My name is Onte. In Kendari it stands for "ongkos pete-pete" (shared costs).
[audience laughs]
But it can also mean "Orang NTT" (person from East Nusa Tenggara)
Today I'll be sharing about TELAPAK's experience
Building "Community Logging"
This is TELAPAK. Everyone wears black
Like the shirt I'm wearing now. This organization is filled with individuals
From all sorts of backgrounds. From traditional communities, researchers, businessmen, and others
We started a long time ago. I joined about 20 years ago, entering one forest to another with friends
Now, this is proof of history
I'm the one on the very end
When I was tagged on this photo on Facebook, I was upset. "Why did you have to publish this ugly picture of me?"
But after thinking it through, this is actually good
This proves that the older I get, the more dashing I look
[audience laughs]
[audience applause]
So, i think..
Grass roots understanding, that is what we get from our good experiences in the forests
I'm lucky to have both those experiences and to get invited to these big events
This is a picture I took in Davos, 2010
There's a story behind this
I still got the "grass roots" in me. I was so upset with this guy on my left
I wanted to take a picture with Muhammad Yunus, suddenly he just came to join the picture
Who the heck is this guy? [audience laughs]
Who is this?
Then I was tagged on Facebook. My friend commented "Wow, so you've taken a picture with our idol, huh?
Its true that I like reading Paulo Coelho's books
"When did I take a picture with Paulo Coelho?". "That one, the one with Muhammad Yunus!", I just realized who he was
[audience laughs]
I almost made a mistake
I like the alchemist, and his other books, but I didn't know what he looked like
I almost told him to go away
[audience laughs]
So, experiences
From the depth of the forests where it got me to know more of Indonesia
Got to know the villages of Indonesia
Got to know the children of Indonesia
Got to know the oceans of Indonesia
This one's very beautiful, in Raja Ampat (Papua)
And then I got to know Indonesia's forests
Of course in some places our forests are still fine, but I'm here to tell you that some are being destroyed, left and right
In some places it's starting to be destroyed, logs being stolen
This one is opened for palm plantations and others
Our logs, stolen, taken out of the country
It used to be taken out of Papua, given fake Malaysian documents, and sent to China
And China would process it, and sell it to the U.S. or Europe
Now, they're taken out from Papua, given fake Phillipino documents, as if they're from the Philippines
And then taken to Malaysia, so it's getting closer
And then Malaysia processes and sells them
So, its like "cow's eye eggs" (sunny side up)
The chicken lays the egg, but the cow gets the credit
[audience laughs]
[audience applause]
So, Indonesia has the wood, but people see it as it belonging to Malaysia and China
Now, these logs are stolen from those lovely islands that I showed you before
They even do illegal logging in Raja Ampat
Maybe in the near future we wouldn't be able to see its beauty anymore. So, for those of you who haven't been to Raja Ampat, you better go quickly
[audience laughs]
Before it disappears, right?
So, the government did a major crackdown on illegal logging
And what happens next in an operation like this is usually
Thousands of police officers are deployed to arrest the perpetrators
We have given them all the data (of the perpetrators)
But unfortunately, not even one name that we have revealed as perpetrators, that we have given to them was arrested
The ones that got arrested was the little guys
People from communities that only took one or two logs
This made TELAPAK think twice, maybe
We shouldn't depend on this single campaign
We needed to do something else. So we came to the illegal loggers
Asked them to change
"Come on people, let's change. Let's manage our forests better.."
"We can get better money! Better money" they said "sounds like a great idea! How?"
"Well, we can't cut trees willy nilly, only the big ones. We can't cut the ones near the rivers.."
"What? That's too difficult.."
"No, no, but this is important"
"Hey! There's nothing more important than getting money for the lives of our children and wives"
"But this destroys the ecosystem". "Hey, if you prohibit us to cut trees, sooner or later, I will cut you!"
[audience laughs]
So that was the challenge. And we failed. We failed
But then we thought, if we failed, we have to find another way
So, we went undercover as illegal loggers.
We joined them in the forests, carrying logs while making conversations
(They would ask) "So how much is the price of these logs?" / "600 thousand Rupiahs"
"What about when it reaches the city?" / "One million" / "What? How come it's different?"
"Well thats because there are the middle men" / "Can we be the middle men?"
"But we got no money" / "We can each chip in, right?"
So with these conversations in the forest
It makes them think. But anyway
Because we usually snore in our sleep, we find other places to sleep
[audience laughs]
This is one example. This is not a hippo..
[audience laughs]
This is my friend. When this video is uploaded, he'll be angry at me
In the beginning, they were suspicious.
But slowly and surely, we infiltrate their hearts and minds.
They start laughing with us and eventually they join
However, the early adopters are usually the old ones
I don't know if they joined because they want to, or because they can no longer carry stolen logs
But that's fine! We start with this old fellow
And a few interested families, we start a sustainable management of the forest
All of their forests we inventoried. How big it is
The diameter, everything turns into data. How tall they are, so that
Every log, has a number
This is the name of the cooperative
This signifies
Forest ownership.
And this shows that the owner of this log, lives in the 2nd village in the list of the cooperative member
Member number 11
This is the number of the tree
This is the second cut, square log, right in the middle
And this is the cutting size
So every single wood there, we can track back
And then, after cutting down 1, they plant 10
Now it's different
Cut down 10, plant 1
1 hectare I mean
[audience laughs]
So
The woods are processed to make furniture. If any of you wants to buy furniture
From these ex-illegal loggers, we can track it back
When was the wood of your furniture cut down, whom did it belong to, who cut it down
We can find out. We have built the database, manually
That is why, we got the FSC certificate for sustainable forest management
This cooperative, was the first one in Asia Pacific to get it in 2005
[audience applause]
This was a great effort. And later we got an award from the Indonesian government
So I think this cooperation
Resulted in something incredible. This is what their houses used to look like, now it's like this
Because if you sell illegal logs, the most you can get is 2 million. But selling certified wood can get you
6.5 million per cubic square
[audience applause] Now, it has grown. We started from one village
Now we have included 11,000 families, in 28 regencies, and 201,000 hectares
And then the Indonesian government gave them
Permit to manage forests in the state's land
This is incredible! Because until that time, the government has never given permits to the people (communities)
It has always been given to big companies
This was the first time, in South East Sulawesi, 4,600 hectares, for the community
Although, it looked like this
It was done, empty
But it was ok, for us
The important thing is the acknowledgement. we will reforest this land. But of course, we need to figure out a way to do this. And that is what brings me here
I believe that this will work because of the experience of Sweden
This is SODRA, owned by 51,000 farmers
And they work through a cooperative. They started SODRA in 1939
Now it has grown amazingly. SODRA has plenty of members and its net-sales is US$ 2.64 Billion
And is now one of the largest producers of pulp in the world. We also have another one here
It's called "mas.. mas..". Something like that...
[audience laughs]
[audience applause]
But the difference is, theres a lot of protests against that one, because its not sustainable. This one (SODRA) is
100% sustainable
It also produces bio fuel
4.3 terra watts worth of electricity per year
Only with wooden logs. Now, what I'm really curious about
Is this. Those trees in Sweden, those are 80 years old
These trees in my home town, is 7 years old
If it takes a tree to be that big, 80 years in Sweden, and 7 years here, I am sure we can be as rich as they are
[audience applause]
[audience applause] It seems that God has given everything to us
But it is us that have failed to manage it sustainably. They have done that.
This is teak. If it were Sengon (silk tree), it will be much bigger after 7 years.
This is our dream, and I'd like to challenge all of you, our friends
We have made a good system
Like i said before
If Arief gives me Rp 100,000 now
I can come to him tomorrow
Arief, I have planted the tree
At these coordinates, by this person, and here's the contact detail, you can check
We have built that system
So we think, if that can be done manually, I'm sure, for example
There will be an app
You're waiting in line.. "I think I'll plant a tree.."
ding!
[audience laughs]
Tomorrow, an email will come to you. Your tree has been planted by this family, here are their contacts
here are the coordinates. That's our system
Let's say, it's saturday night, and your partner is taking a long time to get ready
"I feel like planting another tree!"
[audience laughs]
[audience applause]
Or you're stuck in traffic, "I think I'll plant another one!"
So, if we can plant trees with that kind of technology, I believe we can reforest Indonesia
Reforest Indonesia, make Indonesia green again, without waiting for aid from other countries
But with our own hands
With our participation, I think we can rebuild Indonesia's forests
We can rebuild it, make it green again, and we can improve the welfare of the nation
Secondly, we can be the pioneers of Zero Carbon Footprint Communities.
According to research, the average carbon footprint per person in Indonesia is 1.8 tons per year
While the carbon absorption rate
Is 190 Kg per tree per year
This means, we can absorb our own carbons
If you plant 9.5 trees, you can say, "I have a zero carbon footprint!"
[audience applause]
[audience applause] Because all the carbons i've emitted
Have been absorbed by the 10 trees I've planted in this village
In the future,
There can even be a profit sharing model. If you put Rp 100,000 in the bank for example
You won't get a good interest. You can even get a cut for… what fee is that?
Administration fee, it can get smaller and smaller. But with this, we can have a profit sharing scheme
In which, with a selling price of Rp 6 million, investors can get 30%
So I think friends, this is the time we reforest Indonesia
With our own strength
No need to wait for help from anywhere else to reforest our land
We can do it together. We've done our part to build the system
Build the community, build the human resources
And have done something we call "Social Investment"
This is amazing work. I believe that the key for success in anything is
Organizations. If we can build organizations, we can build the dreams of the people
There is nothing we can't build
Teak, was only an entry point. Now they have schools, farms, many more...
But if we fail to build the organizations, build the dreams
However plenty the money is, it will disappear
Our role is to build that social investment of organizations
I invite you to build this with us. building the dream of making Indonesia green again
Maybe there are young people that are great at making apps, help us create one
An app for "I think I'll plant a tree.."
It could be called anything. I think that is what I want to ask
Thank you for TEDxJakarta. This is the 2nd time I gave a talk here. The first time I spoke
A member of the audience eventually helped us develop this idea to Yogyakarta and many other places
Hopefully this 2nd one, we can get help in building a great app, and that can
Make Indonesia green again, with our own hands. Thank you
Assalammualaikum Wr. Wb.
[audience applause]