Rufford Small Grant (for Nature Conservation)
In association with the Whitley Laing Foundation
FINAL REPORT
Project Title:
Revealing Biodiversity and its Threat in Mount Papandayan - West Java, Indonesia
Name of Beneficiary:
Dr. Endah Sulistyawati School of Life Sciences and Technology
(Formerly Department of Biology)
Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Bandung, Indonesia
Amount of Fund: £ 5000
Bandung, April 2006
I. Background • Tropical mountain forests in Java play a critical role as biodiversity refuge given the fact
that most lowland tropical rainforests in this island has been converted to other uses. Despite their critical role, only a few of them are managed well in a ‘secure’ status like national park. Mountain forests outside national park are generally not well managed compared to those designated as national park; mainly due to limitation of resources. Limited resources make most forest outside national parks suffering from lacking of scientific information particularly on biodiversity status of the areas.
• Meanwhile, the ecological roles of these areas are under intense pressures because of
land conversion, logging, over-harvesting of forest products and animal poaching. Apart from not knowing what is actually lost, scarcity of particularly up-to-date scientific information could hinder construction of effective measure to eliminate the threats and maintain the ecological roles.
II. Objective • The objective of this project was to provide latest information on the biodiversity status
of Mount Papandayan and identification of the threats. Mount Papandayan is a nature reserve in West Java Province with an area of approx. 6,800 hectares. Van Steenis (1972) -- quoting earlier works – suggested that Mount Papandayan was floristically very rich. Since then, however, there has been no major scientific study in this area.
• This study was expected to make contribution in updating the scientific information
(particularly on plants and birds) on the area and revealing the threats. The findings of this project could then be used by as the basis for improving the management of Mount Papandayan Nature Reserve.
III. Research Team • The research team consists of the following persons:
Name Institution Field of Expertise Dr. Endah Sulistyawati (Principal Investigator)
School of Life Sciences and Technology, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bandung
Plant and Landscape Ecology
Dra. Eni Maryani, MSi. Faculty of Communication, University of Padjdjaran, Bandung
Communication, Anthropology
Rifki M Sungkar, SSi. Indonesia Ecotourism Network, Jakarta Plant Ecology, Ecotourism
Moekti Aribowo, SSi. School of Life Sciences and Technology, ITB, Bandung
Ornithology
Gurnita, SSi. School of Life Sciences and Technology, ITB, Bandung
Plant Taxonomy
Dian Rosleine, SSi School of Life Sciences and Technology, ITB, Bandung
Plant Ecology and Taxonomy
• This project involved a number of local people as field assistant and guide. Those local
people played an important role in facilitating a smooth execution of field-works including the social survey. Their knowledge on the study area was very useful, particularly in terms of providing clues for plant and bird identification as well as for interpreting the dynamics of ecosystem. The involvement of local people was also critical for the success of dissemination of the project’s results.
IV. Project execution Timing of the field-works • The project was executed in several phases, i.e. preliminary survey, major field-works,
additional field-works, data analysis, the result dissemination. The preliminary surveys were done twice, during the period of June 2004 for biological survey, and July 2004 for social survey. The major field works were conducted four times, during the period of June to September 2004, to collect primary data on plants, birds and socio-economic aspects. The additional field-works were conducted three times, during the period of October to November 2004, mainly to gather supplementary data including secondary data, photographs and collecting plant specimens for herbarium.
Problems faced and solution adopted • The closure of Mount Papandayan for public due to increasing volcanic activity occurred
several times brought about rescheduling the timing of major field-works. Consideration on the safety of our team was the main reason for postponing several field-works during 2004. Given that Mount Papandayan is an active volcano, we then always took a precautionary action before embarking for a field-work by seeking information and advices from the Volcanology Bureau regarding the safety of working near the crater of Mount Papandayan. We feel that such precautionary action is important considering the scale of the 2002 eruption, which caused a number of casualties following the earthquakes and landslides.
• Plant identification also took longer time. In general, species identification can be done
quicker with the presence of flower. However, some plants sampled during the major field-works did not flower, thus we needed longer time to finish it. Consequently, the finishing of the reports was also delayed.
• In order to raise people’s awareness on the need to conserve the biodiversity of Mount
Papandayan, dissemination of the research outputs (in the form of booklet) to the local community and local government agencies was critical. Unfortunately, the scheduled timing of booklet distribution coincided with the timing of local election. For that reason, we postponed the booklet distribution until the local election has been over in order to prevent any suspicion linking our team with particular candidate.
Expenditure Vs Budget
Item Group Budget (£) Expenditure (£)
Research Permit 67 45Equipments 457 523Fieldwork Expenses 3,093 3,088Identification of plants 100 50Documentation 287 373Booklet production 350 400Result Socialisation 375 328Report Preparation 272 192
Grand Total 5,000 5,000
• In general, the expenditure for many items is near the value in the proposed budget.
• Regarding the use of the fund, we would like to mention that with such modest budget, this project has achieved substantial outputs and outcomes. This can be judged by a number of points, for examples, the number of experts involved, the involvement of local people and the close link to them that we enjoy even until the completion of the project, the extent of output dissemination (see section VI) and collaboration resulted from this project.
V. Major findings 5.1 Study Area • Mount Papandayan is an active volcano located in the southern part of West Java
Province. The last major eruption occurred in 2002. Its peak is located at 07o19’42’’S and 107o44’00’’E with the elevation of 2,675 m asl. Administratively, it belongs to the Garut Regency (eastern part) and Bandung Regency (western part). Almost all forested areas in Mount Papandayan has been designated as nature reserve (6,807 ha). The main authority managing this area is Natural Resource Conservation Bureau of West Java Province (BKSDA JABAR II). The Mount Papandayan Nature Reserve shares borders with production forests planted with pines and Altingia exelsa (under the management of a state-owned forestry company, PERHUTANI) as well as tea plantation (under the management of a state-owned plantation company, PTPN VIII). Since the onset of Indonesia’s financial crisis in 1997, large scale conversion of forests into agricultural fields has occurred mainly in the areas near the edge of the Nature Reserve. This study was mainly conducted in the forests within the nature reserve part, near the border to the production forests and tea plantations as well as in several villages surrounding Mount Papandayan (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Mount Papandayan region (image of Landsat TM year 2001). Colored dots are the distribution of sites for vegetation and bird survey. The villages sampled were not depicted in this picture. 5.2 Methods • Plant diversity assessment was conducted using plot-based sampling on several sites
reflecting the variation of ecosystems in the study area, i.e. crater vegetation (affected and un-affected by 2002 eruption), mixed forest and grassland. Measurement of abundance was conducted for all species of tree, shrub, herb and climbers. Bird diversity assessment was conducted using a modified transect method. In this survey, the distance along transect was ignored; instead, the counting of the bird was recorded on 2 hours interval. The threat identification was conducted through direct observation. In addition, a number of in-depth interviews and focused group discussion (FGD) were also conducted to reveal the underlying causes of presently-occurring destructive activities. The respondents of this socio-economic survey included local government officers, the nature reserve officers and PERHUTANI officers, farmers, petty-traders, local NGOs and visitors.
5.3 Ecosystem diversity • At landscape level, biodiversity of Mt. Papandayan is closely associated with the diversity
of ecosystem in this area as shown by the presence of three major vegetation types, i.e. vegetation near volcanic craters, mixed forest and grassland. Environmental condition, natural disturbance and human disturbance are the major factors bringing about the formation of ecosystem diversity in this area.
• The acidic condition makes the vegetation near volcanic crates exhibiting distinct
physiognomy and floristic composition, compared to the mixed forest. Volcanic eruptions (the last eruption was in 2002) cause the formation of patches of vegetation with varying successional stages. Recurrent disturbance due to human activities, probably initiated during 1800an, resulted in the formation of a patch of grassland in the matrix of wet and luxurious forest.
5.4 Plant diversity • This study found 196 plant species consisting of 42 species of trees, 15 species of shrubs,
106 species of herbs, 23 species of climbers and 10 species of epiphytes. However, the level of diversity, as measured by species richness and Shannon index, varied among the vegetation types; the mixed forest being the highest.
• The crater vegetation was dominated by Vaccinium varingiaefolium (shrub), as in other
volcanic mountains in Java. This study documented the effect of year 2002 eruption on vegetation in this area. The site affected by year 2002 eruption differed from the unaffected site in that less shrubs and herbs found as well as no tree, climber and epiphyte found. The domination of Vaccinium varingiaefolium in the affected site indicates that this species is able to withstand the environmental changes caused by volcanic eruption.
• The mixed forest vegetation was dominated by Distylum stellare trees. Shrubs from
genus of Strobilanthes and herbs from two genus of Elatostema were dominated the understorey. This study also found some tree species that have increasingly been rarely found in mountain forests of Java due to logging. The grassland vegetation was dominated by Imperata cylindrica, a phyrogenic (fire-lover) vegetation. The occurrence of recurrent burning, intentionally or unintentionally started by humans, was suggested as the major factor in the formation and maintenance of such form of vegetation. This study also found one endemic herb species, Alchemilla villosa, in the grassland.
• Comparison with two well-studied mountain forests in West Java, i.e. Mount
Tangkubaparahu and Pangrango, of comparable altitude suggested that the mountain forest of Mount Papandayan possessed relatively high plant diversity and its vegetation exhibited distinct compositional feature as shown by the domination of Distylum stellare.
5.5 Bird diversity • This study found 73 bird species belonging to 26 families. This was lower than
Hoogerwerf’s finding (1948), i.e. 115 species belonging to 35 families. Of the species reported by Hoogerwerf, 51 were found in this study, thus 64 species were not re-found. The short survey time may cause discrepancy between the finding of this study with that of Hoogerwerf’s. However, conversion of forests in the buffer zone into agricultural fields and poaching were also likely to be the cause of that discrepancy. In addition, this study found 22 species not reported by Hoogerwerf.
• This study suggested the importance of Mount Papandayan for bird conservation.
According to Bird Life International’s criteria, Mount Papandayan was an Important Bird Area (IBA) judged by the presence of 2 endangered species, i.e. Javan hawk-eagle (Spizaetus bartelsi) and Blue-tailed trogon (Harpactes reinwardtii). This study also found 16 restricted-range species comprising 47% of the total restricted-range species living in Java, 8 of them were endemic in Java. Of the total species found in this study, fifteen were protected by Indonesian regulations.
• The quantitative survey found 540 individuals belonging to 22 families. The number of
species found in the mixed forest (41) was higher than in the crater vegetation (16 species).
5.6 Threats • This study suggested that the forest encroachment for creating agricultural fields in the
buffer zone was the major threat to the integrity of Mount Papandayan ecosystem. This activity could widen the access to many parts of the reserve, which in turn increasing the risk of occurrence of other destructive activities. Other important threats included wildlife poaching especially birds, burning in the grassland and channeling water from the springs inside the reserve to the agricultural fields. Destructive activities associated with tourism such as collecting fire-wood by campers, littering and vandalism were also observed.
• Poverty was the main underlying cause triggering many destructive activities in this area.
Many farmers in the surrounding villages were in fact poor and landless. These farmers have been exploited by city-based merchants having big capital through money lending contracts. With the capital borrowed from the merchants, the landless farmers cleared forests to grow crops (e.g. cabbage, potato and tomatoes). Upon the harvest, they were compelled to sell the products to those merchants. In general, the terms of the contract were disadvantaging the farmers. This eventually put the farmers in big debt and created condition such that the farmers were unable to stop growing crops in the formerly forested lands. In other words, no matter how hard the farmer works, they will still be in poverty. The poverty is then inherited to their children creating what may be called sustained poverty. Apart from poverty, lack of awareness among the locals on the importance of conserving forests for future generations were also contributing to the occurrence of many destructive activities.
• Another important cause is the weakness in the management of the Nature Reserve.
Inadequacy in the number and quality of the staffs, limited equipments and lack of law
enforcement to punish the actors of forest encroachment and poaching seemed to make the occurrence of destructive activities in the Nature Reserve hard to control. Adding to the problem on the management aspect is the un-ideal shape of the Reserve (see Figure 1), which is elongated and convoluted. An area having such a shape, compared to the one with compact and rounded shape, will have higher edge-to-interior ratio. Destructive activities, particularly in the form of land conversion, are usually started on the forest edge. Consequently, as the area has longer edge, the interior area will be more exposed to the risk of being disturbed.
• Unless necessary actions are taken, the currently occurring destructive activities would
lead to environmental degradation on Mount Papandayan ecosystem. Expression of some local people from a village nearby about the decreasing water availability may illustrate a negative impact starting to be felt. Apart from causing environment degradation, the destructive activities would eventually exert impacts on the life of people living on the nearby on many aspects including social, economics and politics.
VI. Dissemination • Dissemination of outputs was an important part of this project. This is to ensure that the
project results are distributed widely, not just restricted to the academic circle. Up to now, the project has resulted in several forms of output :
1. Research Report (in Indonesian language). This report consists of the detailed
methodology and results including list of species found as well as their description (for birds). This report was submitted to the BKSDA JABAR II and one copy was held in the library of the School of Life Sciences and Technology, ITB.
2. Summary of the Research Report (in Indonesia language). This report was intended to
highlight the major findings of this study so that they can be easily grasped by the executives of related government agencies.
3. Booklet entitled “The Biodiversity of Mount Papandayan” (in Indonesia language). This
booklet describes an overview of biodiversity of Mount Papandayan and the need to conserve, which is presented in a popular form. This booklet is the most widely distributed form of output. So far, we have distributed 400 exemplars to various community groups in surrounding Mount Papandayan, government agencies in charge for managing environment or protected area at regency, provincial and central level, national and international NGOs (see the list in the Appendix-I).
4. Compact disc or CD (in Indonesia language) consisting of photo gallery of plant, animals
and landscape of Mount Papandayan, which is presented in a web-based photo album format. The pictures in this CD are organized into four themes, i.e. The beauty, The Force, The Life and The Sadness. Pictures on this CD can be freely used for conservation activity.
5. A paper (in Indonesia language) entitled “Community Structure and Diversity of Plants
in Mount Papandayan”. This paper was presented in a national seminar (Annual Meeting of Association of Indonesian Plant Taxonomist) held in Bandung on September 2005.
6. A paper (in English) submitted to International Conference on Volcano Threats and Opportunities to be held in 5-7 September 2006 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The title of the paper is “The Biodiversity of Mount Papandayan and the Threats”. The abstract has been accepted and the full paper is to be submitted.
7. Other forms of the result dissemination was (informal) presentation conducted at the
office of BKSDA Jabar II in Ciamis (2005), West Java Environmental Protection Bureau (BPLHD), International Centre for Agroforestry Research (ICRAF), South-East Asia Office in Bogor (2006) and discussion with several local community groups.
• The photograph of some project outputs are presented in the Appendix-II. VII. Responses and Project Impacts • The main authority of Mount Papandayan, BKSDA Jabar II, appreciated this project very
much. They were particularly surprised on the importance of this area for bird conservation. They then offered a more formal collaboration tied through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between BKSDA Jabar II and ITB. Through this collaboration ITB can use the Mount Papandayan Nature Reserve as natural laboratory. At the moment, the document of MOU is being prepared.
• Many environmental organizations and libraries to whom we sent booklets, CDs or reports
have also expressed appreciation because so far, the data on the ecological aspects of Mount Papandayan are very limited.
• The publication of the booklet on Mount Papandayan has apparently made the local
people very proud of living nearby Mount Papandayan. Such attitude is of course very positive and it could be an important asset for any efforts to increase local people’s concern over the conservation of Mount Papandayan ecosystem.
• Many nature-lover groups visiting Mount Papandayan has also appreciated the publication
of the booklet. In fact, we have been constantly receiving requests for more booklets from nature-lover groups.
• The presentation held in ICRAF, Bogor has also received a positive response and triggered
a lively discussion on the many aspects of mountain forest ecology. This meeting was then followed by a visit to Mount Papandayan by some members of our team and several ecologists from ICRAF. Discussions during that fieldwork also reiterated the uniqueness of Mount Papandayan ecosystem and also prompted many interesting ecological questions need to be explored further.
VIII. What next • Raising awareness and developing alternative income for local farmers
The main threat to Mount Papandayan was forest encroachment for creating agriculture fields, even though, the farmers generally did not get much benefit from this activity.
There is a need for actions to make the farmers aware that so far they are being exploited by merchants having big capital. At the same time, there is a need to develop non-destructive income generating activities as alternative income for local farmers. Of course, in order to realize this ideas we need to collaborate with NGO concerning with community development and empowerment. A step to that direction has been taken. At the moment, we are helping an NGO to prepare a community development program in the western part of Mount Papandayan. They have been assessing some potential economic activities to be developed in this area including mushroom and silk-worm cultivation.
• More conservation education to local people and campers
During the social survey, we found that the importance of conserving Mount Papadayan ecosystem has not been fully realized by local people as well as campers. This fact points to the need for more public education in many forms to increase awareness on the importance of nature conservation.
• Ecosystem valuation
From the discussions with government agencies managing environment (BKSDA and BPLHD), it was clear that these agencies often faced difficulties in convincing local governments that protected areas also have high ‘value’. This issue is particularly critical for defending the existence of protected areas like Mount Papandayan against any proposed development project yielding more tangible economic return. This is also pertinent issue for Mount Papandayan as there is a big geothermal project operating on the outskirt of the Nature Reserve. In addition, the geothermal potency around the craters of Mount Papandayan has also been surveyed. Such activities have raised concern over possibility of land-use conversion in the heart of Mount Papandayan for geothermal project. In the wake of such issue, there is a need for conducting research to reveal the total value of Mount Papandayan ecosystem. The result of that research can be valuable as input for consideration of any future development in this area.
• Study to create larger area of Mount Papandayan Nature Reserve.
This research shows that Mount Papandayan Nature Reserve posses high biodiversity value. Nevertheless, the current extent of the reserve, which is only about 6,700 ha, is relatively small. Thus, to maximize the conservation value it is important to consider functionally ‘connecting’ more forested areas near the reserve to enlarge the extent of Mount Papandayan Nature Reserve. At the moment, near the western side of Mount Papadayan lies a quite larger block of forest which has not been much studied. Information gathered from the locals suggested that this forest harbors some endemic primates and endangered birds, thus possibly having important biodiversity conservation value. Despite its vicinity, this block of forest does not belong to Mount Papandayan Nature Reserve, as it is managed by different agency (i.e. local forestry unit). Therefore, a research to study the biodiversity of this forest block as well as possibility to functionally connecting it to Mount Papandayan Nature Reserve is certainly needed.
• Development of ‘local expert’ Throughout this project we witnessed that the local people helping us as field assistants and guides have good knowledge on forest; they are very proud of Mount Papandayan and more or less have awareness on the importance of forest conservation. We believe that increasing the capacity of selected local people particularly in terms of understanding scientific knowledge of nature as well as conservation is a strategic action need to be done. Those ‘local experts’ can then be directed to become initiators and motivators for their own community in any conservation actions. They would also be expected to become key players in building or strengthening local institution concerning not only to conservation of Mount Papandayan but also improvement of the welfare of the local community.
IX. Acknowledgement
• We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Rufford Foundation for supporting this project.
Appendix-I
List of Recipients of the Project’s Outputs*
Agencies under the Ministry of Forestry
• Directorate of Conservation area, Ministry of Forestry, Jakarta• Directorate of Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry of Forestry, Jakarta• Center for Research & Development, Bogor• Natural Resources Conservation Bureau, West Java Province I (BKSDA Jabar I),
Bandung• Natural Resources Conservation Bureau, West Java Province II (BKSDA Jabar II),
Ciamis• Local rangers or field officers
Agencies under other ministries
• Deputy III of Ministry of Environment, Jakarta• Directorate of Vulcanology & Geological Disaster Mitigation, Ministry of Mining &
Energy, Bandung.
Agencies under provincial and local (regency) government
• West Java Environmental Protection Bureau (BPLHD Jawa Barat), Bandung• Provincial Branch of Forestry Department for West Java, Bandung• Development Planning Bureau of Bandung Regency, Soreang• Environmental Conservation & Forestry Unit of Bandung Regency, Soreang• Development Planning Bureau of Garut Regency, Garut• Tourism Authority of Garut Regency, Garut
Non-Govermental Organisation (NGO)
• World Wild Fund – Indonesia, Jakarta• Conservation International – Indonesia, Jakarta• Birdlife – Indonesia, Jakarta• KEHATI, Jakarta• Flora Fauna Indonesia, Bogor• YPAL - Bandung• KONUS – Bandung• PILI – Bogor• KPL Tatar Sunda – Bandung• Wahana Lingkungan Hidup, Jawa Barat, Bandung
*Mostly in the form of booklet & CDs; not the complete list.
Library and Information center • PUSDOKINFO (Central Library, of Forestry Department), Jakarta • PIKA (Nature Conservation Information Center), Bogor • School of Life Sciences & Technology – ITB, Bandung • Herbarium Bogoriense, Bogor • Herbarium Bandungense, Bandung University and Research Center • Colleagues at Pajajaran University • Colleagues at Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) • Colleagues at Intergational Center for Agroforestry Research, Southeast-Asia
Branch Estates/Company in operation near Mount Papandayan • Perhutani (a state-owned forestry company), Garut • PTPN VIII (a state-owned plantation company), Bandung & Garut • Chevron-Texaco (a geothermal energy company), Garut Press • Kompas (national newspaper), Jakarta • Pikiran Rakyat (regional newspaper), Bandung • National Geographic Indonesia, Jakarta Nature lover Club • Wanadri (national), Bandung • Savanna (local), Garut • Campers visiting the site Community of five villages nearby Mount Papandayan • Formal leaders • Informal leaders (religion leaders, teachers & influential persons) • Community organization (farmers, plantation workers, conservation groups, young
people, religion groups) • Local woman groups • Local junior & senior high school as well as religious boarding schools • Offices of local police & military post
Appendix-II Some Snapshots from the Project
A spectacular view of landscape near the crater. Huge land ‘scar’ was created following a big landslide preceding the eruption in 2002.
Pondok Saladah, the site where the vegetatation was previously destroyed by 2002 eruption.
The remmant ‘ Javan edelweiss’ park escaped from 2002 eruption.
The flower of ‘Javan edelweiss’ (Anaphalis javanica) is very popular to nature lovers and local people.
Away from the crater area, the vegetation becomes more diverse and dense as in this mixed forest, dominated by Dystilium stellaretrees
Engelhardia tree (Engelhardia spicata); it can reach a huge stature like above.
Some Snapshots from the Project
The author during a plant sampling, which is seen among the dense Strobilanthes shrub dominating the understorey of mixed forest.
Cool weather due to high altitue creates a perfect condition for the moss to grow on tress
Tegal Panjang is a beautiful grassland located in the middle of mixed forest; probably resulted from recurrent disturbance since more than 100 years ago.
Javan Lady’s Mantle Alchemilla villosa; an endemic herb found in Tegal Panjang.
Podocarpus imbricatus trees, which is becoming rare in West Java because of logging.
The four-wheel drive jeep used in our field-work to carry personels, logistics and research equipments.
Some Snapshots from the Project
The condition on the site affected by 2002 eruption was quite harsh; hot and sunny during clear days and very muddy during rainy days.
Measurement of plants in the sampling plot of mixed forest. Working in here took longer time than in the crater vegetation because the species were more diverse.
One morning in the grassland; a perfect time for bird observation.
Setting up a camp in the forest edge where the bird team could easily explore different types of habitat.
Our base camp in the middle of forest. Althouh always wet, but the spot offered an excellent view to enjoy the sky at night and the beautiful morning.
Land clearing in in the buffer zone on formely tree plantation; it still frequently happens.
Some Snapshots from the Project
Large area of tree plantation on the border with the forest reserve, which has been converted into agriculture fields.
Some remnant trees in agricultural fields were often killed by burning the stem or straping the bark.
Litters from the campers make environmental pollution in the forest. We want our finding to reach as many
stakeholders as possible, thus we produced booklet, summary of research report and photo gallery CD to be distributed freely.
We also conducted an active dissemination through presentation and discussion with many stakeholders.
Our team during one major field-work in the grassland. The men on the first, second, fourth from the left and the lady in a red dress on the right side are local people who helped us throughout this project.
