Forest and Society is an open-access journal published twice a year under a broad category of topics. We mainly invite scholars interested in Southeast Asia but do not limit work beyond its borders when engaging in comparative or timely policy topics relevant to the region. Forest and Society promote scholarly, theoretical, pragmatic, and contemporary research, making a clear conceptual and methodological contribution to existing international literature. These may include but are not limited to various fields such as: planning/management, geography, forestry, sociology, land-use, anthropology, history, legal studies, economics, environmental and sustainability studies, international relations, psychology, and others, particularly those that engage with people, land and forest. Our international editorial board seeks to fill a gap in the socio-ecological fields by promoting interdisciplinary work on studying human-environment relations, produced amidst and for those interested and located in the Southeast Asia region. The journal is not preferential to theoretical or applied research and seeks to serve as a bridge between knowledge levels. Current efforts are envisioned to gradually improve its quality alongside support to capacity-building initiatives to strengthen the region's quality of research.
Forestry Faculty, Universitas Hasanuddin
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REDD+ Projects and Their Impact on Household Incomes in Indonesian Borneo
In Indonesia, early Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects, established in the early 2010s, were required to self-fund through carbon credit sales or donor aid while supporting local livelihoods. This paper examines the impact of REDD+ projects on both agricultural and overall household incomes (i.e., from all economic activities, including agriculture). We hypothesize that the agricultural incomes of REDD+ participating households (or treated households) would decrease as REDD+ forbids forest clearance, but this loss would be offset by a subsequent rise in overall household income as REDD+ encourages income diversification. Additionally, we assess whether REDD+ implementation has an intra-community 'spillover' effect by comparing the incomes of households living in REDD+ villages but abstaining from participation, with those in non-REDD+ (control) villages. We evaluate two such projects in Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan) using panel survey data from over 400 households, collected in 2010, 2014, and 2018. Our analysis employs panel difference-in-differences in matched samples. Overall, our results reveal a small, heterogeneous impact of REDD+ on household incomes. While we found no significant impact in East Kalimantan’s BFCP site, participation in Central Kalimantan’s KMP site led to a reduced agricultural income over the short term (2010-2014). However, we detected no improvement in overall household income, nor did we find this impact to be long-lasting. We also found no conclusive evidence of intra-community spillover effects. The short-term income shock observed at the KMP site, despite its small overall magnitude, indicates the need for strategies to support and safeguard household incomes against temporary disruptions associated with REDD+ implementation. Our research contributes to the broader discourse on REDD+ performance, echoing previous findings of its mixed and modest impact on local communities' incomes globally.
Copyright (c) 2025 Forest and Society http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Rhythms for Living: Fluid Cultural Adaptations within the Dynamic Watersheds of Eastern Indonesia
Tectonics literally and figuratively create rhythms for living in the seismically active nation of Indonesia where shifting plates generate landforms around which cultures construct their homelands. Eastern Indonesian communities who have built their societies around the region’s dynamic watersheds have constructed traditional ecological knowledge and place-based skills for accessing freshwater. What is the water-related knowledge and skills of Indigenous societies who live in the tropical monsoon climate zone of Nusa Tenggara Timur Province (NTT)? How have communities living on Sumba Island in southern NTT adapted to their homelands where they find water to pose the most difficult challenge to survival? How do Sumbanese continue adapting to ongoing natural and anthropogenic changes in their island’s hydrological systems? Ecological rhythms inform cultural constructions of freshwater ecosystems and the ways people manage water. Despite the dynamism of tectonic and oceanic-atmospheric processes, they are steadier in some ways than misguided anthropogenic developments. We describe changes that have occurred over the past quarter century in the ways Sumbanese interact with and manage freshwater following the premise that socioeconomic transformations coincide with changes in freshwater ecology. We focus on the culturally specific management of water within the North Kodi Subdistrict of the South West Sumba Regency and the hydrological setting of residents’ lives. To understand the latter, we reviewed scientific literature and to study the former we conducted ethnographic fieldwork. Our findings show the impacts of hydrological developments on communities reflect existing social structures. In stratified societies, development has uneven impacts. Our research reveals anthropogenic change to be nonlinear. While people may adjust their water-related practices to novel developments, they also may revert to historically proven behaviors when developments fail. Resilience is an inherent quality of cultural adaptations to hydrological systems in the dry tropical biomes of Indonesia.
Nongovernmental Organizations in the Design and Implementation of Social Forestry Programs in Indonesia: Interests, Power and Strategies
Many social forestry projects have failed to produce expected outcomes. In many cases, they do not suit specific local contexts, problems, and needs because they only articulate the interests of powerful actors outside local communities. In this study, we examine how nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) affect social forestry implementation. In many cases, NGOs are characterized as benevolent actors, often claiming to represent voiceless groups, including poor local communities, in the social forestry context. We are specifically interested in analyzing the ways by which the studied NGOs have shaped the implementation of social forestry models in the forests managed by the state company of Perhutani. We focus on how the NGOs operate and their motivation and strategies nuanced around their power relations vis-à-vis the state company, how they have been shaped and readjusted. We found that due to competition for funding some of the analyzed NGOs were ably persuaded to alter their initial idealistic motivation of serving the best interests of local communities, while the others were simply motivated by financial self-gains from the resource-full state company. Even when the central government pushed the company to implement an innovative scheme, with greater rights and access granted to local communities, NGOs continued to favor the company’s interest by successfully persuading locals to continue with the old social forestry scheme. The study findings enhance the growing literature on the diverse roles of NGOs as interest groups in forest/environmental policies beyond the old characterization.
How Much and Why? Conservation Behavior and Valuation in Katunggan Coastal Ecopark, Mindanao Island, Philippines
Mangrove forests are among the most productive and valuable ecosystems, providing critical services such as shoreline protection, fisheries support, and carbon sequestration. Despite their ecological and economic significance, mangrove forests continue to decline at an alarming rate due to land conversion for aquaculture, urban expansion, overharvesting, and climate-related impacts. Although national and community-based conservation programs exist in the Philippines, many of these efforts have struggled due to limited public participation and a lack of insight into how local communities perceive and value mangrove ecosystems. This study surveyed 503 residents living near the Katunggan Coastal Ecopark in Mindanao Island, Philippines, to examine how conservation attitudes, perceived threats, knowledge, utilization, and sociodemographic factors shape conservation action and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for mangrove protection. Respondents generally exhibited high knowledge of mangroves, with strong recognition of climate and human-induced threats, as well as high conservation attitudes and actions, and a low reliance on mangroves for their livelihood. Most expressed support for conservation through monetary contributions (82.4%), although some cited financial constraints, skepticism toward fund use, or preference for non-monetary participation. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that perceived threat and conservation attitude significantly influenced conservation actions, while knowledge, conservation actions, monthly income, and sex at birth predicted WTP. The log-normal interval regression model estimated a mean annual WTP of USD 12.29 (₱703.53) and a median of USD 1.59 (₱91.01), indicating a right-skewed distribution. These findings offer critical insight into the cognitive and behavioral drivers of mangrove conservation support. They can inform inclusive, flexible payment mechanisms that ensure greater community participation in sustainable mangrove ecosystem management.
The Role of Ecosystem Services in Holistic Conservation within Protected Areas: A Case Study of the Song Thanh National Park, Vietnam
Vietnam has made a strong commitment to biodiversity conservation, as evidenced by its extensive network of protected areas. However, environmental issues persist in protected areas. Often, the resulting violence complicates the situation, making it more challenging to analyze and manage. We studied the perceptions of people in the buffer zone of the Song Thanh National Park, Quang Nam province, regarding the current status of ecosystem services (ES), the importance of ecosystem services, their changes over time, and people's participation in protecting ecosystem services. We employed a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data. We conducted semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and household surveys. We found that local communities were aware of the current status of ecosystem services they used and the importance of prominent selected services, such as swidden agriculture and water resources, in their lives. The study also showed how people perceived the improvement of regulatory services since the establishment of the national park, while the extraction of forest ecosystem services led to legal violations. People's dependence on the provisioning services provided by protected areas often leads to environmental conflicts in their management. This study provides strong evidence that conservation is essential; however, an ES approach is needed to manage protected areas effectively to meet conservation objectives.
The Guardian of East Borneo: Indigenous Women in Gender Equality, Local Culture, and Language Preservation in the Surrounded Area of Indonesia's New Capital City
This research aims to reveal the position of indigenous women in Indonesia’s capital city in terms of gender equality, culture, and local language preservation. The research is done through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using a phenomenological approach. There are 19 participants selected from two indigenous ethnicities: Dayak, and Paser. The participants reveal that gender equality has long been applied in their community, which can be seen from the equality of education, jobs, domestic affairs, rituals, and representation in government or organization. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate the crucial role of women in preserving culture and language, as they serve as initiators, instructors, mediators, and executors. Looking at women’s vital role, their existence and influences should be supported and made prominent.
Signifying the End of Swidden? An Analysis of Vocabulary of the Fallow Stage Among a Kalimantan Indigenous Group, Indonesia
This study examines how the Dayak Tunjung community in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, employs linguistic classifications to structure and transmit ecological knowledge within a traditional swidden agricultural system. It focuses on the vocabulary used to denote fallow stages and analyzes how generational shifts in language use reflect broader socio-ecological transformations. Data were collected through 16 semi-structured interviews and participant observation in Linggang Melapeh Village, stratified by age and occupation to capture intergenerational dynamics. The findings reveal that older generations retain a detailed lexicon tied to ecological succession and customary land practices, while younger members increasingly adopt shortened fallow cycles and show a declining familiarity with traditional terms. These patterns indicate a process of biocultural erosion, wherein linguistic attrition parallels the restructuring of ecological relationships under the pressures of land commodification and shifting livelihood strategies. The study highlights the need to revitalize Indigenous ecological narratives and safeguard linguistic diversity as critical components of cultural and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, it calls for decolonizing conservation frameworks to recognize and empower Indigenous governance systems. Integrative efforts involving education, participatory mapping, and culturally grounded policy interventions are recommended to sustain the ecological and linguistic heritage of the Dayak Tunjung community.
Adaptive Water Management Strategies for Subsistence Rice Farming Under Projected Rainfall Variability in Drought-Risk Khon Kaen, Thailand
This study offers new insights into adaptive water management for drought-prone subsistence rice farming in Ban Thum Sub-district, Khon Kaen Province, Thailand. By triangulating climate science, agronomy, and farmers’ socio-economic conditions, we assess drought risk and identify feasible adaptation strategies. The analysis integrates 30 years of observed climate data (1994–2023), mid-century projections (2024–2053) under SSP 245 and SSP 585, as well as semi-structured interviews with farmers. Stage-specific effective rainfall, crop evapotranspiration, and supplemental water requirements were calculated. Although total rainfall is projected to rise slightly, severe and moderate droughts are expected to remain frequent, particularly during the heading and ripening stages. In drought years, sustaining yields of 200–300 kg rai⁻¹ will require an additional 200–1,300 m³ rai⁻¹ of water. Groundwater wells and large farm ponds are technically effective but financially inaccessible to most smallholders; smaller ponds represent a more affordable alternative. The findings underscore the importance of targeted adaptation, including enhanced on-farm storage, optimized irrigation scheduling, and supportive policies such as low-interest loans and infrastructure subsidies. By linking climate projections to local capacities, this study provides a practical roadmap for strengthening rice-farming resilience and safeguarding food security in one of Thailand’s most climate-vulnerable regions.
Collaboration as Method: Field Lessons from South Sulawesi, Indonesia and Khon Kaen, Thailand
Collaboration in the context of international fieldwork serves to elevate the skills of all members involved while simultaneously contributing to a robust body of observations. This paper reflects on methodological lessons from a Collaborative Southeast Asia Summer Field School where graduate and undergraduate students from Universitas Hasanuddin, Sulawesi, Indonesia (UNHAS), Khon Kaen University, Thailand (KKU), and University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, USA (UHM) came together to learn how to conduct research collaboratively. Guided by mentors from these three institutions, our multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural group participated in collaborative field schools at three field sites - two in South Sulawesi; and one in Khon Kaen, Thailand - where we continued, and built upon our local partners’ existing research projects and priorities in these areas. Each group focused on ‘following’ specific crops and commodities in different contexts, adopted and adapted multiple research methods, engaged with diverse team members and communities across various languages and landscapes, was guided by different fieldwork objectives and overarching questions, and yielded distinct findings. Despite these differences, all three groups shared a general aim to understand socio-economic and environmental transitions in Southeast Asian rural societies. Through collaborative and comparative reflections on challenges and adaptations before, during, and after fieldwork in both sites, this paper discusses how using collaboration as a research method has (re)shaped team members’ understandings of our research, Southeast Asia as a region, and ourselves. Importantly, we reflect on how this experience has shaped our future collaborative research in, and of Southeast Asia, and how we might apply these methodological lessons in our own research projects.
Impacts of Urbanization on the Use of Soil Amendments by Rice Farmers Along a Rural-Urban Continuum in Northeast Thailand
This study investigated the impact of urbanization on use of soil amendment by rice farmers in three villages along a rural–urban continuum in Northeast Thailand. It shows how urbanization influences their use of types and quantities of soil amendments. Data were collected by interviewing 150 farmers, focusing on types, quantities, sources, costs, and perceived effects of nine different amendments, including rice straw, chemical fertilizers, manures, and green manure. Results revealed significant declines in organic amendment use as villages become more urbanized, with rural farmers employing more diverse and greater quantities of organic amendments while periurban and urban farmers predominantly rely on chemical fertilizers. Quantitative analysis shows that livestock manure use diminishes sharply from over 80% of farmers in rural villages to around 30% in more urbanized communities, reflecting reduced livestock numbers. Discriminant analysis compared the three villages in terms of three dependent variables. (area of paddy fields, quantities of chemical fertilizer and organic amendments applied) showed clearly that all the group means were significantly different. Analysis of quantities of chemical fertilizer and organic amendments applied by individual farmers in all three villages revealed that farmers applying higher amounts of organic matter tended to use less chemical fertilizer. Constraints, including limited supplies, high costs, and labor shortages, inhibited organic amendment application among urbanized farmers. These shifts pose a serious threat to long-term soil quality. The findings underscore the urgent need for policy interventions to promote sustainable organic soil management practices in urbanizing communities to improve soil health and food security.
The Patchwork Quilt of Global Mangrove Conservation: Mapping the Landscape of International Treaties
Mangroves at the land-sea interface offer invaluable goods and services through their unique ecosystem. Society has responded by developing governance mechanisms to manage these resources sustainably, which is crucial for societal well-being. The global environmental governance landscape is a complex network of treaty-based regimes addressing various ecological challenges. This study aims to examine the treaty-based regimes governing mangrove conservation, systematically mapping and identifying authoritative global mangrove regimes. It analyses the fragmentation scale regarding synergies, conflicts, and neutral relationships between global environmental treaties. Online scoping reviews and content analysis revealed that the Ramsar Convention serves as the legal authority of the global mangrove regime. The study highlights positive interactions and cooperative mechanisms between the mangrove regime and 17 other environmental regimes. Future research should explore how regime secretariats customise policies to make them legally binding and synergise fragmented regimes, emphasising robust inter-regime communication and joint initiatives. Additionally, China’s management of the International Mangrove Centre presents a promising research avenue, focusing on the sustainable conservation and use of mangroves.
Multilevel Peatland Governance: Exploring the Policy Impact among Local Actors in Shaping Peatland Policy Intervention in Indonesia
Indonesia established the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG, now BRGM) in 2016 to address land and forest fire issues through measures to develop and strengthen the implementation of policies to restore some part of the 24 million hectares of the country's damaged peatlands. BRGM was presented as a response to the transboundary haze issue and was applauded globally, with substantial success claimed in delivering changes in local land management behaviours. However, limited detailed analyses have been conducted regarding how the BRGM programme is implemented. Employing concepts drawn from work exploring multilevel governance strategies and actor-network theory (ANT), we explore how the BRGM’s programmes were implemented in seven different district locations in Riau province. We focus on local actors' views concerning the programme to assess local perceptions and responses to BRGM initiatives. Our findings show that multilevel peatland governance, as implemented by BRGM, encounters significant obstacles and challenges. Key issues were linked to poor coordination and synergy between different levels of governance and the actors involved, which in turn hampered collaboration efforts. In addition, problematic implementation due to formal and informal power struggles linked to actors' diverse interests also inevitably impacted local responses to the programme and, hence, its performance and efficacy. We suggest that these underreported factors inevitably affect the BRGM programmes' capacity to deliver on their formal aims sustainably and may hinder the achievement of justice and equity outcomes in the community.
Justice Outlook in the Global-South Frontiers
Militarization of Anti-peasant Forest Conservation: The Case of the Amazon Forest Reserve Zone (AFRZ) after the Colombian 2016 Peace Agreement
In 2016, the Colombian government signed a peace agreement with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) that included the implementation of a Comprehensive Rural Reform (CRR) with the purpose to allocate and formalize land for peasant populations. In parallel, Colombia was committed to implement the global environmental agendas, including efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by reducing deforestation in the Amazon. Campesino communities in Colombia have historically been marginalized and pushed into forested lands and protected areas. This study seeks to understand the configuration of land-use conflicts in the Amazon Forest Reserve Zone (AFRZ) - a land management category in the Colombian Amazon - amid the implementation of the global environmental agendas and the Peace Agreement, with a focus on the environmental justice implications for peasant communities. After undertaking a historical review of peasant colonization of the Amazon, we focus on the administration of the former president Iván Duque (2018-2022) in which military operations were deployed to counteract the increase of deforestation. These operations resulted in the destruction of private and community infrastructure, and the stigmatization, criminalization, and even homicide of rural inhabitants. Militarization is only the most obvious of the conservation strategies that limit access to nature by peasants, who depend on it for their livelihoods. We further explore the environmental justice implications of this military conservation approach through a case study in the village El Camuya, located in San Vicente del Caguán (Caquetá), in the Colombia’s “arc of deforestation”. Using qualitative methods, we demonstrate how the Comprehensive Rural Reform included in the Peace Agreement has been insufficient to fulfill the needs of Amazonian peasants and that, when intersecting with the environmental agendas, it has fostered land use conflicts that can be understood as environmental injustices.
Circular Commoning: Sustaining Dayak Bahau Agency Amid Political and Ecological Change
Swidden practices create distinctive agricultural systems deeply situated in local culture, but many of these systems are experiencing transformation and demise around the tropical world. Through varied types of commoning, however, Indigenous groups continue swidden practices as part of their identity and livelihoods. In this article, we explore how the Bahau communities in Indonesia negotiate with the state and private institutions, enabling them to maintain their agricultural traditions as fundamental to their standing as Indigenous People. We apply a commoning framework that prioritizes historical context, adaptation, and collective decision-making in managing the commons. We focus on the Bahau communities residing in the regencies of Mahakam Ulu, West Kutai, and Samarinda City in the Province of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. We conducted field observations and in-depth interviews. We found that despite fading collective labor mobilization systems and lepo pare (public granary) in Bahau communities, various practices persist that shape and sustain community identity, whose inherent value has influenced local state governance. The Bahau prioritize maintaining their livelihoods and exerting a sizable bargaining power over local rules and policies. This creates a circular commoning dynamic and produces a continuous cycle of commons. Such commoning stems from a commitment to traditional values, community-focused local governance, democratic and flexible decision-making, and conflict resolution aligned with customary law. The Bahau’s commoning-driven adaptability in the contexts of political and ecological dynamics provides a constructive analytical framework to examine other communities that share similar principles despite the global pessimism about the resilience of Indigenous People.
The commons, commoning, and collective action
The Indigenous Land Struggles Amidst the Pressures for Change in the Lake Toba Areas of North Sumatra, Indonesia
Many Masyarakat Adat (Indigenous People), including those in the Lake Toba areas of North Sumatra, Indonesia, struggle to protect their rights to land and resources. This article examines the agencies and dynamics of indigenous-land-related development in Lake Toba amidst modernization, focusing on their roles, relationships, perceptions, interests, and strategies. Semi-structured interviews using snowball sampling were conducted with Indigenous People around Lake Toba, local NGOs, and local government representatives. Five key groups were identified in the process of procuring Indigenous land use rights for the Toba Batak ethnic group: tribal leaders (elders), community members, land dealers, local government, and NGOs. The study found that the Indigenous People’s movement faces challenges beyond political economic structural vulnerabilities, which include economic pragmatism, diminishing cultural values, and rising individualism among community members. The study advocates for political empowerment through multiple strategies that enhance knowledge of the environment and cultural heritage. Legal reforms focused on Indigenous People’s rights and economic empowerment are fundamental in this light. While individual land registration should continue, communal land recognition and protection can also be supported through legal reforms for customary land ownership.
Social Forestry as Solution to Agrarian Conflicts? A Case Study between Oil Palm Smallholders and Industrial Plantations in Jambi, Indonesia
Extraction activities across Indonesia have caused drastic changes to forest ecologies. The Indonesian government responded to this through a policy of Industrial Plantation Forest concessions, which were given to the private sector in the hopes of overcoming damages from forest extraction activities while at the same time utilizing unproductive forest land. However, this policy does not pay attention to the existence of people who de facto control and use the land and has triggered new conflicts around agrarian claims based on different interpretations of land rights. In an effort to resolve conflicts, the government has implemented a community-based forest area management policy, which involves a partnership between local communities and companies known as the social forestry partnership scheme. This scheme is partial tenure in the form of management rights and legality to communities to manage land in forest areas. In this study, we report how the community interprets this program as a solution to agrarian conflicts. Using qualitative methods, this study finds that social forestry has not been entirely accepted by local communities for several reasons. These include the low level of public trust due to the actions taken by the company during the land claim process, demands for property rights from social movements that were not fulfilled through this scheme, and the community's continued cultivation of oil palm, which is a non-forest crop, on their land. The last reason requires the community to replace their plantations with non-oil palm plantations if they wish to participate in the social forestry program. This research further examines how the community's readiness to adopt non-oil palm plantations is influenced by factors of income, convenience, socio-cultural and ecological adaptation, and the potential for new conflicts to arise.
Community Perspectives on Engaging Stakeholders for Human-Sumatran Tiger Coexistence in the Bukit Barisan Selatan Landscape
The Bukit Barisan Selatan (BBS) landscape, a vital habitat for the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), is increasingly degraded and fragmented by plantation and agricultural expansion, driving tigers into human-dominated areas and creating conflict zones beyond conservation boundaries. However, despite global frameworks like the Kunming-Montreal 2050 Biodiversity Framework and IUCN advocating coexistence by integrating ecological and socio-economic priorities, the practical implementation at the site level remains uncertain, particularly regarding local perspectives on coexistence and their alignment with competing stakeholder interests. This study analyzes the alignment of parties in the context of the potential coexistence of human-tiger conflicts in the landscape based on local community perspectives. The BBS landscape in this study includes Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBSNP), Pesisir Barat Forest Management Unit (KPH Pesisir Barat), and surrounding villages. We employed literature reviews, interviews, and the MACTOR analysis tool in our analysis. Findings reveal that forest managers (BBSNP, FMU Pesisir Barat) and local communities are key stakeholders, with Forest Rangers as crucial links between conservation policy and communities. Effective communication and coordination by rangers and extension officers foster local compliance, but coexistence remains challenging due to frequent human-tiger conflicts in open areas and mixed-tree plantations, including within conservation zones. Divergence of objectives exists between ecological actors prioritizing tiger population enhancement and socio-economic actors prioritizing human security and land access, necessitating a more balanced and holistic approach to ensure long-term sustainability. The study concludes that integrating ecological and socio-economic objectives through stakeholder collaboration, meeting the needs of local communities, and considering their land rights and access in conservation planning is critical to ensure communities are direct beneficiaries and prevent conflicts of interest in sustainable human-tiger conservation efforts.
Mobilizing for Conservation: The Role of Social Movements in Damaran Baru Ecovillage, Indonesia
This article highlights the role of social movements in environmental conservation by developing an ecovillage in Damaran Baru in Bener Meriah Regency, Aceh, Indonesia, focusing on ecological sustainability and gender inclusivity. The primary aim of this paper is to explore how community-based social movements and government policies can collaborate to promote sustainable tourism practices that protect the environment and enhance local community welfare. A qualitative method with a phenomenological approach was employed in the data collection process, which included field observations, in-depth interviews with village residents and relevant stakeholders, and analysis of official and non-official documents related to the ecovillage program. The research findings show that Damaran Baru Village successfully implemented the ecovillage model in response to the 2015 flash flood disaster. The social movement led by the local community, with support from Non-Governmental Organizations and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, managed 251 hectares of forest land. The active role of women as forest guards became an essential symbol of gender inclusivity in conservation. This study concludes that community-based social movements and government policy support are crucial in realizing sustainable tourism that benefits both the environment and society. The development of ecovillages, such as in Damaran Baru, demonstrates that environmental conservation and economic growth can coexist successfully. This study recommends enhancing tourist infrastructure, offering sustainable training programs for the local community, diversifying income streams, and establishing partnerships with external organizations to support long-term success.
For Church or People: The History of Land Dispute in Sikka Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province from the Perspective of Tana' Ai Community
This study employs a political ecology approach to analyze the dynamics of land ownership in Indonesia, focusing on the Tana' Ai community in Sikka Regency, East Nusa Tenggara province. We argue that agrarian change is driven by external actors, including private companies that religious institutions and government agencies own. The latter often impose their will on indigenous populations, which can result in land conflicts, marginalization, and uneven capital accumulation. In particular, the church's status as a land use permit holder from the colonial era complicates the Tana' Ai ethnic community's ability to assert its ancestral land rights. To understand this further, this study examines the interactions between the church, local communities, and the state in land management and their impact on the dynamics of power and resistance of ethnic Tana' Ai communities to social and policy change. We ask, is land managed by the community or the church? The research contributes to the growing body of literature. It fills a significant gap on land disputes in Indonesia, which also appear to be conducted by religious institutions, and the long-term impacts of such conflicts on indigenous societies. We used qualitative methods, including interviews, participant observation, and archival analysis, across 3 villages in Sikka Regency. This understanding is crucial for addressing the socio-political and cultural challenges the Tana' Ai community faces in reclaiming their land rights and ensuring their sustainable livelihoods.
Corruption in Social Forestry in Indonesia
Social forestry is envisioned as a governance reform to empower rural communities to improve both the forest condition and their quality of life. In Indonesia, however, its implementation has been plagued by a number of governance-related issues including corrupt practices among various actors. Drawing on programs implemented in Java, we delve into the types and mechanisms by which corruption has occurred (or occurs) in various social forestry activities. Tracking experience across several phases of social forestry, the corrupt practices were initially performed among the field foresters and the higher hierarchies. These corrupt practices were later imitated by other actors, who increasingly considered them as normal and acceptable practices. In contemporary social forestry programs, corruption is conducted by diverse stakeholders, including smallholder farmers, public officials and other authorities among the bureaucracy, as well as non-government organizations. Corruption has significant bearing on policy initiatives and programmatic outcomes, as it inhibits the implementation of formal rules and norms of social forestry. Our historical tracing provides better insights into why corruption is not only a social forestry-related challenge but also a part of a larger societal problem as it has been normalized and deepened over decades.
Copyright (c) 2024 Forest and Society http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Environmental Governance Challenges of Indigenous Forest Recognition: Climate Solution Ideal and Its Uneven Outcomes in Indonesia
Formal policies on Indigenous land and forest rights recognition are increasingly being promoted as a climate solution in global forums. While this suggests a clear discursive victory for environmental justice movements, there has been less attention on the aftermaths of recognition. This in part owes to the novelty of policies on Indigenous land and forest recognition, but also due to the tendency among proponents to view formal legal victories as a means and ends of advocacy. In this paper, we spotlight what happens after recognition in Kajang, the site of the first Indigenous community to formally regain authority over state forests in Indonesia. We apply a lens from political ecology and draw from critical research on land and property to identify the unevenness of an emerging climate policy solution. Through grounded village-level research engagements lasting over three years in the span of over a decade, we identify a range of ethnographic perspectives on land, resources, authority, and shifting identity formation. Results highlight three main findings. First, while the assumption of community-based initiatives presumes the restoration of rights, new forms of enclosure and marginalization occur vis-à-vis policies of Indigenous land rights recognition. Second, the assumption of forest and environmental stewardship is by no means automatic, as land and resource concerns have a geographic dimension that may result in protection for some forests at the expense of others. Finally, Kajang is unique for its history and political economy making it difficult to assume parallel outcomes elsewhere. While environmental justice movements should continue to advocate for Indigeneity and forest and land recognition, more attention should be given to their underlying strategies and the implications of doing so.
Conflict and Compromise, Discourse and Action: Political Ecology in the Complexity of Land Management in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
Peatlands in Mantangai District, Central Kalimantan, have emerged as a site of contention among many stakeholders with differing interests, illustrating the intricacies of natural resource management in Indonesia. This research seeks to examine the contestation process, identify main actors, and comprehend how various forms of knowledge and power influence the results of peatland management. This research employs a case study method with a qualitative approach, incorporating direct observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis to achieve a thorough knowledge of the dynamics of contestation. The findings indicate three primary viewpoints in peatland management: eco-conservationism exemplified by Mawas Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), eco-developmentalism illustrated by the government's food estate initiative and oil palm plantation expansion, and eco-populism promoted by Wahana Lingkungan Hidup (WALHI) Central Kalimantan and local communities. This contention leads to multiple underlying conflicts, including tensions between conservation initiatives and resource extraction activities by local communities, discrepancies between governmental development programs and the ecological and social realities, as well as unresolved land disputes and compensation challenges arising from the expansion of oil palm plantations. This study suggests that a more holistic and inclusive approach to peatland management is necessary, taking into account ecological, economic, and socio-cultural factors in a balanced manner. These findings significantly enhance the comprehension of the intricacies of natural resource management and can underpin the formulation of more inclusive and sustainable policies moving forward.
Voices in the Forest: Unraveling REDD+ Discourse and Narratives in the Bale Eco-region, Ethiopia
REDD+ projects are viewed in environmental discourse as a centralized framework to assist ongoing initiatives to stop deforestation and forest degradation and to advance sustainable forest management. This case study captures the intricacy of REDD+ narratives and their practical implications through a qualitative methodology that includes in depth interviews and document analysis. We used snowball sampling to identify participants with diverse perspectives on REDD+ discourses. The interviews were conducted with 25 key informants who represented a variety of stakeholder groups. Discourse analysis was applied to examine contrasting perspectives of ecological modernization and civic environmentalism storylines and narratives on REDD+ implementation. Additionally, it utilized content analysis to explore diverse viewpoints on REDD+ key dimensions and strategic aspects to gain valuable insights from different stakeholder coalitions. We identified three primary discourse coalitions: promoters, moderators, and opponents. The promoters, predominantly consisting of government agencies and international organizations, view REDD+ as a market-driven, technocratic solution to climate change. The moderators, comprise mostly of regional authorities, universities and local institutions, who tend to advocate for a more balanced approach, emphasizing social justice, local empowerment, and sustainable livelihoods. Opponents primarily include the private sector, civil society networks, scholars, indigenous communities and small-scale farmers, express concerns about the potential negative impacts of REDD+, including on land tenure, cultural disruption, and increased inequality. Our analysis reveals the power dynamics at play, with dominant discourses often overshadowing local perspectives. We argue that a more nuanced understanding of these competing narratives is crucial for effective REDD+ implementation. By considering the diverse perspectives of stakeholders and addressing underlying power imbalances, it makes it possible to harness the potential of REDD+ to promote both environmental conservation and social equity in the Bale Eco-region.
Assessing the Potential of Thailand's National Forest Reserves for Tourism Development and Sustainable Recreational Use
This research aimed to evaluate the potential of Thailand's national forest reserves for promoting sustainable recreational activities. Research tools included a comprehensive tourism potential assessment form for evaluating tourism development. Additionally, semi-structured interviews and focus group meetings with key informants were conducted to gain insights into local perspectives, challenges, and opportunities related to tourism. Site surveys were conducted during January - August 2021. The study initially conducted an assessment of 122 destinations located within 85 national forest reserves across the country to determine their tourism development potential. Subsequently, 16 national forest reserves exhibiting high potential were selected for on-site surveys. These revealed a diverse range of recreational resources within the national forest reserves, including waterfalls, rapids, rivers, viewpoints, ecotourism sites, nature trails, hot springs, caves, geographic landscapes, and archaeological sites. The assessment of tourism development potential identified six areas with high potential, eight areas with medium potential, and two areas with low potential within the national forest reserves. To effectively promote recreation and sustainable tourism in Thailand's national forest reserves, the Royal Forest Department, responsible for overseeing these areas, should prioritize the following key considerations: 1) development of interpretive programs that align with the unique features and highlights of each area to enhance visitors' learning experiences, 2) active involvement of local communities in tourism development initiatives, and 3) provision of basic service facilities to support visitor activities. This is a normative assessment, and future studies should focus on the ways that tourism is reshaping these landscapes and livelihoods.
Waves of Bugis Migration to the Mahakam Delta: Livelihood Trajectories and Landscape Changes along the Rural Coastlines of East Kalimantan
This article describes an often overlooked dimension of land use change, namely the extent to which migration affects livelihoods and landscapes in destination areas. We concentrate on the long history of migration of Bugis from South Sulawesi province to the Mahakam Delta on the east coast of Kalimantan, which has taken place over hundreds of years. To understand this migration pattern, we first delve into the dynamics of Bugis mobility across the Sulawesi Strait by examining the push and pull factors that reshape the Mahakam Delta. We then examine the livelihood trajectories of the migrants, their political economic contexts in their sites of origins and destination areas, as well as the ways these dynamics result in social and ecological change. We categorized Bugis migration to the Mahakam Delta during the 20th and early 21st century as taking place in three different waves. Violence and security were the main push factors for migration, namely fleeing the chaos of civil war during the colonial and post independence periods. Along the way households sought out employment and access to arable land. Meanwhile, the pull factor involved abundant livelihood sources and relatively safe conditions in the Mahakam Delta. Working as farmers and fishermen during the earlier periods, migrants’ livelihoods changed significantly in the 1980s with the arrival of international shrimp companies stimulating decades of conversion of the Delta’s mangrove forest ecosystems. The financial crisis in the late 1990s that sparked the initial shrimp boom intensified the conversion, which also included turning migrant agricultural lands into ponds. The global commodity chains integrated the migrants into capitalist relations controlled by a few money lenders and pond owners, turning migrants into patrons in the form of pond workers. The few studies that discuss the relationship between migrants' livelihoods and landscape change generally address rural-to-urban out-migration. This study shows specifically that rural to rural migration can have significant effects on livelihoods and landscape in the migration destination areas.
Manganese for Whom? A Review on Manganese Mining Permits towards the Existence of Springs’ Sacred Forest in Manggarai Flores
Amid global efforts to find minerals for renewable energy, social-environmental concerns related to mineral extraction are still ongoing. Various agreements at the global level are calling for the renewable energies market to uphold principles of sustainability throughout the entire supply chain, including raw materials extraction, to protect the integrity and objectives of the industry. Importantly, such action must extend beyond the narrow parameters of environmental management to inclusively consider impacts on community wellbeing as well. This article evaluates concerns around land and spring conversion in manganese mining operations in Manggarai, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara Province, NTT. The study is critical to designing a bridging model of water institutional development at the district level that would help realize the water rights of the villagers toward actual action. The analysis of how water institutions function in villages is an area of study that has not been widely examined in Indonesia, even though water issues are increasingly prominent in many regions. This article seeks to analyze functioning water institutions using institutional critical analysis. We apply spatial analysis to mining operation areas to identify land use contestations between mines and the springs as well as settlements. The analysis integrates in-depth interviews with the officials from three key government institutions related to land uses and the springs. Both the spatial analysis and qualitative data are then analyzed alongside the legal framework of land use and spring used to distill the institutional barriers leading to the issuance of permits in such contexts. The analysis then briefly traces the current political economy of mining’s permits underlying the institutional interactions to better understand why the institutions behave as they do. Ultimately, the study finds that mining operations occur in spaces with common resources of sacred springs and settlements. Even though the overlapping was deemed illegal by state law, causes such as poor institutional authority over spring governance, economic rather than social-based motivations for reviewing permits, and election incentives drive institutional behavior, not simply law. In light of this, the study concludes that springs-related institutions at the district level are at a crossroads regarding whether to protect the springs due to the changes in several laws, including regional government law in 2014. However, the expectation of economic growth, local politics, and global demand for manganese remains a significant underlying influence of allocating permits to manganese mines.
Reviewing Mangrove Degradation, Conservation, and Restoration: A Sustainability Nexus Assessment on Myanmar Using the DPSIR Framework
Mangrove forests are vital for supporting local livelihoods and are an integral component of coastal ecosystems in Myanmar. However, they continue to degrade or even disappear across the country’s coastal regions even though rehabilitation processes have been initiated in several regions. Still, little research and systematic inquiry into the drivers of mangrove degradation in Myanmar is available. Against this background, this study identifies the primary forces affecting the mangrove ecosystem and the challenges for mangrove conservation in Myanmar by combining a systematic literature review (SLR) on mangrove change with the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) analytical framework. We find economic activities, predominantly in agriculture, as the main drivers, resulting in pressure to convert mangroves to other land uses and leading to the degradation of mangrove forests and loss of mangrove ecosystem services. However, the regional patterns of crop production, firewood, and charcoal consumption have remained stable during the recent past. Further ground data measurements are still necessary to identify the primary factors causing mangrove degradation in Myanmar. The most commonly identified research methods were remote sensing methodologies while socio-political approaches were rarely considered in the context of mangrove preservation in Myanmar but are strongly needed in the future. This is underlined by the DPSIR analysis which identified adequate policy responses as a crucial element for mangrove protection and restoration. While a few measures on mangrove reforestation were documented in the literature, their long-term success has not been adequately assessed, including the implications that climate change will have on natural and restored mangrove systems. In the future, more studies on the social and actor-related aspects of mangrove ecosystem management are needed and have to consider the sustainability nexus of ecological goals and socio-economic development, considering all levels.
Cacao Agroforestry in Mahakam Ulu: Transformation Strategy from Traditional to Good Agricultural Practices and Smart Agroforestry System
The Dayak community in East Kalimantan is renowned for practicing traditional Agroforestry (AF) across generations. Meanwhile, despite the long-term introduction of cacao (Theobroma cacao) in 1996 as a potential commodity in the AF practice, its productivity still needs to be improved. This study aimed to analyze the challenges as well as develop strategies for adapting and transforming traditional AF practices into Smart Agroforestry (SAF) systems for cacao. The implementation of cacao SAF is anticipated to enhance cacao productivity, improve the welfare of local communities, and preserve the forest’s function as a crucial life support system for the Dayak Community in Mahakam Ulu (Mahulu) District. Data were collected through the Triangulation Method, using interviews of selected respondents with structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews with key informants, and focus group discussions to verify and validate the data. Additionally, participatory mapping was carried out on AF cacao pattern to identify the area and its cultivation technique. We also obtained secondary data from local government sources in East Kalimantan. Data were processed using qualitative descriptive analysis, gender, and SWOT analysis. The results showed that the development of cacao-based agroforestry in Mahulu District was carried out by applying the green economy concept and considering the potential for cacao marketing, socio-economic culture, gender, and traditional knowledge. However, further development efforts are needed to improve traditional cultivation towards SAF practices. This requires multi-stakeholder collaboration from the regional level, comprising farmers and village government to the central government. Several important factors should be considered for better management of cacao cultivation. These factors include intensifying input production to increase land productivity, assuring land ownership status, improving the quality of products, increasing access to capital, as well as strengthening local institutions for a more effective and efficient marketing process.
Historical Land Use and Land Cover Change of the Lake Tempe Region: A Multi-source Data Landscape Reconstruction
Lake Tempe, situated in the Wajo Regency, is an ancient lake in Indonesia that plays a crucial role in the socio-historical evolution of Southern Sulawesi. The Lontara manuscript, a significant source of regional history, highlights Lake Tempe as a vital resource for adjacent communities. Contemporary narratives of Lake Tempe, however, are overshadowed by recurrent flooding attributed to accelerated sedimentation leading to lake shallowing, which impedes its capacity to manage the inflow from tributary rivers. This study aims to offer a historical perspective by reconstructing the landscape and detailing the evolution of land use and land cover (LU/LC) in the Lake Tempe region, thus enhancing our understanding of the lake's current conditions. We compiled an array of historical and archaeological data, including manuscripts, archival maps, and satellite imagery, spanning the 13th to 20th centuries. Our approach involves historical LU/LC modeling to provide an intricate depiction of the landscape evolution in the Lake Tempe area. Moreover, we presented modeled projections of LU/LC alterations over approximately 86 years (1930-2016). The analysis reveals that pre-20th century landscape dynamics in the region were influenced by several factors: demographic shifts due to local migration, interplay among local elites over natural resource control, and integration into global trade networks from the 13th century onwards. These elements collectively spurred deforestation during periods of agricultural expansion. Starting in the early 20th century, the agricultural development policies of both the Dutch Colonial and the Republic of Indonesia's governments further accelerated land conversion for distinct agricultural purposes. This historical narrative underscores the fact that centuries of anthropogenic activity have been central to the hydrometeorological challenges faced throughout the Lake Tempe region.
Has Promotion of Community-based Tourism been A Successful Rural Development Strategy in Northeast Thailand?
Promotion of community-based homestay tourism (CBT) in rural villages is an important element of Thailand’s rural development strategy. This paper assesses how the concept of community-based tourism has worked in practice by examining the present status of all 53 government-recognized homestay communities in Northeast Thailand. It also identifies the challenges faced by these communities in implementing CBT. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in every community with a total of 81 key informants. It was found that nearly half (45.3%) of these homestay communities were completely inactive because they had received no visits by tourists. The active homestay communities were classified into four types based on how they are organized, the volume of tourists received, and how benefits of tourism are shared within the communities. Only a handful of active homestay communities (5.7%) are categorized as practicing community-based tourism. This low success rate reflects the many challenges that communities seeking to implement the CBT strategy must overcome. It is concluded that if widespread development of community-based homestay tourism villages is the sole measure of success of this rural development effort, then it must be judged to have been a failure. However, if the measure of success is broadened to include increasing the economic welfare of some villagers, even if not the whole community, then the program as implemented in Northeast Thailand can be judged to have achieved somewhat greater, but still very limited success.