Gunung Walat, Sukabumi – Field practice class of Indonesian tropical forest management in Gunung Walat University Forest (GWUF) by Korean students (2-4 February 2011).

This field practice class program is the result of cooperation between IPB and Seoul National University, which has been ongoing since the year 2003. For this year, this field practice class is conducted in Gunung Walat University Forest and several other locations of forest territory in Indonesia, such as Meru Betiri National Park.

This field practice class was followed by 15 university students coming from 3 universities in South Korea, namely Seoul National University, Kyungsan University, and Korea University. The fifteen students consist of 9 undergraduate students, 4 master students, and 3 doctorate students.

Activies being conducted during the students’ stay in GWUF comprise observation of the forest and its management, observation of agroforestry and non wood forest products, visit to villages around the forest, ecotourism related activities (such as cave exploration and wild animals / primate observation) and others.

The objectives of this practice class are introducing the ecosystem of tropical forest, introducing local community and traditional community around tropical forests, and teaching forest management which is practiced by university and community (such as in GWUF) and by government (such as in state owned forest company). Besides the field practice class session there is also some sharing of Indonesian and Korean culture.

According to Latifah Hendarti (an Indonesian students who studies in Seoul National University, and follows this group) the main agenda in this field practice class in GWUF is introducing the history of GWUF which in the past was only a barren land, and now this barren land has turned into dense intact forest due to proper forest management.

[hap]

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