Preserving rattan means preserving the forest. Because rattan habitat requires the existance of forest. REDD (Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation) is as a systemic framework to save the forest nowadays.

Rattan is a commodity that is produced from natural forest and cultivated by the people. There are two groups of rattan: the first, the solitair group (stands alone but in cluster), the second: the cluster group (grows vining and clustered on other host trees). The nature of the growth of rattan which climbs vining on the host tree, is when it is cut / harvested routinely and regularly it will grow more new shoots so it helps preserving the rattan plant (The background of Minister of Trading Regulation No.36/2009 implementation).

The availability of natural rattan around and inside the forest area indicates the existence of forest stands in this area. This is also reinforced by the statement of the Chief of Sisere Village, Alirman, who is also a rattan collector, “We depend on the forest, we could find rattan there in the forest, when the forest is broken, rattan will stop to grow. If rattan does not exist, we are not able to farm cocoa,”said Alirman, the Chief of Sisere Village, at his residence. (Sisere Rattan Society, Tjong-KpSHK, June 2010).

Rattan originally is a plant categorized in the palmae group which lives vining. This group is included in the calamoideae sub-family that has 13 genera and about 600 species and lives in tropical rain forests in Southeast Asia. (Erwinsyah, Sustainable Forestry Management Specialist. Discussion. Government Policy and Its Influence on Rattan Cultivation in Indonesia. September 1999).

In a research report (2007) made by a team from the Department of Forestry and International Tropical Timber Organization-an organization under the authority of the UN-mentioned, of the 600 species of rattan in the world, 350 species exist in Indonesia. As many as 80 percent of circulated rattan in the world also comes from Indonesia. The area of rattan forest in Indonesia is estimated to reach 13.3 million hectares, from 143 million hectares of the total forest area of Indonesia.

Budi Hoesan (40), the third generation of rattan enterpreneur in Makassar, believes that, other than spices, agricultural products which generate the interest of European nations to fight over this archipelago is rattan. The popularity of rattan from Indonesia had reached the peak 50-10 years ago.

Today rattan is expected to remain in the heart of the world citizens. Helmut Merkel, Executive Editor of the MobelMakt in the article “On The Trail of Rattan” ensures rattan will remain in demand in the market because it is eco-friendly. Unlike wood, rattan trunks taking process does not sacrifice the host tree so that forests are not broken and does not cause global warming.

Cutting down the trees, for rattan farmers such as Mans (46) in Pendolo, Poso, Central Sulawesi, in fact makes rattan habitat missing. “Rattan lives wraping around the host tree. So, the higher the trees, the longer the rattan will be,” said Mans, who had been three generations in his family become rattan collectors.

The local wisdom makes a habit among the rattan farmers not to cut down all of the rattan trunks when harvesting. The bottom of this plant is always be left. The hope is, someday, 3-5 years ahead the rattans can grow again and they can pick them back. (Watch Taufik. The Love Expression for The Nation Through Rattan. Export-Import-Indonesia, May 2010).

This local wisdom is in line with the thoughts of Steni (HuMA) on REDD as a systemic framework to save the forest and encourage indigenous / local land owners to be the master of their own territories as well as autonomously develop deforestation reduction model based on their tradition. (Steni, Bernadinus. The design of REDD and Tenure Issues. Researchers of the HuMa Society Jakarta. December 2009). Preserve Rattan, Save the Forests! (Inal)