Enviro News Asia, West Sulawesi – The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, through its Forestry Extension and Human Resource Development Agency (BP2SDM), held capacity-building training for women’s groups surrounding the Gandang Dewata National Park (TNGD) in West Sulawesi. The training sessions aimed to improve skills in natural dyeing and multi-forest enterprise marketing, empowering local communities while preserving forest sustainability.
The two-part training took place from August 21 to 23, 2025, and was officially inaugurated by Indra Exploitasia, Head of BP2SDM. Indra emphasized that this collaborative effort among various stakeholders seeks to enhance the community’s welfare and boost the Economic Transaction Value (NTE) around forest areas.
The women’s weaving group in Mamasa, West Sulawesi, plays a crucial role in preserving local culture and economy by producing the traditional “Sambu” cloth, a cherished ancestral heritage. The training focused on teaching the women to create variations of natural dye colors on yarn used for premium quality “Sambu” shawls, which can command prices reaching hundreds of thousands of rupiah per piece, thereby increasing the income of the weaving groups.
The capacity-building program was conducted in partnership with the Directorate General of Natural Resources Conservation (TNGD), BP2SDM Regional Office VI Makassar, and Warna Alami Indonesia (WARLAMI), under the Forest Programme IV Mamasa Watershed-Sulawesi initiative. This program represents a tangible example of the Ministry of Forestry’s integrated approach to supporting sustainable community development and conservation. (*)
