This study has been done by using institutional approach, with the aims is to study forests cover change in Paser Regency, East Kalimantan. The collected data was consisted of quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data was used to analyze the land cover changes from forested land to be non-forested land. The qualitative data was collected through interviews with snowballing method. The results showed that the forest cover in Paser Regency both located in forest area and in other areas had been transformed into a landscape with a variety of cover types, such as: shrubs, settlements, swamps, ponds, farming, agriculture, vacant land, and mining. Three factors caused the changes in such forest cover, namely: (1) the development of investment-based land resources, (2) the existence of transactional politics that makes the forest as goods to be transacted for various interests, and (3) the chaotic situation of forest management with the openess of organization networking in the community. In order to reduce the ongoing excessive forest conversion, the results of the study suggest that both central and local governments together need to immediately enforce the property rights over the remaining forest resources.