Abstract. Metusala D, Fauziah, Lestari DA, Damaiyani J, Mas’udah S, Setyawan H. 2020. The identification of plant reliefs in the Lalitavistara story of Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 2206-2215. The Lalitavistara sutra is one of the central texts in the Mahayana tradition and it describes the life of the Buddha. This sutra has been carved in a good detail into 120 relief panels. These reliefs showed many plant figures that have often been carved in proper shape, so that made it possible for identification. The identification results showed that there were at least 63 species of plants in the Lalitavistara relief at Borobudur and these more various than species mentioned in the Lalitavistara sutra. Some species even only be found on reliefs but not in the text. These findings have indicated several important points; (i). the ancient Javanese community at that time already had a high awareness of the plant diversity, (ii). the plant figures as component in building atmosphere/background have been used by the carver as an opportunity for improvisation, (iii). the plant reliefs in Borobudur can be seen to reflect the surrounding plant diversity at the time, and (iv). the identification of plant reliefs in Borobudur can be used as an approach to understand the perspective of an ancient Javanese community on the importance of plant diversity.

Abstract. Danarto SA, Budiharta S, Fauziah. 2019. Tree species preference and rehabilitation perspective by local community: Case study in Bondowoso, East Java, Indonesia. Asian J For 3: 54-63. Study of community’s preference on tree species used for rehabilitation programs was conducted in Gubrih sub-watershed, Sampean watershed in Bondowoso District, East Java. The aim of the study was to find out tree species that have ecological values as well as are preferred by local community for rehabilitation program in the region. Questionnaires were distributed to respondents chosen randomly (i.e. to minimize bias) to select tree species which have ecological and/or economic values. Result of the study showed that among 62 species of trees listed in the questionnaire, there were 45 species chosen by the respondents. There were 13 species of trees selected by more than 20% of total of respondent (high preferred), suggesting the potential list of species for rehabilitation programs in the region. Local community in Gubrih Sub-watershed have understood the importance of trees as a source of income as well as a measure to conserve environmental functions. This is strengthened with land-use systems they selected which prefer tree-based land-use system, such as in the form of plantation of timber species and agroforestry over dry land agriculture. The findings of this study suggest that there is opportunity in rehabilitating degraded lands in Sampean watershed using tree species preferred by local community under the land use system of timber plantation or agroforestry. Our study demonstrates that similar strategy of incorporating ecological and socio-economic perspectives could be applied to another regional context to enhance the chance of success of rehabilitation programs.