Sustainable livelihoods begin with the ability to exercise control over the natural resources on which one depends. For many forest-dependent people, illegal logging short-circuits this control, robbing them of traditional forest uses and income. But some communities in Indonesia have found a way to fight back to preserve their forest livelihoods. With training in the use of video cameras and film-editing techniques, they have begun to document illegal logging incidents, using the footage to gain media coverage and to lobby for action against corrupt forest practices.
The video training, provided by a pair of environmental NGOs (nongovernmental organizations), has created a network of empowered citizens based in illegal logging hotspots in 15 regions across the archipelago—including Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and West Papua. Some have already put their newfound skills to impressive and effective use, with media and public airings of their films forcing the closure of illegal operations and promoting alternative livelihoods such as bamboo cultivation and fish farming (see examples below).
“One of the propaganda arguments put out by logging companies is that there are no alternative livelihoods for forest communities,” says Arbi Valentinus of Telapak, an Indonesian NGO that shares responsibility for the video training program. “In fact it is illegal logging that is disturbing and destroying traditional livelihoods such as mixed crop farming and cultivating rattan, honey, bamboo and herbs used in traditional medicines. Better enforcement against illegal logging helps to secure local livelihoods, reduce corruption, and break communities’ dependency on the timber barons” (Valentinus 2004)
