Deforestasi di kawasan taman hutan raya (Tahura) murhum Sulawesi Tenggara=Deforestation at murhum preservation forest South East Sulawesi Province

ABSTRACT: Murhum Preservation Forest (Tahura) is one of the preservation areas in South East Sulawesi Province that have been highly deforested because the place is near housing settlement. This study aims to find out the deforestation level in Tahura Murhum area including the factors that influence public knowledge about deforestation. The survey method was used for this study. Randomized sampling technique and questionnaire were used for data collection by involving 200 respondents, namely people in Tahura Murhum area. Besides, data are collected from interview with staffs of the Forestry Institution of the South East Sulawesi Province and the related institutions as such as observation and documentation at the study area. Data analysis was done by frequency table and cross table. The analysis was done to identify the relation between people\u27s knowledge on deforestation and the factors that influence it. The results indicated that deforestation in Tahura Murhum since 2002 - 2005 is relatively high, that is 124,36 hectare/year. While public knowlegde about deforestation is low or just 74% of the respondents. This case is caused by low level in education39% people have gone to school but not graduated from elementary school and 48% people graduated from elementary school, causing them not to consider deforestation in Tahura Murhum and to get low level of revenue, only Rp 200,000-300,000per month (75%) for some respondent. As a result, they lack of information about deforestation and its prohibition from printed or electronic mediaand have low level of purchasing power. In addition, the socialization effort from the government just given little effect to the people about the function of Tahura Murhum, causing a low level of knowledge about deforestation in Tahura Murhum area87% of the respondents state that the socialization never reaches them regularly. Keywords : Murhum preservation forest, deforestation Level and public knowledge about deforestatio