Abstract

Forests provide substantial direct and indirect benefits to local community. However, the effective use of forest products for a local community, vastly depends on the extent of their knowledge and access to forest that they are depending on. This research is aimed to identify local community understanding on the benefits of forest in Sungai Melayu, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The data collection methods were carried out using nested plots to identify existence of various forest species, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and field observation to collect data on forest and its usefulness to local livelihoods with the assistance of expert local informants. The research result indicated that Sungai Melayu forest in West Kalimantan is providing various direct (e.g., food, fodder, firewood, timber, and resin) and indirect (e.g., soil erosion control, increase soil fertility, reducing pollution, flood control) benefits to the local communities, including important cultural services. If forest is used and controlled by the local community, it can allow better management of forest than corporate based management, in terms of their scale of use and passion to forest.

Keywords:Species; Livelihood; Extent of benefit; Conservation