About Mount Slamet

Lies on western part of Central Java province, Mount Slamet (3428 meter a.s.l.) is the second highest on Java island and is therefore holds wide area spread over five regencies. The mount’s vast area serves important role as huge water catchments to many municipalities below. Eleven big rivers flow down from the mount and supplies water for eight dams used for both irrigation and power plant. In the coming years when water fulfillment is our next problem, Mt Slamet function as water tower will be more critical.

Mount Slamet is also important for the conservation of biodiversity since it holds approximately 10,000 hectares of recently-rare tropical Javan forest. The altitude range between 500 and 3000 meter makes possible for the forest to perform three vegetation patterns i.e; lower mountain forest, mountain forest, and alpine forest. Vegetation patterns and local climate also differ among each side of the mount due to different position to sunrise, wind direction, and rainfall. In general, Fagaceae, Lauraceae, Theaceae, Magnoliaceae, Podocarpaceae, Junglandaceae, Ericaceae, and Balanophoraceae are the main families of plant composing Mt. Slamet forest.

The forest of Mt Slamet is home to many species of wildlife, some of them are endemic and threatened, e.g. the Javan Hawk Eagle (Spizaetus bartelsi) and the Javan Gibbon (Hylobates moloch). Primates are easily encountered by early and end of day swinging through the trees with attractive movement. Here, we can find four endemic primates, the Javan Gibbon, Javan Langur (Trachypithecus auratus) Rekrekan (Presbytis fredericae) and the shy-Javan Loris (Nycticebus coucang). Other wildlide like predators such as leopard and cats can be recognized by their footprints, wood-scratches, hairs, and feces.

The People. Most communities living in the foothill areas of Mt Slamet live by utilizing forest resources. Thus, forest sustainability is very important for the continuance of their life. Honey, herbal medicines, mushroom, and other food sources are the forest products that usually harvested by locals in order to sustain life in a manner that keeps the sustainability of forest function. Local rule on the utilization of forest product has been set by their ancestors hundreds years ago and is still obeyed until today. For example, they’re forbidden to sell timber, it’s allowed for building house only. The role of local communities in protecting the sustainability of the forest is therefore undisputed.

Agriculture. In some villages, farmers retain the use of traditional (non-conventional) agriculture systems to prevent the food and the environment from hazardous chemicals contamination. Indigenous knowledge has been combined with organic farming to support the resurgence of sustainable farming once demolished by green revolution.