Wamena (22/02)-To ensure participation by civil society groups in monitoring land-use plans for low-emissions development in Papua province, Participatory Monitoring by Civil Society of Land-use Planning for Low-emissions Development Strategies (ParCiMon) project, implemented by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in collaboration with the Papua Low Carbon Development Task Force (PLCD-TF), Brawijaya University, Papua Conservation and People Empowerment Foundation (YKPM), and Papua Environmental Foundation (YALI), organized field training in two test villages: Wambena in Jayapura district and Mulima in Jayawijaya district.

Representatives from local communities who were members of working groups related to low-emissions development were trained to document environmental services in each test village using simple methods.

One of the activities was measuring carbon stock in a plot. The field training was conducted after a number of sessions in a classroom. They were taught the importance of trees in storing carbon and the simplest way to measure it.

A focussed-group discussion with the villagers facilitated by the trained participants (members of the working group) was conducted to identify land cover types in the village. Then, a 100 m x 20 m-plot was set in each land cover type. However, during the training they only had a chance to set up a plot in the primary forest. They noted the information needed to measure carbon stock, namely, the size of the trees through measuring the diameter of trees (only trees that have diameter more than 5 cm-width that were measured) and identified the local name of each tree.

The data gathered was then entered into a spreadsheet that calculated how much carbon was stored in that particular land-cover using the “allometry” equation. Besides measuring the size of the trees and identifying the local name of the trees, another carbon pool of necromass, understorey, litter, and soil samples were also collected. The plots had to be representative of the entire land cover types. Therefore, by discovering the amount of carbon stock in any given plot, the trainees could establish how much carbon was stored in the land cover types.

The information of land cover types captured during the focus group discussion was used to identify the plant and animal diversity they extracted from or they planted in. This activity allows them to recognise the current condition of plant and animal diversity and discover how it has changed over the last five years. Other information related to biodiversity’s threat and conservation efforts was gathered during the discussion.

Besides measuring carbon stocks, the working groups were also trained to undertake hydrologic monitoring by identifying the quantity and quality of the water as well as to measure the indicator of quality and quantity, for example turbidity, debit and rainfall. . 

This set of data on environmental services will be used to design principles, criteria, and indicators to build a monitoring system for the land-use plans that are currently being developed by the working groups in Papua Province.

One of the local people from Mulima, Titus Wilil, said that the community members were very enthusiastic about the activities. They knew best about the conditions in and around their own villages and they had witnessed the changes in the environment over time. So, it was important for them to be involved in monitoring the natural resources in their village, he said.

Titus also pointed out some environmental problems in Mulima. One of them was heavy floods resulting in serious damage to their fields.

‘Since the early 2000s, the floods have become worse. People’s farms, fields and “honai” [traditional house of the region: rounded with coarse grass roof] have been flooded. Our crops, such as “hipera” [local name for sweet potato], were heavily damaged’, he said.

The floods were triggered by landslides, which carried rocks, sand, and mud into the Baliem River, causing siltation. Tree cutting near the river had worsened the floods, he added. Although local wisdom had long taught not to fell trees near the river, this had been ignored by some groups of young people in the village.

By involving local communities in monitoring environmental services, it is expected that they will become more aware of the changing conditions of their environment and the impacts it brings. Therefore, they would put more serious effort into preventing further damage.