Legal Certainty and Agroforestry: LMDH Lestari Rinjani's Efforts in Building the Future of the Village

The Lestari Rinjani Forest Village Community Institution (LMDH) is a community in Karang Sidemen Village, North Batukliang District, Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Since 1980, after the expiration of the Land Use Rights (HGU), a total of 182 hectares of land in the village has been cultivated by the community without any legal certainty from the government.

For many years, LMDH Lestari Rinjani together WALHI NTB is trying to fight for the land management rights cultivated by 520 families from 14 hamlets in Karang Sidemen Village through the Agrarian Reform Object Land (TORA) redistribution scheme. Specifically, from the total TORA land area submitted, the proposed management area is 150 Ha and the conservation or protection area is 32 Ha.

Participatory mapping for 150 Ha of managed areas is one of the efforts of LMDH Lestari Rinjani with assistance WALHI NTB in obtaining legal certainty over land managed by the community. With the support of Direct Funding from Nusantara Fund, the series of programs began in February 2024 and will run until July 2024.

The community plays an active role in the process to ensure that every farmer knows the boundaries of their land clearly and what potential is on the land. Not only residents, mapping in the area also involved ATR/BPN Central Lombok, Kanwil BPN, Village Government, Bapinpol, and Bapin TNI. The result is a map of 150 Ha of land managed by Karang Sidemen Village. In the same agenda, data collection of IP4T (Inventory of Control, Ownership, Use, and Utilization of Land) and potential cultivation in each TORA cultivator's land was also carried out. In the data collection, it was found that in the cultivated land there were 25 fruit plant commodities and 21 types of conservation or protective trees that had been planted independently by residents.

The fruit plants that have been planted are expected to be a source of additional income for community members, while the conservation trees will have a long-term impact in maintaining ecosystem stability. Planting conservation trees indirectly helps maintain ecosystem stability by preventing soil erosion, maintaining soil fertility, and regulating the water cycle in the area. These trees also provide habitat for various species, maintain biodiversity, and help absorb carbon, all of which are important for maintaining ecosystem balance.

LMDH Lestari Rinjani with assistance WALHI NTB also built the Education and Training Center (Pusdiklat) as a means for LMDH members to improve their knowledge and skills in sustainable land management. Pusdiklat provides training related to agroforestry techniques, conservation, and how to utilize natural resources without damaging the environment.

The training not only teaches technical skills, but also provides an understanding of the importance of preserving the environment in agricultural land management to 520 families who are members of LMDH Lestari Rinjani. In addition to changing awareness, the training center is also expected to be able to pump up the community's enthusiasm to continue applying the knowledge they have gained in sustainable forest management practices.

Audiences with the ATR/BPN of Central Lombok and the Agrarian Reform Task Force at the provincial and national levels were also conducted to confirm the status of the land proposed by the community and to socialize the map of the land plots managed by Karang Sidemen Village. It is hoped that after the redistribution is approved, community members will obtain legal ownership rights to the land they have managed for years.

In the audience it was also stated that with the recognition of legal ownership of the land of Sidemen Village, it would provide a sense of security to farmers in managing their land productively, while opening up opportunities for improving their economic welfare. Until now, the TORA application is still in the process of being discussed by the NTB provincial GTRA. However, various strategic steps have been taken by LMDH Lestari Rinjani and WALHI NTB to ensure that the voices of the Karang Sidemen community are heard.