News
Our stories ... ...
Cultural Performance Marks TBI Indonesia’s New Office Opening
Indonesia - 30 September, 2014
Until now, TBI Indonesia occupied two offices - in Balikpapan and in FORDA building, Bogor. In June 2014, TBI moved to Jl. A. Yani, Bogor. A traditional Javanese “Wayang Kulit” performance enlivened the opening of Tropenbos International Indonesia’s new office on Friday, 19 September 2014. The performance presented a story titled “Sumilaking Pedhut Wirata” or “The Vanishing Fog of Wirata”, a part of the popular epic of Mahabharata. The performance was special because the dalang (the storyteller) was not a professional artist, but Dr. Edi Purwanto, the Program Director of TBI Indonesia. Dr. Purwanto said that combining culture and forest management is viewed as something crucial at landscape level.
A cultural approach can be a very effective way to convey messages to target audiences. According to Dr. Petrus Gunarso, former Program Director of TBI Indonesia who attended the event, bringing culture into the picture of managing forest is important because by doing so, forest is not only managed by science, but also by local wisdom. “Using local wisdom and cultural values, forest management in Indonesia will be better and in that way, sustainability of forests can hopefully be realized,” said Dr. Gunarso.
TBI Indonesia shared the joy of the celebration with partners and clients. More than 100 guests of NGOs, international institutions such as CIFOR and ICRAF, universities, and government agencies, especially of FORDA, spent the Friday night with TBI Indonesia. Among the guests were participants of Landscape Training conducted by Wageningen International – Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) at CIFOR Bogor, who were eager to see the real culture of Indonesia. Most participants, who came from various countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe, saw the wayang performance for the first time.
Cora van Oosten, training facilitator of Wageningen International - CDI, mentioned that the wayang performance was a true explosion of culture, which was so impressive. “During the day, we talked a lot about institutions of meaning, which are so closely related to culture, and so important in our landscapes. They (the training participants) found it rather difficult to understand, but the puppet show on Friday explained it perfectly well,” she wrote in her letter to TBI Indonesia after the event.
From this new office, TBI Indonesia strengthens its commitment to contribute to the improvement of forest governance and management in Indonesia. TBI Indonesia will also continue its support to the Indonesian government in achieving its goal to implementing best practices for tropical forests management, forest-dependent community development as well as the wider forest development agenda of the Indonesian government.
New address of TBI Indonesia:
Jl. Jend. A Yani No.68J
Tanah Sareal, Bogor, 16161
West Java - Indonesia
Telp. 62-251-8316156
Fax. 62-251-8316257