•We explore the relationship between land tenure, forest conflict, and livelihoods.•We review the effect of Indonesian land and forest law on livelihoods and conflict.•Understanding and resolving ...forest conflicts on-the-ground is not a simple process.•Rempek shows the need to understand local perceptions of law and land ownership.•We propose a landscape approach to resolve conflict and implement land reform.
Land tenure in Indonesia is regulated by a complex combination of traditional, formal and informal arrangements. Legal ambiguity over land and natural resources has resulted in tenure insecurity, impacting livelihoods and perpetuating conflict. We reviewed land and forest laws in Indonesia and their effect on livelihoods and conflict and studied the impact of land tenure uncertainty in Rempek village on the island of Lombok, Nusa Tenggara Barat. In Rempek, conflict over land tenure and forest boundaries has occurred since 1984. We built a timeline of events from discussions with various stakeholders and obtained legal documents to support our analysis. The major driver of conflict is the disagreement over the forest boundaries between the Ministry of Forestry and the National Land Agency. This disagreement has escalated and introduced uncertainty, which negatively affects livelihoods in the area. Conflict resolution in Rempek requires a multi-stakeholder approach and an agreement between the Ministry of Forestry and the National Land Agency over the forest boundary and an explicit classification of land status in the conflict area. Our case study is relevant to recurrent disputes over land tenure in contemporary Indonesia. Agrarian conflict and tenure insecurity have stimulated political and social justice movements throughout the country. Recent reforms of land and forest tenure in Indonesia are opening up new pathways for local forest tenure arrangements in situations such as Rempek. Integrated landscape approaches are emerging in Indonesia and have elements that may contribute to resolving land tenure uncertainty. As land tenure security underpins livelihoods for most Indonesians, land authorities must demonstrate stronger coordination and pay more attention to realities on the ground to achieve political and legal progress on land tenure arrangements.
In 2013, China launched its ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) as a major effort to enhance international trade and economic development. An important feature of the BRI is that it supports free trade ...regimes and a world economy based upon open regional cooperation. The concept of BRI involves establishing a transport route between China and participating countries to provide more profitable trade and investment corridors. There are few comprehensive studies examining the social and environmental impact on development in recipient countries. To address this gap, this study gathered empirical evidence on railroad projects in three key countries: Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. The comparative analysis revealed that while political leaders signed agreements that welcomed China’s BRI in support of their national transport development plans, the implementation of these ambitious infrastructure projects faced significant management and operational challenges that had not been foreseen by the Chinese partners. More effective implementation of BRI infrastructure projects in the future will require better understandings of governance, specifically through harmonization with the cultural, institutional and political contexts in partner countries. Social and cultural characteristics of the countries where Chinese firms are working need to be well understood if sustainable and inclusive benefits from the BRI infrastructure projects are to be delivered. Further research on the benefits gained by local people living in the areas affected by the BRI investments is needed.
Efforts to sustain multi-scalar benefit flows from forests increasingly concentrate on interventions in landscapes. Integrated landscape approaches have emerged as the dominant paradigm among ...international agencies for reconciling competing land uses. Small and medium forest enterprises receive growing attention for their ability to meet local development aspirations while supporting healthy forest ecosystems. Despite their prevalence in forest sustainability initiatives, landscape approaches and small and medium enterprises have not yet been integrated into a holistic framework. Here, we conceptually integrate the two phenomena using place as a guiding concept. We examined peer-reviewed literature to understand cultural, socio-political, and biophysical attributes and processes that influence outcomes of small and medium forest enterprises. We then held a series of seminars to discuss empirical and theoretical advances in landscape approaches and the role of small and medium forest enterprises. From this, we identified areas of complementarity, where investments might lead to mutual gains for prosperous and sustainable forest landscapes. We propose four overarching synergies between integrated landscape approaches and small and medium forest enterprises: (I) collective organization, decision-making, and action, (II) empowerment, rights, and tenure security, (III) coherent policy and commitment across governance scales, and (IV) managing for multiple functions and values within planetary boundaries. To increase understanding of these synergies in local contexts, researchers and practitioners could share lessons from place-based sustainability science, contributing to learning systems for inclusive benefit flows in forest landscapes.
Forestry in British Columbia, Canada, is in transition. Social and environmental concerns, such as the conservation of old growth forests, reconciliation with indigenous peoples, increasing ...wildfires, climate change, and tree diseases are driving changes in forest management, production, stewardship, and tenure. Government, industry, and local communities are seeking ways to achieve a resilient, diverse, and innovative forest sector that reflects local and indigenous values. We explore the role of small-scale forestry in contributing to this objective. Drawing from an online survey of small-scale foresters, discussions, relevant literature, and policy documents, we examine the management priorities, definitions of success, opportunities, and challenges of small-scale forestry in British Columbia. We find a wide range of views among survey respondents, but some consensus on key policy and management issues. Small-scale foresters would like to see greater opportunities for diversification, increased revenues, opportunities for partnerships, and the removal of barriers that inhibit innovation and local decision-making. The diverse range of local perceptions demonstrates the richness of British Columbia’s forestry communities, and the problems of a one-size-fits-all forest policy. A long-term vision accommodating diverse preferences of small-scale forestry in British Columbia is missing from provincial forest policy. We summarize emerging opportunities for small-scale forestry and the ways in which governments, communities, industry, research institutions, and indigenous rights-holders can contribute towards resilient forest systems.
Academic inquiry into forest transitions has produced a rich body of literature examining the shift from net deforestation to net reforestation at multiple land use scales. However, researchers, ...practitioners, and policy analysts question the utility of current forest transition theory. Does it accurately describe and provide insight into strategies to influence patterns of forest change in countries where forest cover continues to decline? Forest transition theory has provided important insights into the ‘necessary but not sufficient’ conditions for countries shifting from net deforestation to net reforestation. To advance forest transition theory, scholars should recognize forests as complex and dynamic social-ecological systems and use analytical methods that accommodate that complexity. Transdisciplinary research that incorporates a broader range of qualitative and quantitative methods and tools is required. We analyzed the historical, social, and political factors influencing forest transition pathways in Cambodia. Cambodia exhibits similar economic pre-conditions to its neighbors, which have passed through a forest transition, yet deforestation rates remain high with no indication of slowing. We found that complex governance arrangements at multiple scales negatively influences Cambodia's forest cover and development trajectory. Attempts to nurture Cambodia's forest transition will require strengthening governance and institutions across all of the natural resource sectors. Further research that incorporates governance into forest transition frameworks is required to improve policy responses for post-transition forest outcomes.
•Forest transition theory must address governance arrangements.•Analytical tools to accommodate social-ecological complexity are needed.•Poor governance inhibits progress towards a forest transition in Cambodia.•Leverage points for good governance are crucial to nurturing forest transitions.•Scientists should use their efforts to better leverage forest transitions.
•Indonesia’s annual area of forest degradation is equal to deforestation.•Numerous forest restoration initiatives exist but with varying levels of success.•Government control provides a disincentive ...to restoration initiatives.•Partnerships across multiple scales can enhance FLR learning opportunities.
Tropical forest landscapes are undergoing rapid transition. Rural development aspirations are rising, and land use change is contributing to deforestation, degradation, and biodiversity loss, which ...threaten the future of tropical forests. Conservation initiatives must deal with complex social, political, and ecological decisions involving trade-offs between the extent of protected areas and quality of conservation. In Cambodia, smallholders and industrial economic land concessions drive deforestation and forest degradation. Rural economic benefits have not kept pace with development aspirations and smallholders are gradually expanding agriculture into protected forests. We examine the drivers and effects of rural forest landscape transitions in Cambodia to identify trade-offs between conservation and development. Using historical trends analysis and information gathered through key informant interviews, we describe how local communities perceive social and ecological changes, and examine the implications of local development aspirations for conservation. We explore three scenarios for the future of conservation in Cambodia, each with different conservation and community development outcomes. We contend that conservation efforts should focus on strengthening governance to meet social and environmental requirements for sustainable forest landscapes. We suggest potential entry points for governance improvements, including working with local decision-makers and fostering collaboration between stakeholders. There is a need for realistic priority setting in contested tropical forest landscapes. Prosperous rural economies are a necessary but not sufficient condition for conservation.
Forestry is becoming more complex as a result of diverging societal demands. Indigenous Peoples’ reconciliation and the challenges of climate change call for research that embraces ...transdisciplinarity, reciprocity, and problem-focused learning at the landscape scale. Both globally and in Canada, forestry and forest research are struggling to keep pace with this growing complexity. Place-based collaborative research and learning initiatives, described here as “learning landscapes,” offer an under-explored approach to meeting diversifying goals for forest landscapes. We describe recent progress in Quesnel, British Columbia, where researchers and local institutions are engaging to strengthen resilience and innovation in the forest sector. We first define the concept of learning landscape in the context of transdisciplinary sustainability science, and then illustrate this approach using the case study of Quesnel. We describe a process of systems diagnosis, including asset mapping and analysis of potential forestry pathways through a “best bets” framework. We propose a Theory of Change as a way forward, outlining opportunities for government, industry, and communities in developing regional capacity for integrated management and high-value forest products. We reflect on the contributions of learning landscapes to knowledge generation, experiential learning, and institutional development, and discuss implications for steering decision-making in locally driven sustainability transitions.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BF, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Context
In recent years,
landscape sustainability
, the maintenance and improvement of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being in landscapes, has become a core objective of ...conservation initiatives. Yet efforts to promote sustainability often conflict with other landscape objectives. Globally, integrated landscape approaches have emerged as desirable processes for reconciling these conflicts. Integrated landscape approaches seek to foster improvements in landscape-scale governance to meet sustainability objectives.
Objectives
As scientific and political support for these new landscape approaches continues to advance internationally, there is a need to learn from the processes, constraints, and opportunities. We seek to enrich understandings of landscape approaches and their contributions to governance and sustainability through conserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem services.
Methods
Focusing on eight case studies at different stages of development in Indonesia, we explore how practitioners influence landscape sustainability through integrated approaches. We used questionnaires and literature to collect information on objectives, attributes and challenges of landscapes approaches.
Results
We find landscape approaches in Indonesia closely reflect guidance principles. Emerging lessons from landscapes include adapting strategies to local priorities for inclusive problem-framing and engaging in nested learning systems. Aligning landscape actions with policy for coherent governance across scales remains a key challenge.
Conclusions
Creating and maintaining governance that supports landscape sustainability is a core principle of landscape approaches. Establishing institutional arrangements for landscape sustainability will require working across legislative and political boundaries for coordinated action. We highlight the need to document and measure impact, and the potential for future learning from landscape sustainability science.
Seram is Indonesia's 8th largest island. It is central to the historic spice islands, once a hotbed for international trade of profitable tree‐products, primarily clove and nutmeg. Recent increased ...rates of social and ecological change, including costly conflicts, present Seram with new challenges and opportunities for conservation and development. Using place‐based transdisciplinary research methods, we diagnose the problems emerging in Seram. Engaging with actors across multiple scales and sectors, we explore drivers of change, social‐ecological impacts, and institutional arrangements that might achieve improved inclusive and sustainable development outcomes. Traditional and formal governance arrangements require harmonizing to optimize the benefits and costs from large‐scale investments arriving in Seram. Organizations wishing to achieve positive impact can more strategically engage with the broad range of actors to harmonize divergent visions for the future and confront the reality of incoming investments and infrastructure.
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