Strengthening forest management in Indonesia through land tenure reform : issues and framework for action

Indonesia has been facing dramatic challenges to protect and manage its forest resources.The archipelago is well known not only for the extraordinary biodiversity and productivity of its forests, but also for its high rates of deforestation and illegal logging, its catastrophic fires, and the social tensions over forest rights between the government and indigenous and other local communities. The purpose of this analysis is to help policy makers and the many stakeholders in Indonesia develop a vision and a plan to advance tenure reforms and strengthen forest management systems. It focuses primarily on the fundamental question of the legal and biophysical rationale upon which the concept of the State Forest Zone is based. This analysis addresses the question of land ownership and sustainable forest resource management. It challenges the widely accepted view that the government, through the Department of Forestry, has jurisdiction over land administration within the Forest Zone. This approach would contribute to energize a policy that recognizes that the Krui lands have not been classified as “State Forest Zone” but some areas do fall within the more general classification of “Forest Zone” where the Department of Forestry has a say in the management of those forests but has no control over the land and cannot award forestry contracts to third parties. Strengthening forest tenure is a clearly needed, albeit complicated and contentious, step towards advancing forest stewardship and human rights in Indonesia. Devising and implementing a national forest tenure reform initiative will require bold leadership from national institutions, including the Ministry of Forestry, the Bureau of Lands and the Parliament, as well as strong support of indigenous and other com experience in similar initiatives or research inputs for a more objective national policy debate. While international assistance could be useful, in the end, progress will depend upon Indonesian leadership and political will.