Stronger land rights improve forest management in Indonesia

Indonesia’s remaining forests face many threats: illegal logging, fires and conflict over land rights and ownership of ‘common’ forest land. Local people have seen the national government give rights to use forest to large industries, who often exploit these resources illegally.

Land classified as ‘ForestZone’, which is controlled by the government, covers 62 percent of Indonesia.However, research by Forest Trends, USA, and the World AgroforestryCentre shows that large areas of this land is not actually forest but used foragriculture, including agroforests growing rubber, cinnamon and fruits trees.

There is no overall forestrystrategy for the country and laws governing land rights are complex: ownership areasoften overlap, laws are contradictory and often they are not enforced. Thismeans that communities often lose out to powerful political and industrialplayers who can use uncertainties in land laws to their advantage. Many communitiesresent this situation, resulting in violent protests and aggressive responsesby the government.

The potential of communityland ownership to contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable naturalresource management has become more widely acknowledged during the last decade.Land rights bring self-reliance and negotiating power to communities. Thisreduces their vulnerability and increases incentives to invest in land.

Several factors inhibit thesuccessful transfer of land rights in Indonesia:

• conflicting landlaws and regulations cause confusion at all levels
• many governmentofficials feel threatened by the idea of community decision-making
• there is littlecoordination between ministries and departments with relevant responsibilities
• knowledge of land use in the forest zone is poor: previousassessments have treated forest zones as places without people.

Forest management by the centralgovernment has failed to conserve Indonesia’s forests or benefit people living inor near them. Attempts to decentralise management has complicated an alreadyconfused and corrupt legal system. Transferring land ownership rights to localcommunities could improve both the management of forests and the country’s economicdevelopment.

The research recommends:

• Reform the confusingregulations that govern land tenure and transfer current rights that areclearer.
• Reclassify landin the ‘forest zone’ that is not natural forest. There are no legal barriers tothis and the Indonesian land agency has recent positive experience that will beuseful.
• Award long-termleases to communities who want to use resources rather than just own the land.Extending these will depend on good management practises to encouragesustainable management.
• Define communitylands using methods such as community mapping. This will help to reduceconflict over ownership by enabling local people to determine who owns what.
• Introduce policychanges to areas where they are most likely to be successful. This will raisethe profile of community ownership, increasing support elsewhere.