The Role of Social Capital for Sustainable Forest Management, A Case of Community Forest in Karangrejo and Wonotopo Village, Purworejo Regency, Indonesia

Forest has remarkable role in earth. It has climatic and hydrological function to support human’s life as a unity of flora and fauna. Furthermore, it has insurance value to protect human from natural disaster such as drought, flood, landslide etc. as well as support human’s life through its natural resource. Therefore, forest conservation is important. The research explores the dynamics of social capital in community forest and it’s influence toward sustainable forest management. The study is focused on two villages in peri urban area of Purworejo regency, Central Java province, Indonesia. The village namely Karangrejo in Loano sub district and Wonotopo in Gebang sub district. The area is prone to landslide and problem of water scarcity. Community forest in this area is located in private land. Additionally, the society develops tumpang sari agroforestry system as strategy to benefit the forest from timber and other beneficial plant such as turmeric, cassava, ginger, etc. Furthermore, the two villages are characterized by small plot of land, which is mostly less than 0.3 hectare. Shared land ownership also exists especially in Wonotopo where majority of the forest farmer experience the shared land. Whilst in Karangrejo, although the land parcel is small, mostly it is on private ownership. The research aims to discover group and network connectedness through social bonding and social bridging and the relation with sustainable community based forest management. Social bonding variables which are used in this study; norms, trust, reciprocity, association, initiative, and decision making. Meanwhile, social bridging variables are; formal and informal institution and linking network. Data collection methods in this research using field observation, survey, interview, and secondary data. Social bonding is measured through survey by distributing questionnaire to capture the general opinion of forest farmer. Meanwhile, for data analysis, descriptive and regression statistical analysis is utilized to discover the bonding in the society. Information related to social bridging is gathered through interview with Forestry Agency of Purworejo regency (DISHUTBUN), Community Forestry Research Center (PKHR) of Gadjah Mada University, and head of forest farmer group (KTHR). Government report, archives from PKHR, statistical data from Central Statistical Board of Purworejo (BPS), and village profile were used to triangulate information. The outcomes revealed that the social bonding in the two villages has almost similar high bonding. Although, there are variations in the degree of social cohesion in the community, the perception on social bonding does not correlate with land ownership status and land extent. It revealed that the bonding is influenced by other factors that need further research. This is due to the complex parameters of sustainable forest management that could not be overviewed through social bonding only. Meanwhile, social bridging explains more on the relationship of forest farmer group with external party. The finding indicates that the two villages have different degree of link with other party. Wonotopo has weaker link with other party compares to Karangrejo. This is due to the reluctant of the people to join the group or participates in government project, lack of awareness and motivation in the community made it difficult to create network. On the contrary, Karangrejo able to develop its community forest and create stronger link with many party. This is due to high awareness of the community to protect the forest, the history, and motivation. Furthermore, the support of PKHR in 2005 through capacity development, also the role of local leader has changed the face of Karangrejo to be more powerful and resilient. Overall, group and network are important elements to obtain sustainable forest management.