Indonesia’s Teak Farms : A Sulawesi Cooperative Supplies Certified Teak to the World Market
What started as a quiet rebellion, of sorts, by a group of disenfranchised villagers in indonesia has sprouted into an economically viable, environmentally sustainable teak business. In 1970, the Indonesian goverment appropriated large chunks of land from villages in South Konawe District in Southwest Sulawesi, and then hired local villagers to establish teak plantations on the very land that had just been taken from them. In response, the villagers stashed a few teak seeds in their pockets and brought them home to plant in their fields and gardens. Today, those homegrown trees, sprouted in private farm plots, are proving a highly effective tool to combat illegal logging on state lands while providing villagers with a reliable source of income.
Teak : A Global Commodity
Over the past thirty-five years global demand for teak has surged. Teak has always been highly valued for its unique properties. Its high oil content makes it extremely dense and virtually impervious to water. Its hold up under heat, cold, wind and rain. It resists disease, and has the extraordinary ability, when in contact with metal, ti prevent rust. The virtualy maintenancu-free qualities of take make it one of the most prized, high-quality building materials in the world, and a favorite of outdorr furniture makers and boat builders alike.
This demand for teak has put enormous pressure on the goverments’ plantations, tempting many of South sulawesi’s poor to venture into the plantations to log illegally. The gains have been few. Villagers who harvest and sell illegal teak find themselves at the mercy of middleman, who pay notoriously low prices. Illegal logging depletes the teak resource, removing long-term income potential. Without careful management, teak groves can quickly be degraded and the resources loses its value. When a tree is cut, many shoots grow up from the stump, but these my be crooked, less vigorous, full of low-branches and not suitable for sale as timber. In the mean time, communities around the forest are further impacted by erosion an subsequent siltation and the depletion of water resources as unsustainable numbers of trees are removed. Conversely, on a well-managed teak plantation the stumps are removed after harvest an the soil is replanted with seed. And because teak grows on 20 to 30 years cycles, replanting should be a continuous process, which doesn’t happen when trees are taken illegaly.
Certification Yields Economic and Environmental Benefits
Thanks to the farmers in South Konawe District, the trend of illegal teak harvesting is beginning to be reversed. The farmers have taken to managing their home teak plots so responsibly that they have merited certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The certificate was issued by the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood program, an FSC-acredited certifying body. Whereas once these farmers might have earned supplemental income by risky illegal logging, SmartWood certification means they can now command premium high enough from their own teak plots to survive financially. The premiums for certified teak may be significantly higher than illegally logged teak because the demand is high. "Businesses on the tail end of the supply chain are warry of procuring illegal teak, and they want traceability of this resources, " explains SmartWood’s Asia Pasific regional manager Jeff Hayward. "Now farmers living in this region can acces markets previously unavailable to them."