Governance Challenges in an Eastern Indonesian Forest Landscape

Abstract

Integrated approaches to natural resource management are often undermined by fundamental governance weaknesses. We studied governance of a forest landscape in East Lombok, Indonesia. Forest Management Units (Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan or KPH) are an institutional mechanism used in Indonesia for coordinating the management of competing sectors in forest landscapes, balancing the interests of government, business, and civil society. Previous reviews of KPHs indicate they are not delivering their potential benefits due to an uncertain legal mandate and inadequate resources. We utilized participatory methods with a broad range of stakeholders in East Lombok to examine how KPHs might improve institutional arrangements to better meet forest landscape goals. We find that KPHs are primarily limited by insufficient integration with other actors in the landscape. Thus, strengthened engagement with other institutions, as well as civil society, is required. Although new governance arrangements that allow for institutional collaboration and community engagement are needed in the long term, there are steps that the East Lombok KPH can take now. Coordinating institutional commitments and engaging civil society to reconcile power asymmetries and build consensus can help promote sustainable outcomes. Our study concludes that improved multi-level, polycentric governance arrangements between government, NGOs, the private sector, and civil society are required to achieve sustainable landscapes in Lombok. The lessons from Lombok can inform forest landscape governance improvements throughout Indonesia and the tropics.

Exploring the Role of Science in Sustainable Landscape Management. An Introduction to the Special Issue

“…In the context of this special issue, landscape governance is based on the shared perception of common interests and benefits provided to stakeholders by the future landscape, in relation to their private interests, to legislation and the distribution of power in society. This is nicely illustrated in this special issue by the analysis of Riggs et al [24] for forest governance in Indonesia. They propose an institutional solution to unsustainable practices in forest management by suggesting that national and provincial governments, NGO's, and research groups form a coordinating and stimulating body that cooperates with local communities.…”

“…These are important tools to support a common learning process of the local community. Riggs et al [24] also apply a design process, but they start with the design of a governance network that is supposed to work towards an improved use of the landscape for timber production. As these studies show, design is a creative and innovative process in which "dreamed" values are joined with environmental and economic realities in a collaborative effort by practitioners and scientists [11,27].…”

“…Other studies in this special issue illustrate different ways of cooperating with practitioners in landscape management, ranging from individual gardeners [18], via social farms [17], to governance networks [24] and landscape transformations [20]. In these examples, scientists play different roles.…”

An Incomplete Information Static Game Evaluating Community-Based Forest Management in Zagros, Iran

“…The most important issue in managing Zagros forests is the participation of local people. The most important reason for the failure of past projects in Zagros forests was the lack of social acceptance of forest planning [5,7,28,30]. Therefore, scenarios of social acceptance were defined by local communities.…”

Who Manages Space? Eco-DRR and the Local Community

“…This comprises human and economic assets, natural entities, and social scape [56]. It aims to distribute the power and skills in identifying respective institutions while at the same time building a respective platform as a negotiation arena amongst stakeholders.…”