Collaborative Modelling to Support Forest Management: Qualitative Systems Analysis at Lumut Mountain, Indonesia

Complex ecological and social processes in tropical forests imply that observations on any single element of the system do not provide an adequate basis for sound forest management. A collaborative modelling process engaging all relevant stakeholders led to a shared understanding of how to manage forests around Lumut Mountain, Pasir District, East Kalimantan. The model was developed by identifying forest management objectives, building a conceptual model using a causal loop diagram, and defining performance indicators. The model was then used to explore future scenarios to improve the well-being of local stakeholders while maintaining forest quality. Finally, roles needed to implement the chosen scenarios were defined and assigned to individual participants. This qualitative modelling process was found to be an effective way to assist the development of a collaborative action plan

Multi-Agent Simulation of Alternative Scenarios of Collaborative Forest Management

International calls for sustainable development advocate that forest management should be carried out in a multi-stakeholder environment. The importance of community participation is acknowledged in the Indonesian Act No. 41 on Forestry (1999). However, it is not clear how to achieve this in areas already allocated to a concession holder. Current regulations offer little flexibility for concessionaires to develop site-specific management, or to involve local communities in forest management. The research reported here examines the application of simulation techniques to explore scenarios of sustainable forest management addressing those limitations. Several scenarios have been developed using multi-agent simulation to examine social and biophysical issues. Of the four scenarios examined in this study, collaborative forest management involving both the concessionaire and the local community appears to offer the most promising pathway toward sustainabilit

Forest conflict in Asia and the role of collective action in its management

Forest conflict in Asia is on the rise as various stakeholders have different views about and interests in the management of increasingly scarce resources. Unfortunately, in many instances, local communities and indigenous peoples suffer the most when such conflicts play out. The biggest challenge is finding acceptable, fair, and lasting solutions. Focusing on how rights (or a lack thereof) instigate conflict and how collective action plays a role in conflict management, this paper examines eight cases from six countries: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam. Participatory methods including semi-structured interviews, field observation, focus group discussions, and multistakeholder workshops were performed. Conflict was found to emerge in the context of the rapid economic development, where communities' deep connection to the forest and land is being cut by the influx of investors or government agencies. Land historically managed and used by local people becomes contested when investors are granted the rights to develop such land (for example, for oil palm plantations, agricultural production, and mining) or government agencies designate new protected areas. Findings illustrate that conflict can strengthen collective action and enhance the voices of the less powerful actors. However, it may also weaken collective action particularly when local institutions are inadequate. To reduce the incidence of future conflict, local and traditional rights need to be properly respected and strengthened legally. In addition, economic development policies need to have built-in social and environmental safeguards to minimize negative impacts at the local level. While conflict can either make or break collective action (and collective action can either escalate or assuage conflict) the need to strengthen local institutions seems to be a key priority to ensure positive conflict outcomesNon-PRIFPRI1; CAPRiEPT

A Fair Share? Sharing the benefits and costs of collaborative forest management

Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) has attracted significant attention in Asia in recent years, with around 25 percent of forests currently outside direct State management. Advocates of CFM suggest that it has the potential to achieve sustainable forest management in a way that improves the welfare of the rural poor. Whether this potential is realised in practice largely depends on the type and scale of benefits created through CFM relative to costs, whether communities are able to secure any of these, and how they are distributed locally. This paper provides an overview of benefit sharing from community-managed forests in Asia based on a recent joint initiative of some key international CFM support organisations. The paper examines why the flow of benefits from community-managed forests to local actors is lower than it could be, highlighting institutional and policy constraints that need to be addressed for this to change, as well as the role and arrangement of community-level governance

Resolving industrial plantation conflicts in Indonesia: Can mediation deliver?

During the expansion of industrial plantations across the Global South, forest and land conflicts have emerged on a very large scale. Despite recent reforms of resource governance, many countries are yet to develop effective formal mechanisms to resolve land and forest conflicts effectively, and mediation has emerged as an alternative conflict resolution strategy. This article contributes to the ongoing discussion of global large-scale land acquisitions (‘land grabs’) by examining how such third-party mediation works to resolve land conflicts. Bringing together mediation and the political economy literature, it considers how mediation works, and how politics, institutions and power shape the conflict mediation process and its outcomes. It derives its conclusions from extensive fieldwork based examinations of four ‘successful’ mediation cases in oil palm and pulpwood plantations in Indonesia. Our study finds that the ability of local disputants to sustain collective action, to transnationalize disputes, to intensify and to ripen the conflict are all critical in shaping mediation processes. While the empowerment of local communities can support mediation and improve procedural fairness, mediation only provides a partial solution to the conflicts caused by large-scale land acquisitions. Wider reforms to State law and land governance system, and initiatives to address key structural problems are required. Given the widespread use of third-party mediation to resolve conflicts across the Global South, the lessons from this study are relevant to the discussion of large-scale land acquisitions elsewhere.The first author would like to express sincere gratitude to Dr. Keith Barney and Dr. Kylie McKenna for innumerable academic inputs in the design of the research, and to the Endeavour Scholarships for funding his PhD study. Fieldwork in Indonesia was funded by the Crawford School of Public Policy (ANU) and the 2016 Ruth Daroesman Study Grant (ANU College of Asia and the Pacific)

GLOBAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHANGES 11 Forestry in Changing Social Landscapes

Abstract: Social systems and ecological systems are both essential to building human well-being. The dynamic relationship between these systems is embedded in a larger social, cultural, political, and economic context. Many of the world’s forests currently face rapid changes that tend to push both systems towards conditions where their historic relationship can no longer be sustained. The challenge is to maintain the balance between these systems and, simultaneously, secure ecological resilience while avoiding social disruption and insecurity. People are key actors in the social-ecological system. The growth of the global population, its concentration in urban centres, as well as changing consumption habits will impact on global land use, including on forests. Individuals and societies have essential roles in the larger social, economic, and political settings of globalisation, including shifts in policies and new power structures. In the interplay of society and the environment, an understanding of the perceptions and attitudes between individuals and groups of people may carry over to new and positive solutions, specifically in governance and institutions, both for people and nature. The set of perceptions and attitudes, and the inherent cultures of the individual and societies determine the public support and success of forestry, of implementation of sustainable management, and more effective conservation measures. Contradictory perceptions and potentially consequent mistrust and antagonism may cause conflict and inefficient management of the natural resource. Yet, conflict can provide an opportunity for mutual learning and may trigger new ideas that can improve or replace outdated patterns

Relationships, learning and trust: lessons from the SNV-RECOFTC partnership

The term 'partnership' has become a watch-word for development organisations that aim to mobilise the resources and collaboration needed to achieve long-term goals such as poverty reduction and sustainable resource management. Achieving effective collaboration in practice, however, can be challenging. This article adds to recent discussions on what makes effective partnerships, offering lessons from an on-going partnership between RECOFTC (Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific) and SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation). Key findings include the observation that the role of individuals in maintaining partnerships often goes unrecognised and needs to be supported in appropriate ways; clearly defined and focused areas of collaboration are essential; a formal basis for the partnership needs to be backed with strong informal communication and collaboration processes; and, while partners bring distinctive knowledge and networks to a partnership, some degree of evenness in the scale and type of resources committed to the partnership is important