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND RESEARCH

BACKGROUND

Forestry plays a key role in the Indonesia economy. It is an important source of foreign exchange earnings: second to oil, and has created million of job opportunities, Forestry development is also important to maintain forest functions in keeping with overall ecosystem balance and integrity.

From 1 April 1994, Indonesia has come to the Second Long-term Development Phase (PJP II) which start with the sixth Five Year Development Plan (Repelita VI) 1994-1999. The Forestry Repelita VI has 8 main forestry/environment programs and 3 supporting or related programs. The 8 main program are:

• Forest land consolidation and promotion of productivity of natural resources,
• Extention of news forest plantation,
• Community forestry development,
• Development of processing of forest products,
• Inventory and evaluation of natural resources and the ecosystems,
• Forest, land and water safeguarding,
• Rehabilitation of critical lands, and
• Development of coastal areas.

The supporting and associated programs include programs on research and development, education, training and extension, infra-structures, system development, environmental management, spatial planning, land use planning, small and medium scales of forestry business, transmigration, tourism, youngsters and women.

The Government of Indonesia’s conservation policy is based on the desire to promote the cultural and economic development of the Indonesian people in harmony with their natural environment. The policy states that all forms of natural life and examples of all ecosystems within Indonesia must be protected for the benefit of future.

The main policies on biodiversitiy conservation are that:

• nature reserves be established to conserve the flora and fauna,
• nature reserves be managed rationally and wisely without jeopardizing their functions,
• natural sesources and the living environment be managed wisely to provide maximum social benefit,
• appropiate technology be employed to sustain the high quality of natural resources and the natural environment,
• nature reserves will include coastal and marine areas as well as forest areas,
• extension and conservation education programs will be conducted, and
• ex-situ conservation will be encouraged.

The specific objectives of Repelita VI emphasize the proper utilization of resources as well as the need to:

• ensure the conservation of animal and plant species, and their habitats,
• control threats to forestry and forest security,
• improve the management of conservation areas,
• increase people’s and NGO participation in conservation efforts,
• further develop ecotourism to increase national income and foreign exchange earnings, and to improve employment opportunities,
• establish demarcation of conservation areas and buffer zones,
• intensify research and development, and
• improve training.

FORESTRY HUMAN RESOURCES

Human resources in forestry consist of tree major categories : human resources in public sector, that is those who work in Government Institutions and the forestry related State Enterprises; human resources in the private sector, that is those who work in the private sector of forestry such as Forest Concessions, Industrial Timber Estates, Flora and Fauna Breeding; and forest dependent community, that is those who live within and around the forests.

The total personnel employed in the Ministry of Forestry, Provincial Forestry Service (Dinas Kehutanan) and the forestry related State Enterprises, not include casual wage labor and workers on job contract, is 33.980 people (December, 1995), with educational background as follows:

• Doctor/Ph.D 37
• Magister/Master/S.2 359
• Sarjana/S.1/Forest engineer 2,336
• Sarjana non forestry 1,547
• Forestry Diploma Holders/Sarjana Muda 467
• Non forestry Diploma Holders 749
• Forestry Senior High School/SKMA 1,914
• Non forestry Senior High School 17, 814
• Junior High School & Elementary School 8,757

The data above shows that the ratios between forestry technical staff and non technical staff, and ratios between middle level forestry technician and university graduated foresters (professional) are unbalanced.

The total people employed in the private enterprises are 210,445 (December, 1995) and the Ministry of Forestry (MOF) have previously estimated that the personnel requirement for forestry operation in concession area are:

• 2 professionals and 8 technicians if the area is less then 100,000 hectares,
• 3 professionals and 12 technicians for an area between 100,000 to 200,000 hectares,
• 4 professionals and 16 technicians for area of more than 200,000 hectares.

In line with the implementation of the ITTO’S target 2000, recently the Directorate General of Forest Utilization and the Indonesian Forest Concessionaire’s Association (APHI) evaluated the forestry technicians availability at the 446 concessi-onaires and come out with result that the shortfall of technicians for 13 classification is 18,587 people.

In Indonesia about 12 million people live within and near the forest. The task of social development demands the generation of a long-term approach to forest management and a sustainable relationship between people and the forest land on which they are so heavily dependent. Management system must address the needs of local inhabitants and should involve them as much as possible.

FORESTRY EDUCATION AND TRAINING

The existing professional forestry education facilities in Indonesia under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Culture, comprise eight State Universities which have forestry training courses, four of which have an independent Faculties of Forestry, and four of which have a forestry curriculum within their respective Faculties of Agriculture, Total annual capacity is 800 graduates (Sardinia). At least eight private Universities offer forestry degree under Ministry of Education and Culture regulations. The annual capacity of the private institutions is 300-400 graduates.

According to the Presidential Decree number 58, 1993 and Ministry of Forestry Decree number 677/Kpts-II/1993, the Center for Education and Training for Forestry Official and Human Resources (CETFO-HR) is in charge of development, coordination and implementation of overall forestry education and training within both the public and the private sectors. This center supervises Technical Implementation Units which consist of 8 Regional Forestry Training Centers (BLK) and 5 Forestry Senior High Schools (SKMA).

Each of the BLK trains candidates from specific regions. The BLKs carry out wide ranging regular and irregular career development and refreshing courses of varying duration for Ministry personnel. They also undertake limited vocational skills upgrading courses for the private forestry sector. Meanwhile the CETFO-HR also conduct special programs such as : Forest Ranger School, Wetland Conservation Assessment and Management Training Course, and School of Environmental Conservation Management.

Wetland Conservation Assessment and Management Training Course (WCAM) has been implemented since 1985 as a cooperation program between the Government of Indonesia and the United Kingdom by which the Overseas Development Administration (ODA-UK) trough Asian Wetland Bureau (AWB) - Indonesia. With the termination of the 4th WCAM training course in March 1996, it delivered 81 graduates.

The school of Environmental Conservation Management (SECM) was established in 1978 as a result of technical cooperation between the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affair. Support to SECM was continued from November 1986 on words under a new project HTA - 40 B entitled "Training for Environmental Conservation and Watershed Management" which provides Management of Conservation Areas and Wild Life (MCAW) and watershed Management (WSM) courses, with the termination of the 13th WCAM and 4th. WSM courses on 28 February 1991, SECM delivered 407 Indonesian and 47 non Indonesian graduates from 14 foreign countries. However, the school was closed in 1993.

Training course in MCAW specialist level and WSM are still much needed, because these are important for supplying science on conservation which is needed in forestry development. The status of these internationally well know training courses is necessary to maintain. It is important to prepare the cadre for confronting global issues and as an effort to widen they insights.

POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

There is, in general, an balance between need and availability of forestry instructors, particularly skilled practical instructors. The problem of lack of teaching ability on the part of teachers is caused by lack of appropriate experience and knowledge, teaching materials and inadequate basic methods of teaching, which are still felt at all educational levels. Training as an occupation has a low status. This has to change if the training has to fulfill its role in providing a quality work force for the forestry sector in the future. Changes in overall human resources development policy to support effective training are now urgently required.

Along with insufficient number of training staff, training institutions also suffer from the lack of adequate teaching materials and equipment. Education and training for forestry should have field-oriented curricula. However, facilities for practical training in the forest still need to be developed. The approach to budgeting has to be changed to allow training institutions to respond to actual needs and to establish realistic budgets.

At present, the institutional problem is one of finding the right structure and balance between centralized and decentralized authority, between government and private sector responsibility, government has already set national educational policies which consist of four basic principles to be followed in preparing education and training programs. Programs should provide better opportunity and equality, they should link and match with demand driven development, be of high quality, and of high efficiency.

The CETFO-HR Repelita VI Policies are:

• Forestry education and training must be treated as "necessary need" of all parties concerned especially of Top Managers.
• The development of forestry human resource is aimed at the development and increasing professionalism.
• The development of forestry human resource must be able to give equal opportunities to all forestry staff, both in the public and private sectors, to develop their capacity.
• The development of forestry human resources must be in line with the development of other forestry development programs.
• Training must be undertaken as a port of a career development scheme both in the public and private sector.
• The existing resources must be utilized maximally in implementing forestry education and training.

In Conjunction with the policies, the CETFO-HR Strategies are:

• to develop a forestry education and training scheme in line with the development of career development scheme.
• to develop a planning system of forestry education and training.
• to train forestry staff both the public and private sectors, in the field of forestry practices in either management or technical aspects.
• to establish new campuses as centers of forestry human resource development, especially in the outer islands.
• to improve existing education can be implemented efficiently and effectively.
• to encourage the private sector to play a greater role in forestry education and training in the form of "In House Training".
• to improve coordination, integration and synchronization between CETFO-HR and other institution within and outside the Ministry of Forestry.
• to improve training needs assessment, post training evaluation and monitoring system.
• to improve the system of recruitment and development trainers and forestry teachers.
• to improve training of trainers both in the public and private sector.

There are 5 Repelita VI programs activities, viz:

• Forestry Education
• Forestry Training for officials
• Forestry training for the private sector and forest dependent communities.
• Development of trainers and teachers
• Development of facilities, curricula and methods.

Bogor, 24 March 1997