Project for Community-based Sustainable Natural Resource Management
TIMOR-Leste
Aug.23, 2010
Dili, Laclo River Basin, Comoro River Basin
2010/12~2015/10
National Directorate of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery
Between 1972 and 1999, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste had reduced its forest cover at a rate of 1.1% per annum or 24% of total forests. At present, the forest cover of the country is expected to share only about 35% (or 0.5 million ha) of the total land of the country. It is reported that the deforestation have been caused mainly by i) wildfires, ii) intensive fuel wood collection, iii) shifting cultivation and iv) uncontrolled illegal logging. Deforestation has further caused soil erosion, landslides, flash floods and inflow of sedimentation into rivers, and eventually affected the people's life in river basins.
Considering the situation where many crucial watersheds in the country have progressively degraded due to constant deforestation, the Government stated in the Forestry Policy in 2007 that the Government should restore and conserve watersheds, especially 10 critically degraded watersheds in the country in a sustainable manner.
Nevertheless, it is still difficult for MAF/NDF to take necessary action for proper watersheds and forest management in the country due to the insufficient legislative set-ups related to forest and watershed management, limited number of stuffs and limited experience in watershed management to name a few.
Under the circumstances, a development study on community-based integrated watersheds management in Laclo and Comoro river vasin was launched in November 2005 with the technical and financial assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency to develop a model of watershed management plan application to the country.
Although NDF and MAF have been working with the JICA Study Team in preparing an integrated watershed management plan and implementing some of the sub-programs in the course of the Study, they still need to enhance their capacities in order for them to manage the critical watershed in a sustainable manner.
Community-based sustainable natural resource management (CB-NRM) is practiced in the target area.
An operational mechanism of CR-NRM at suco level is developed.
1-1 | Organize initial meetings in the Project sites. |
1-2 | Conduct participatory Village profiling in the Project sites. |
1-3 | Conduct participatory land use planning with formulation of relevant suco regulations. |
1-4 | Facilirate local residents in the Project sites to implement the micro-projects prioritized in line with the land use plans. |
1-5 | Monitor field seminars and/or workshop for technical dissemination to local residents in the neighboring sucos. |
2-1 | Gather and compile useful CB-NRM practices and technologies applicable to the situation of the target area. |
2-2 | Plan and conduct the training on CB-NRM for the technical staff to the implementing agency and relevant stakeholders. |
2-3 | Organize feedback seminars on CB-NRM. |
2-4 | Prepare technical manuals on CB-NRM. |
3-1 | Prepare guidelines/manuals on the processes with roles of stakeholders to support CB-NRM based on the evaluation on CB-NRM and the micro-projects implemented in the Project sites. |
3-2 | Organize planning seminars on CB-NRM. |
3-3 | Develop a draft policy recommendation on CB-NRM. |
3-4 | Organize a workshop to present the recommendation to relevant institutions and stakeholders |