Weaving Hopes on the Hilltops: The Lives of Forest Farmers in the Menoreh Mountains, edited by Akhmad Arief Fahmi, is a collection of writings from various contributors who attempt to capture the conditions of forest-village communities in the Menoreh Mountains during the late 1990s and early 2000s. This book was published in 2003 through a collaboration between the Relung Indonesia Foundation and DEBUT Press, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

The book begins with a foreword by San Afri Awang, an alumnus and now a lecturer at the Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). In this foreword, he further defines the term ‘community forest’ and its potential to free forest communities from the shackles of powerlessness (p. vi).

Awang hopes that the various writings in this book will “not merely serve as a research report but also provide a profound intellectual repository on a community forest ecosystem, viewing humans (community forest farmers) as key elements” (p. xi). This statement is not just an aspiration but also a reminder for readers to approach these reports with reflection and openness to various interpretations.

The book is divided into three sections that explore different aspects of the Menoreh Mountains, from forestry policies to descriptive portraits of communities and landscape changes, as well as reflections on social and ecological phenomena.

Part 1: Forestry Policies

The first part contains two writings by Anang Sabtoni and Setiawan Subenuh, which discuss forestry policies.

Sabtoni examines forestry policies from the replacement of forced cultivation policies with the Agrarian Law of 1870. However, according to him, 130 years later, “the rigid forest management principles of the Dutch […] have been largely retained […] and remain a lasting tradition to this day” (p. 7).

This inherited concern is also highlighted by Subenuh, who traces policy developments from 1950 to 1999, focusing on regulatory overlaps and the impact of policy uncertainty, especially following the implementation of the Regional Autonomy Law.

Part 2: Portrait of the Menoreh Communities and Landscapes

The second part takes readers into the lives of forest-village communities in five villages around the Menoreh Mountains. Donorejo and Gunung Wangi are described by K. Fajar Wianti, Gerbosari is documented by Setiawan Subenuh and Yustina Artati, while Kalirejo and Ngargoretno are discussed by Astarina Eka Dewi.

The writings in this section focus on livelihood aspects, linking community relationships with forest landscapes and community forest schemes. The perspectives are diverse—curated from the writers’ experiences—covering topics such as livestock farming systems (p. 57), economic disparities due to unequal accessibility (p. 62), local economic dynamics (pp. 102-107), and the role of local institutions (pp. 117-120, 132-135).

The descriptive notes in this section help visualize the condition of villages around the Menoreh Mountains two decades ago. However, the writings tend to be observational without deeper exploration and insight into the social realities present.

The authors seem to act as reporters observing from a distance rather than being fully involved in the narratives of the communities they write about. This allows readers to perceive more details but without gaining deeper insights.

Part 3: Field Stories and Reflections

While the second section is filled with uneven descriptive notes, the third section takes a more reflective approach.

The four writers who previously provided descriptive accounts now return with a more personal perspective, exploring specific issues such as water resource sustainability, meetings and workshops as moments of change, the coexistence of long-tailed macaques with farmers, and the migration of young people from villages.

Although more in-depth and intimate, the writings in this section still contain assumptions that tend to be biased in viewing forest-village communities. In several parts (pp. 149, 154, 156, 166), local communities are depicted as harmonious, pure, and passive villages that rely on external assistance, without adequately highlighting the adaptive strategies they have developed. Unfortunately, these assumptions are not always balanced with more critical reflective analysis, which risks reinforcing the clichéd narrative of developmentalism: that the impacts of modernization can only be addressed through external intervention.

The foreword highlights forest farmers as the ‘key ecosystem’ within the community forest system. They are not just subjects of social change but active agents adapting to various challenges. This section, therefore, has the potential to explore how these communities strategize in response to development—rather than merely being passive recipients of its impacts.

Documenting Responses to the Challenges of Time

Fortunately, the book’s concluding chapter serves as a neutralizer of these biases and reflections through a single statement:

“What the farmers in the Menoreh Mountains have ultimately achieved and produced is the result of their hard work in facing environmental challenges.” (p. 210)

This statement refocuses the essence of the book: that despite the biases of researchers, the portrait of forest communities is ultimately their own story of struggle. Not only in overcoming environmental challenges but also in adapting to the evolving times and ever-changing political-economic pressures.

As a documentation from the early Reformasi era, this book also reflects a spirit of change that was still relatively abstract, not yet taking a concrete form. It serves as a letter of hope for community forests in facing a politically uncertain transition.

However, in this reflection, the surface-level descriptive narrative and underlying biases about forest-village communities are also carried forward. This book is not only a documentation of community life and its landscape but also a reflection of how researchers and observers at the time perceived and analyzed the subject. Thus, it serves not merely as a record of reality but also as a portrayal of the evolving perspectives and methodologies in research.

The various criticisms and concerns, wrapped in hope, form part of an ongoing struggle—a never-ending journey faced not only by community forest farmers but also by all of us who struggle to interpret the changes of our time.

Akhmad Arief Fahmi (peny.), Merajut Harapan di Puncak-Puncak Bukit: Kehidupan Petani Hutan di Pegunungan Menoreh, Yayasan Relung Indonesia dan DEBUT Press, 2003.

Contributor:

Michael Don Lopulalan