Empowerment effort for surrounding forest community living in the buffer zone and traditional zone at Bukit Tigapuluh National Park (BTNP)

Abstract

The current condition of Bukit Tigapuluh National Park (BTNP) is far from the standard function of a national park, as defined in Law no 5/1990, regarding biodiversity conservation and its ecosystem. The condition influences all organisms (flora and fauna) and surrounding forest communities who depend on the existence of BTNP. One solution that can be offered to tackle the situation is by providing empowerment programs for the local community who live near the national park to optimize the use of their local wisdom. Methods used in this study is an in-depth interview. The result of this study shows that area near the national park has a high potential to develop Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) commodity, especially for honey bee cultivation. As a result, in 4 months of honey bee development program, the community could harvest 14.95 kg of honey from 57 boxes of species Trigona sp. Honey bee produced in the traditional zone is more productive than that in the buffer zone area. The government needs to prepare sustainable programs of community empowerment by improving the productivity of NTFPs. The increasing community involvement in forest management and revitalization is needed to restore the function of the forest area.