Social Forestry and Dairy Farming Practices in West Java With Special Emphasis on the Examination of Conflict Identification and Resolution

The objective of this study was to determine the types of conflicts between dairy farming and social forestry programs in two selected villages in Lembang, West Java, Indonesia, and make recommendation on how to resolve it. Three stakeholders were involved in this conflict, namely, dairy farmers, social forestry participants, and State Forest Corporation (SFC). In order to understand the conflicts, the study surveyed the socio-economic conditions of the dairy farmers and social forestry participants, examined the dairy farming and social forestry practices by selected dairy farmers and social forestry participants. A questionnaire survey was carried in 2001 out on a random sample of 158 dairy farmers and on a purposive sample of 60 social forestry participants. In addition, data were also gathered from five purposively selected SFC officials. Conflicts were found to exist and persist between actors as well among the members of the actors. Competition for land and forages were the sources of conflicts between the dairy farmers and social forestry participants. Among the social forestry participants themselves, conflicts arose in the course of obtaining tumpangsari sites as well as tumpangsari plots. Conflicts between SFC officials and dairy farmers revolve around the issues of the use of state forestland by the agriculture farmers and the scope of social forestry program which pays a lot attention on agriculture plantation. The paternalistic attitude of the SFC officials as well as their underestimation of the capacity of the social forestry participants has often created conflicts between the two groups of actors. Conflicts between the two actors have also taken place due to divergence in their interests as well as the limited management rights given to the social forestry participants. Based on the experience of other social forestry program in Java, conflicts among the social forestry participants for tumpangsari sites and plots could be resolved by means of a lottery system and lengthening the tumpangsari period. In order to resolve the conflicts between the dairy farmers and the social forestry participants, it is recommended that both parties meet and discuss in a negotiation process. One important aspect of the negotiation is the SFC officials must recognize the rights of access of the dairy farmers to the state forestland

Focusing on facilitation: Issues and challenges of capacity development in Indonesia’s social forestry reforms

As the Indonesian government sets a target to allocate 12.7 million ha of state forest land for social forestry in 2019, one of the most crucial [and overlooked] issues is the extent of capacity, knowledge, skills, and engagement of social forestry facilitators and the extension workers that support the government in meeting their targets on social forestry. In this short paper, I seek to reorient the discussion towards the main issues and challenges of social forestry capacity development in Indonesia. On the one hand, there are some promising achievements made by the government in the wake of social forestry policy design and implementation, particularly in their ability to expand the scope of targeted areas for social forestry designation, as well as the increase in the numbers of community business group established. On the other hand, however, there are some challenges that are evident. Coordination within the ministry remains a major barrier, and extends to coordination problems across and between sub-national governments. Furthermore, engagement with the private sectors and involvement of NGOs remains lacking. And finally, the distribution of social forestry facilitators and extension workers across the numerous social forestry sites in Indonesia, as well as the overall capacity development needs among facilitators continues to be a major hindrance in meeting targets. I conclude by highlighting that more attention needs to be devoted to the role and capacity of facilitators, and furthermore, that the government needs to address these challenges through various institutional reforms and methods on social forestry training, as well as developing more rigorous training modules for community facilitators

Migrants, land markets and carbon emissions in Jambi, Indonesia: Land tenure change and the prospect of emission reduction

Abstract Policies designed to reduce land-based carbon emissions require a good understanding of the complex connections between state-sanctioned concessions, forest conversion, informal land markets and migrants. Our case study in the peat forests of the Tanjung Jabung Barat (TanJaBar) regency of Jambi, Indonesia aimed to explore relations between four key stakeholder groups: the state, local communities, migrants, and state-sanctioned concessions. We hypothesized that current land use patterns are shaped by insecurity in formal forest tenure alongside informal land tenure arrangements with migrants. In analyzing the six two-way relationships between the four stakeholder groups, we found that interactions between the stakeholders have changed local norms and practice, causing land conflicts and contested claims that need to be explicitly addressed in efforts to reduce carbon emissions in TanJaBar. Relational concepts of land rights between migrants and local community leaders are informed by social identity, expectations of investment opportunities, insecure customary forest tenure and competing land use policies. Migrants act as intermediaries in shaping the land tenure system and shift the balance of power between local communities, the state, and business concessions. We conclude that effective and equitable implementation of national Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation+ (REDD+) programs will need to recognize underlying land ownership dynamics, power struggles and strategic positioning among stakeholders across scales. Obtaining free and prior informed consent (FPIC) from all relevant stakeholders is a major challenge given this complexity. Low emission development strategies will require recognition of a reality beyond large-scale concessions and traditional local communities