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Worldwide many businesses have recently pledged to sourcing agricultural and timber products exclusively from deforestation and fire-free supply chains. Geoinvestigations-monitoring the activities of plantation companies using satellites and concession maps-are now applied to identify which companies breach their commitments and regulations. We investigate the limitations of geoinvestigations by analyzing land-use and fire in and around 163 Indonesian concessions of oil-palm and pulpwood, where recurring forest and peatland fires are a national and international concern. We reveal a mismatch between de jure and de facto land occupancy inside and outside concessions. Independent farmers are present in concessions while some companies expand outside concessions. Thus, both actors may be responsible for deforestation and fire inside and outside concessions. On peatland, fire can start outside and spread into concessions, while draining in concessions may promote fire outside. These dynamics make attribution of fire and deforestation in Indonesian concessions impossible without detailed field investigations. This study highlights the need to combine very high-resolution satellite data with extensive field investigations of de facto land ownership, claims and disputes inside and outside concessions. In Indonesia, such activities could fall under the One Map Policy, whose remit is to identify and resolve overlapping land claims.

Peatland conversion for agriculture is the leading cause of Indonesia's terrestrial carbon emissions that contribute substantially to global warming. Indonesia's peatlands contain 55-57 billion tonnes of carbon, the equivalent of almost 2 years of global carbon emissions at existing rates. This paper examines initiatives to retain soil-based carbon in Indonesia's province of Riau, where over half the surface area is composed of agriculturally productive peatlands. We qualitatively evaluate three types of partnership programmes (bilateral, co-governed and internationally funded local initiatives) in Riau aimed at the sustainable development of peatlands. The article finds that carbon loss is likely to persist in all case studies. Public, private and civil society actors in each partnership have exploited funding and political opportunities to advance agendas not directly related to the environment. The administrative category of the peatland hydrological unit as an ecologically meaningful scale of peatland governance is also under-utilised by the partnerships studied.

Mangrove forests are globally significant blue carbon sinks that remain critically under-governed and under threat. In Indonesia, the rapid rate of mangrove loss over the past three decades, combined with the promise of these carbon-dense ecosystems to mitigate climate change impacts, has catalyzed the world’s largest replanting program. Institutional and ideological divisions between advocates of conservation and commodification approaches to mangrove governance, however, have historically compromised Indonesia’s ability to meet its climate commitments. Market valuations of mangroves as blue carbon have further complicated their governance by opening up new opportunities for environmental collaboration and resource exploitation. Drawing on the concept of leverage points, this study examines how plural valuations of mangroves might be applied to sustainability interventions in Riau Province, Indonesia. Using document analysis and interviews with public, private and societal stakeholders, we examine how sector-level values translate into collaborative actions through mangrove partnerships. We posit that integrating indigenous knowledge and place-based values into mangrove policy development could help to address the existing conservation–commodification divide. As plural values are mutually transformative, we argue that recognizing areas of strategic compatibility creates space for flexible and adaptive cross-sector cooperation. Such recognition is especially important for mangrove communities, whose marginal socioeconomic position reinforces their need to remain ideologically and tactfully open to areas of compatibility with shifting market valuations, both to sustainably develop locally important resources and to avoid livelihood capture by predatory development interests. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-023-01297-1.