Communities conservation activities to support sustainable land use of upstream Merawu Watershed

Abstract

Land use in the upstream Merawu watershed is dominant with agroforestry and intensive agriculture. Poor land management and conservation might lead to land degradation and affect the function of land use in the upstream area. This study aims to find out the community conservation activities which support and maintain the function of land use as a recharge area and protect the downstream. We used a qualitative method in the form of interviews at two locations representing dominant land use in the upstream Merawu watershed, agroforestry in Leksana Village, and intensive farming in Penanggungan Village. We analyzed the data descriptively, supported by field observation and literature studies. We found that the form of conservation activities and its triggers in land management were different. Leksana's community tended to do the agroforestry system, combined with terracing, contour strip cropping, organic mulch, and organic fertilizer as their local wisdom to maintain the land function. Penanggungan community's conservation activities were based on the crops they grow, mostly potato, that needed to be planted perpendicular to the slope, using plastic mulch and chemical substances. They believe that the agroforestry has a negative impact on their crops while crop rotation and manual plowing using hoe are their remaining conservation activities to maintain the land function. The results prove that Leksana's community is still considering conservation activities in their land management while Penanggungan's community is not, due to the crops' needs and economic factors.