Air mengalir pelan di jalur handil yang membelah lahan masyarakat di Desa Mantaren I, Kecamatan Kahayan Hilir. Aliran ini menjadi bagian dari lanskap kampung dan menyimpan cerita panjang tentang cara masyarakat berinteraksi dengan hutan dan gambut di sekitarnya. Bagi warga Mantaren I, handil hadir dalam kehidupan sehari-hari sebagai sarana pengelolaan air sekaligus penanda ruang yang terbentuk melalui kesepakatan bersama.
Bagi Uwat Dali, Kepala Handil Sei Sala di Mantaren I, handil bukan sekadar parit atau saluran air. Handil dipahami sebagai ruang kelola, di mana di kanan dan kiri jalurnya terdapat kebun masyarakat yang diatur berdasarkan kesepakatan lokal. Melalui handil, masyarakat membagi ruang garapan dan menentukan batas pengelolaan lahan. “Dulu sebelum Mantaren I ada, orang tua kami tinggal di Sungai Sala. Sungai-sungai kecil itu tempat mereka hidup, berkebun, dan mencari makan,” tutur Uwat Dali.
Wilayah Sei Sala merupakan kampung lama yang menyimpan jejak pemakaman masyarakat Kaharingan. Pada masa penjajahan, warga berpindah dan bersembunyi di kawasan sungai. Setelah situasi dinilai aman pascakemerdekaan, mereka menetap di Mantaren I tanpa sepenuhnya meninggalkan ruang hidup lama yang telah mereka kenal.
Tim Patroli Hutan menyusuri Sei Sala Desa Mantaren I. Sumber foto: KPSHK.
Handil kemudian dibangun sebagai kelanjutan sungai kecil. Jalurnya mengikuti alur air lama yang kemudian dirapikan agar dapat dimanfaatkan. “Handil itu lanjutan sungai. Sungai kecil kita luruskan supaya bisa dipakai,” jelas Uwat Dali.
Sejak sekitar tahun 1917, sistem handil dijalankan dengan aturan yang disepakati bersama. Setiap orang memperoleh lahan dengan ukuran yang relatif sama, sekitar satu hektar per orang, mengikuti jalur handil. “Di kiri kanan handil dijadikan kebun bagi masyarakat,” ujarnya.
Dalam konteks pengelolaan hutan saat ini, pola pembagian ruang seperti ini dikenal sebagai andil garapan. Secara sederhana, andil garapan merujuk pada batas lahan garapan masing-masing anggota kelompok agar tidak saling tumpang tindih. Konsep ini juga dikenal dalam kebijakan Perhutanan Sosial, yang tata cara teknisnya diatur dalam Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Nomor 9 Tahun 2021 dan diperkuat melalui Permen LHK Nomor 4 Tahun 2023. Dalam ketentuan tersebut, andil garapan didefinisikan sebagai batas areal garapan setiap anggota kelompok pada lokasi persetujuan pengelolaan Perhutanan Sosial.
Marci petani perempuan kebun karet yang berada di Handil Sei Sala Desa Mantaren I. Sumber foto: KPSHK.
Adanya batas garapan, pembukaan lahan dilakukan mengikuti kesepakatan yang berlaku. Pola ini mencerminkan cara masyarakat mengatur ruang kelola secara lokal, termasuk dalam menentukan sejauh mana lahan dibuka dan dimanfaatkan. Menurut Uwat Dali, keberadaan hutan di sekitar handil turut memengaruhi kondisi air. “Kalau hutan habis, air juga tidak terjaga. Handil ini tergantung hutan juga,” katanya.
Hutan berperan dalam menahan tanah dan menjaga kelembapan, terutama di kawasan gambut. Ketika tutupan vegetasi berkurang, aliran air di handil dapat berubah, baik saat musim hujan maupun kemarau. Dalam kondisi tertentu, gambut yang mengering juga meningkatkan risiko kebakaran dan pelepasan emisi karbon.
Pengalaman panjang membuat warga memiliki pengetahuan tersendiri tentang waktu dan cara pengerjaan handil. Pengerjaan biasanya dilakukan pada musim kemarau agar tidak merusak struktur tanah. Ukurannya pun dibuat secukupnya, dengan lebar sekitar dua meter dan kedalaman hingga empat meter. “Dulu paling panjang 100 sampai 200 meter saja,” kata Uwat Dali.
Selain menjadi akses menuju kebun dan hutan, handil juga dimanfaatkan sebagai jalur pergerakan warga dan sumber air saat terjadi kebakaran. “Kalau ada kebakaran, handil jadi jalan untuk memadamkan,” ujarnya.
Keberadaan ikan di sepanjang handil masih dimanfaatkan warga untuk memancing. Pengetahuan tentang handil dan aturan pengelolaannya diwariskan secara turun-temurun. Anak-anak dan remaja mulai dilibatkan sejak dini agar memahami batas lahan dan kesepakatan yang berlaku.
Dalam konteks upaya mitigasi emisi dan pencegahan kebakaran gambut, handil dapat dibaca sebagai salah satu praktik lokal dalam mengatur air dan ruang kelola. Ia menunjukkan bagaimana masyarakat membentuk hubungan dengan lingkungannya melalui pengalaman panjang, tanpa selalu dilepaskan dari perubahan kebijakan dan tantangan ekologis yang terus berkembang.
Penulis: Alma
Editor: JW & Kiss
Water flows slowly along the handil (river channel) that divides community land in Mantaren I Village, Kahayan Hilir District. This stream is part of the village landscape and holds a long history of how the community interacts with the surrounding forest and peatlands. For the residents of Mantaren I, the handil is present in daily life as a means of water management and a spatial marker formed through collective agreement.
For Uwat Dali, Head of the Sei Sala Handil in Mantaren I, the handil is more than just a ditch or water channel. It is understood as a managed space, with community gardens arranged on either side of the channel based on local agreement. Through the handil, the community divides cultivation space and defines land management boundaries. “Before Mantaren I existed, our ancestors lived along the Sala River. These small rivers were where they lived, farmed, and foraged,” said Uwat Dali.
The Sei Sala area is an old village that preserves traces of Kaharingan burial grounds. During the colonial period, residents migrated and hid in the river area. After the situation was deemed safe after independence, they settled in Mantaren I without completely leaving the old living space they had known.
The Forest Patrol Team walks along Sei Sala, Mantaren I Village. Photo source: KPSHK.
Handils were then built as a continuation of small rivers. Their paths followed the old waterways, which were then tidied up to make them usable. “Handils are continuations of rivers. We straighten small rivers so they can be used,” explained Uwat Dali.
Since around 1917, the handil system has been implemented with mutually agreed-upon rules. Each person receives a relatively equal amount of land, approximately one hectare per person, along the handil path. “The left and right sides of the handil are used as community gardens,” he said.
In the context of current forest management, this spatial division pattern is known as “garapan andil.” Simply put, “garapan andil” refers to the boundaries of each group member’s cultivated land to prevent overlapping land. This concept is also recognized in Social Forestry policy, the technical procedures of which are stipulated in Ministerial Regulation of the Environment and Forestry Number 9 of 2021 and reinforced by Ministerial Regulation of the Environment and Forestry Number 4 of 2023. In these provisions, “garapan andil” is defined as the boundaries of each group member’s cultivated area at the location of the Social Forestry management agreement.
Marci is a female rubber farmer in Handil Sei Sala, Mantaren I Village. Photo source: KPSHK.
With cultivation boundaries, land clearing is carried out according to existing agreements. This pattern reflects how communities manage their local management space, including determining the extent of land clearing and utilization. According to Uwat Dali, the presence of forests around handil also affects water conditions. “If the forest is gone, the water can’t be maintained. Handil also depends on forests,” he said.
Forests play a role in retaining soil and maintaining moisture, especially in peat areas. When vegetation cover decreases, water flow in handil can change, both during the rainy and dry seasons. Under certain conditions, dried peat also increases the risk of fire and the release of carbon emissions.
Long experience has given residents a unique understanding of when and how to work on handil. Work is usually carried out during the dry season to avoid damaging the soil structure. The ditches are made to be sufficiently large, about two meters wide and up to four meters deep. “In the past, they were only 100 to 200 meters long,” said Uwat Dali.
In addition to providing access to gardens and forests, handils also serve as movement routes for residents and water sources in the event of a fire. “If there’s a fire, the handil serves as a route to extinguish it,” he said.
The fisheries along the handil are still utilized by local residents for fishing. Knowledge about handil and its management rules is passed down from generation to generation. Children and adolescents are involved from an early age to understand land boundaries and applicable agreements.
In the context of emissions mitigation and peat fire prevention efforts, handil can be read as a local practice for managing water and managing space. It demonstrates how communities form relationships with their environment through long experience, without always being untethered from changing policies and evolving ecological challenges.
Author: Alma
Editor: JW & Kiss
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