Wana Karya Lestari: Participatory Mapping for Special Interest Tourism Development: Mount Slamet Hiking Trail via Baturraden (Baturraden Track)

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Wana Karya Lestari Forest Farmer Group (KTH) is a local community in the village of Kemutug Lor, Baturraden District, Banyumas Regency. This community is committed to preserving and developing the existence of trekking routes in the southern part of Mount Slamet via Baturraden (Baturraden Trek). KTH believes that with the continued activities of hiking and wildlife observation in this area, the sustainability of flora and fauna in the natural landscape will be well preserved and monitored. However, until now, the existence of this route does not have sufficient information regarding the presence and distribution of hiking facilities, water sources, as well as the potential of endemic flora and fauna that can be observed along the route. Supporting infrastructure such as public facilities accessible to tourists in the village of Kemutug Lor has also not been repaired and updated according to current conditions. Through participatory mapping activities, KTH Wana Karya Lestari, along with involved partners, are working to develop specialized interest tourism management by collecting, processing, and publishing potential data that includes facilities, natural resources, and biodiversity that are attractions along the Baturraden trekking route. This activity requires the support of OpenStreetMap as a spatial database platform that can accommodate and manage potential attraction data in this area. With the management of this data, it is hoped that the spatial information of Baturraden Trek can be published and utilized more widely, as well as being one of the forms of specialized interest tourism marketing efforts initiated by KTH Wana Karya Lestari.

Problem and Solution

Problem: The village development planning (musrenbangdes) activities that have been conducted in Kemutug Lor Village have been mostly focused on economic and social development. However, the Village Regulation on Environmental Conservation and Management has been approved and requires concrete actions for implementation. The mapping of public facilities, road networks, and other infrastructure to support accessibility and amenities for special interest tourism in Kemutug Lor Village is not complete and accurate. Spatial data such as trail routes, positions of posts, water sources, and other potentials for the development of Baturraden hiking trails are not available.

Solution: Initiate participatory planning by the community outside of the existing musrenbangdes scheme, so that environmental conservation and management efforts can be implemented as early as possible through the development of special interest tourism on Mount Slamet hiking trails. Mapping of public facilities, road networks, and public infrastructure in Kemutug Lor Village needs to be conducted and openly published for regular updates and revisions by the community in line with the development of special interest tourism activities in Kemutug Lor Village. Data collection on hiking trails should be carried out, including the presence of trails, positions of posts, water sources, biodiversity of flora and fauna, which can be acquired and used as materials for the development of special interest tourism.

Implementation

Conduct a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) to plan for the conservation and management of natural resources in Kemutug Lor Village with stakeholders at the village level. This discussion has been conducted on January 22, 2023, along with the kick-off meeting for participatory mapping activities, and resulted in an agreement to implement the Village Regulation on Environmental Conservation and Management into the proposed plan for Community Forest Management in Kemutug Lor. Conduct participatory mapping of public facilities and other infrastructure in Kemutug Lor Village. The mapping of public facilities was carried out on January 28, 2023, along with OpenStreetMap training attended by the heads of hamlets from each settlement unit in Kemutug Lor Village. Conduct a survey of Mount Slamet hiking trails via Baturraden to collect data on the locations of posts, water sources, cultural sites, and biodiversity. This activity will be conducted on February 10-13, 2023, and followed by data processing to be presented in a widely accessible platform.

Activity

Kick off meeting and FGD for Special Interest Tourism Development

Have been conducted on January 23, 2023, with a total of 19 participants representing various stakeholders. The activity lasted for 2 hours and resulted in several agreements, both in terms of the implementation of the participatory mapping project, and in formulating the sustainability of the hiking trail development in Mount Slamet. This activity produced a list of team members who will comprehensively map the condition of Kemutug Lor Village.

Training on OpenStreetMap (OSM) and Participatory Mapping of Public Facilities in Kemutug Lor Village.

The OSM training and participatory mapping have been conducted on January 28th with a total of 28 participants, including 2 speakers, 5 volunteers, and 21 trained participants. The participants consisted of members of the KTH (Community Empowerment Team); representatives from the village government; community members from various hamlets in Desa Kemutug Lor; and nature enthusiasts group. The training took place for 1 day.

Preparation and Survey Briefing for Hiking Trails

The briefing and preparation for the hiking trail survey were carried out on February 4, 2023, with a total of 25 participants. The agenda was divided into 2 sessions. The first session was a general briefing provided by the Facilitating Team POI, Bio Explorer Unsoed, and Radenpala as the former operator of the hiking trail. The second session focused on intensive discussions between the Booster Grants implementation team, facilitators, as well as the management and representatives of the KTH Wana Karya Lestari. These discussions resulted in a list of members of the environmental guard team who will collect data on the potential of hiking and natural resources in the field, a list of survey equipment, and a design of worksheets for field object observations. Based on the results of the briefing and preparation discussions, it was agreed that the field survey team would collect various data, including trail condition descriptions, main and shadow posts locations, spring locations, cultural site locations, wildlife encounters, and the distribution of endemic flora in the mountainous forests of Java Island on the slopes of Mount Slamet. The method used in this survey is a single-transect method, traversing an approximately eight-kilometer footpath, cutting through the natural forest vegetation at altitudes ranging from 900 to 3,000 meters above sea level. Some of the equipment used for the survey includes four observation worksheets (bindel) and GPS trackers, both standalone devices and those installed on Android applications (OSM Tracker and Avenza Map)

Hiking Trail Survey and Information Board Installation

The implementation of the Hiking Trail Survey was conducted from Friday to Sunday (10-12 February 2023), with a total of 11 hikers and 3 evacuation team members heading to the hiking trail of Mount Slamet via Baturraden. The hiking trail survey is the most important process in this activity. The survey includes tracking the hiking trail via Baturraden, recording flora and fauna data, as well as inventorying water source points along the hiking trail of Mount Slamet via Baturraden. The tracking of the hiking trail was carried out using the OSM (OpenStreetMap) Tracker application and a backup application called Avenza, which can be used in areas with limited or no signal, such as mountains. In addition, Garmin GPS devices were used as backup survey tools. The survey was conducted over a total of 2 days. During the survey, many endemic flora were encountered along the hiking trail, some of which were identified as rare plants or found only on Mount Slamet. However, the fauna data encountered along the hiking trail was not as diverse as the flora data. In this hiking trail survey activity, information boards were also installed at 5 key points, especially those with water sources. The information boards provide warnings against hunting of wild animals within the forest area managed by KTH Wana Karya Lestari. The locations of the information board installations are at Point 0, the water source before Checkpoint 1, Checkpoint 1, Checkpoint 2, and the water source at Checkpoint 2.

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Development of Interactive Maps

The development of interactive maps was carried out from February 28 to March 10, 2023. In general, this activity includes the process of data validation that has been inputted since early February, spatial data standardization and attribute arrangement, uploading processed data, as well as web development and design to display the digital maps of Kemutug Lor Village and the hiking trail of Mount Slamet via Baturraden. The data from participatory mapping activities is presented in the form of interactive maps on a simple and free platform that can be accessed at https://wanakaryalestari.gis.co.id using a user account. The data presented includes roads, buildings, rivers, land use data, and infrastructure. These data are the result of participatory mapping activities or mapathons conducted together with community members, students, and the public. In addition, there is also data from the hiking trail survey, including data on the hiking trails, potential water source points, and location points of checkpoints along with pop-up images. This website can be accessed using desktop and smartphone devices.

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Result Dissemination

The dissemination of results was carried out on March 11, 2023, attended by 15 people including community members, residents, volunteers, and Booster Grants facilitators. The purpose of this activity was to communicate the results of the activities and propose innovations for the development of the Gunung Slamet hiking trail via Baturraden. The activity was divided into two sessions, namely the presentation of the Booster Grants activity results and a briefing on hiking management.

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Final Output

  • 15 new mappers have successfully mapped in OpenStreetMap. The composition of the mappers consists of 7 members from KTH and 8 others from volunteer groups of nature enthusiasts. In terms of gender, 4 of them are female mappers. As for age composition, 10 mappers are categorized as young (15-24 years old) and 5 others are from the senior age group (25-65 years old).
  • Public facilities and road networks to support accessibility and tourist amenities in Desa Kemutug Lor have been mapped in OpenStreetMap.
  • The environmental guard team from KTH is ready to conduct field surveys to assess the presence and distribution of potential facilities, natural resources, and biodiversity in the mountain forest ecosystem located in the southern slope of Gunung Slamet.
  • Observation and identification worksheets for climbing potential and natural resources have been prepared, including observation sheets for flora, fauna, water sources, cultural sites, posts, and hiking trails along a 5 km stretch.
  • 5 information boards have been installed to warn about the presence of water sources and the prohibition of hunting wild animals. Water source warnings are placed before Post 1 and at Post 2. Meanwhile, hunting prohibition signs are placed at Point 0, Post 1, and Post Bayangan 2.
  • Interactive maps of Desa Kemutug Lor and Gunung Slamet hiking trail via Baturraden can be accessed through the website wanakaryalestari.gis.co.id

Challenge

  • In the communication phase, challenges include gathering stakeholders and aligning the strategic plan of KTH with the agenda of participatory mapping activities.
  • Limited availability of capable computers and a large number of KTH members interested in participating in digital mapping resulted in training activities focusing only on introducing data entry features on the OSM website.
  • Future learning should not only focus on logistics preparation, but also include early weather warnings and health checks for each team member.
  • Challenges encountered during the development of interactive maps generally revolve around technical aspects, such as converting spatial data to a uniform format with consistent attribute structures.

Sustainability

The purpose of this community development activity is to create collaborative opportunities between members of KTH Wana Karya Lestari and other communities, institutions, and organizations in the management and conservation of natural resources in the mountainous forest ecosystem on the southern slopes of Mount Slamet. Training on mapping and the use of OSM data conducted in collaboration with KTH Wana Karya Lestari and its partners is one form of capacity building for the community. Through these capacity-building activities, it is hoped that the community and its partners from Wana Karya Lestari can develop independent and sustainable mapping efforts. At the same time, the OpenStreetMap ecosystem in Indonesia will become more vibrant and diverse by involving mappers specialized in natural resource mapping, environmental services, and biodiversity.

As an initiative, this activity still requires input for further development and innovation. With the advancement of technology and support from other OpenStreetMap communities, the data and information generated from this activity will be developed into a platform (such as a website or OSM-based application) that can be easily accessed by like-minded stakeholders. Likewise, the well-documented processes can become shared learning resources through knowledge-sharing sessions in various future opportunities.

Contact

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