Responsible Sourcing: Community Forest

Since 2018, Gumi Bamboo has been resourcing the materials for our products from a Community Forest located in Batukliang, Central Lombok, Indonesia.

But what is community forestry?

Community forestry is a scheme where the government gives a permit to the local community to cooperatively manage and use the land and resources for improving the community’s prosperity and also preserving the forest.

In Indonesia, the permit is granted by the Ministry for 35 years and can be extended with regular monitoring every 5 years. Each community forest is run by a committee and decisions are made in a participatory way with the whole community.

This scheme is benefiting the local community in the form of :

• Legal recognition and protection in managing forest areas with a clear timeline.
• Access to value and benefits from managing land and forest resources in the form of small-scale economical activities that will increase their income and living conditions.
• Preserve the land, forest, and biodiversity, as small-scale management is more sustainable than large-scale activities run by corporates — avoid resources exploitation and massive deforestation.

Examples of activities that are allowed in community forestry are:

• Land use for agroforestry
• Non-timber Forest Product management such as bamboo, honey, coffee, fruits, rattan, and sap.
• Services/projects that will not harm the environment such as eco-tourism, wildlife conservation, watershed protection, and carbon sequestration and storage.

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