ICRAF bekerjasama dengan Badan Litbang Kehutanan menyelenggarakan seminar dalam rangka hari Agroforesty Kawasan Asia Tenggara dengan tema “Menuju Asia Tenggara yang Berkelanjutan” di Jakarta pada tanggal 23 September 2011. Pada acara yang dihadiri oleh lebih dari 120 orang ini dilakukan tandatangan Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) antara ICRAF dengan Kementerian Kehutanan yang dilaksanakan oleh DG ICRAF (Dr. Dennis A Garrity) dengan Kepala Badan Litbang Kehutanan (Dr. Tachrir Fathoni). MoU ini merupakan perpanjangan dari MoU sebelumnya dan berlaku selama 5 tahun.

Dalam MoU yang baru, ruang lingkup kerjasama mencakup penelitian terkait manajemen agroforestry, kebijakan, agroforestry dalam hubungannya dengan jasa lingkungan termasuk perubahan iklim, sistem dan teknologi agroforestry, pengetahuan lokal terkait praktek agroforestry, pemanfaatan materi genetik unggul untuk penanaman pohon, peningkatan kapasitas dan penguatan manajemen termasuk pengembangan Balai Penelitian Teknologi Agroforestry Ciamis, website dan publikasi bersama terkait agroforestry dan topik kerjasama lain yang disepakati bersama. Pada acara ini ICRAF berkomitmen memberikan grant sebesar USD 50,000  untuk pengembangan Balai Penelitian Teknologi Agroforestry Ciamis.

Terkait dengan acara regional hari agroforestry, para pemakalah sepakat bahwa implementasi sistem agroforestry  dapat mewujudkan kelestarian  mata pencaharian  bagi masyarakat. Saat ini terdapat kesamaan minat para pihak  dalam menyusun agenda agroforestry sebagai prioritas di tingkat region maupun global, terutama terkait isu  land tenure, ekonomi dan produktivitas, sumber daya energi, jasa lingkungan, perubahan iklim, kebijakan dan tata kelola untuk menjawab tantangan bagaimana menurunkan kemiskinan dengan kondisi sumber daya yang semakin terbatas.

Penyusunan agenda prioritas ke depan harus memperhatikan berbagai aspek, diantaranya kompetensi dan kapasitas, pemahaman yang baik mengenai peluang dan tantangan terkait agroforestry dan ketersediaan sumber daya, termasuk juga isu perubahan iklim. Dalam menjawab prioritas tersebut , Dr. Antonny J Simon,  Dr. Dennis A Garrity dan pembicara lainnya menyampaikan paparan bagaimana menghubungkan antara agroforestry dan kebutuhan komunitas. Selain itu, berbagai pengalaman terbaik  dalam implementasi sistem agroforestry untuk keuntungan masyarakat dan lingkungan juga dipaparkan pada acara tersebut.

--------------------------------------

SOUTHEAST ASIA REGIONAL AGROFORESTRY DAY: TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE SOUTHEAST ASIA

The inaugural Southeast Asia Regional Agroforestry Day was jointly hosted by the ICRAF Southeast Asia Program and the Forestry Research and Development Agency (FORDA) of the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia.

Held at the Manggala Wanabakti complex of the Ministry of Forestry in central Jakarta, the event  capitalised on three coinciding circumstances: the signing of the renewed memorandum of understanding between the Government of Indonesia and ICRAF; the visit to Jakarta of ICRAF’s outgoing Director General Dr Dennis Garrity, Director General Designate Dr Tony Simons and ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins Coordinator Dr Peter Minang; and the desire to present ICRAF’s regional work to the research and development community in Jakarta. Consequently, senior ICRAF scientists, development agency representatives, Government of Indonesia officials and national media attended.

The day began with a welcome address by Dr Bambang Tri Hartono, Director of Research and Development, Forest Productivity, Ministry of Forestry, delivered on behalf of the organizing committee from FORDA, followed by a reply by Dr Ujjwal Pradhan, ICRAF’s Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator. Dr Hartono mentioned that the event reflected the excellent partnership between FORDA and ICRAF that officially began in the early 1990s and has broadened and deepened ever since. The collaboration will continue to contribute to better management of forests and other natural resources as well as speeding up the improvement of livelihoods of many people, especially those who live close to forests. Dr Pradhan introduced the day to the participants, stating that ‘the memorandum of understanding was a pledge of meaningful reciprocity to advance national capacity and science in the field of agroforestry in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia’.

The memorandum’s formal signing ceremony then followed, with speeches by Dr Tachrir Fathoni, Director General of FORDA, and Dr Garrity. Both men spoke of the long and fruitful relationship between the two organisations and the desire, embodied in the renewed memorandum, of continuing to deepen and enrich the collaboration, especially through working together to develop the new agroforestry research centre at Ciamis, West Java. Dr Garrity was able to reflect on his historic role in establishing the Southeast Asia Program and office in the early 1990s and how the new Ministry of Forestry agroforestry research centre was one example of the impact of ICRAF’s work in Indonesia. He also emphasised the significance of the inaugural Southeast Asia Regional Agroforestry Day, coming as it did at the end of his tenure as Director General and the importance of Indonesia not only to ICRAF globally but also to him personally given his many years working in the Bogor office.

After the signing and exchange of gifts between representatives of ICRAF and FORDA, Dr Kurniatun Hairiah of the University of Brawijaya officially launched a significant new book, Pengukuran cadangan karbon dari tingkat lahan ke  bentang lahan (Measuring carbon stocks across land-use systems: a manual), pointing out the historic, contemporary and future significance of the manual in the context of the Government of Indonesia’s world-leading commitment to reduce carbon emissions by up to 41%. The manual was created by ICRAF, with support from the European Union, in partnership with the University of Brawijaya and Badan Planologi Kehutanan (Forestry Planning Agency) of the Ministry of Forestry.

After refreshments, Dr Garrity took the podium to speak on ‘Reflections on 20 years of agroforestry in the global context and future projections’, in which he reminisced at greater length on the establishment of ICRAF in Indonesia and its expanding influence throughout the region. In particular, he noted the importance of agroforests in Indonesia; the early research on forest and land-use transitions in Sumatra; the significance of the Hutan Desa (Village Forest) process development; separating the definitions of ‘forests’, which was largely a political issue, from trees themselves; the growth of ICRAF’s work in China, the Philippines and Viet Nam; the growing significance of environmental services through programs and projects such ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins, ‘Rewards for, Use of, and Shared Investment in Pro-poor Environmental Services’ (RUPES) and ‘Reducing Emissions from All Land Uses’ (REALU); the decrease of food production globally and the increase of population that put immense pressure on resources and increased our responsibility to discover new solutions with agroforestry; the possibility of applying the lessons learned in the drylands of Africa  in the drier regions of Eastern Indonesia

Next, Director General Designate Dr Tony Simons spoke of key issues he saw that would have an impact on ICRAF’s work in the future. He pointed out the importance of the time series, land-use and land-cover change maps of Indonesia produced by the Accountability and Local-level Initiatives for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Indonesia project; drew connections between population growth and rural production by percentage; emphasised the importance of forest products to local communities and national economies, with reference to the potential for increased fruit exports from Indonesia; underscored the role that tree genetics plays, for example, with cacao in Sulawesi through the work of Mars Symbioscience and ICRAF; stressed the significance of the reorganisation of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research  (CGIAR) and the new CGIAR Research Program 6, in which ICRAF plays a pivotal role; and ended with positing 12 research issues that will be of increasing importance in the future.

Before breaking for lunch, Dr Rodel D Lasco, ICRAF Philippines Coordinator and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead author presented information on behalf of the ICRAF research team, titled ‘Agroforestry at different scales and transitions across Southeast Asia’. Dr Lasco took us on a tour of the work of ICRAF in the region, for example, showing us results of work with improving the production systems of smallholder teak growers in Indonesia, through detailed research on intercropping in the Philippines, to Himalayan watershed management and Vietnamese environmental services’ payments schemes. The scope and depth of the research agenda was clear to all.

After lunch, Dr Peter Minang, Coordinator of the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins, led a session titled ‘Reducing land-based emissions through nationally appropriate mitigation actions, reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) and from all land uses (REALU)’, in which he outlined the major points of the international work on developing schemes that will help us to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change. In support, Dr Atiek Widayati presented a case study of work undertaken in Tanjung Jabung Barat on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia; and Dr Suyanto discussed land tenure issues and the various socio-economic and policy analyses conducted by ICRAF.

As a fascinating and more in-depth follow-on, doctoral candidate Ms Beria Leimona presented information from her research into environmental services rewards’ schemes, drawing on work throughout Southeast Asia in her role as Project Coordinator for the Rewards for, Use of, and Shared Investment in Pro-poor Environmental Services project, phase 2 (RUPES 2).

The penultimate session of the day, moderated by Chief Science Advisor Meine van Noordwijk, was one of the most interesting, with representatives from development agencies discussing their roles and what they saw as knowledge gaps that ICRAF could help fill. Panel members were Ria Noviari Butarbutar from the European Union, Joel Tukan from AusAID, Jamal Gawi from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Frances Barns from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Mohammed Nasimul Islam from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Emile Jurgens from the World Bank.

Frances Barns mentioned the importance in Indonesia of further research into how to expand the lessons learned in the smallholders’ teak project. Emile Jurgens emphasised that the challenges in Indonesia lay in implementation of policy recommendations and what incentives were needed, particularly at the subnational levels. Emile offered ICRAF an opportunity to present the Bank with proposals to research the impacts of agroforestry and how to mobilise political will at subnational levels. Nasimul from the ADB argued that climate change was the core issue, with a focus on how community empowerment could be measured as part of the plan to help poor and marginalised communities adapt. He claimed that models were needed that could be replicated and expanded throughout Indonesia. Joel Tukan said that of particular interest to AusAID was smallholder market chains, building the capacity of NGOs in Eastern Indonesia, partnerships and the difficulty of transferring research to the field. Ria Butarbutar stated that climate change, poverty reduction and food security were priority areas for the EU and how to build fruitful cooperation with others. She announced that the FP7 funding line would close on 20 October and its focus was on the environment. Jamal Gawi said that long-term economic growth is the focus for CIDA, with sustainable natural resources management as a component. The knowledge gaps as he saw them were the need to address the real problems of the poor, how to foster more user-driven research and clear responses to the development priorities of the government. He emphasised that innovative research was needed on alternatives to rice as a staple.

The final session of the day was moderated by Dr Tony Simons and was titled ‘Agroforestry in action: insights and praxis’. Panel members included Dr Didi Suprayogo from the University of Brawijaya, Dr Bambang Tri Hartono of FORDA, Rudi Syaf of KKI Warsi, Dr Mahrus of the Indonesian Network for Agroforestry Education and Nonette Royo of Samdhana. The panel members presented a wide range of experiences, issues and opinions, given the diverse nature of their organisations, ranging from centres of higher learning through government research agency to non-government organisations.

At the close of the day, various participants declared the event a success and expressed hope that it would become a regular fixture, taking place in other countries in Southeast Asia annually, in order to effectively share and promote agroforestry knowledge and implementation in the region.