Abstract
Forest lands in Indonesia are classified as state lands and subject to management under agreements allocated by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. There has been a long-standing tension between the ministry and local communities who argue that they have traditionally managed large areas of forest and should be allowed to continue to do so. A series of recent legal and administrative decisions are now paving the way for the allocation of forests to local communities. There is a hypothesis that the communities will protect the forests against industrial conversion and that they will also conserve biodiversity. This hypothesis needs to be closely examined. Conservation of biodiversity and management for local benefits are two different and potentially conflicting objectives. This paper reviews examples of forests managed by local communities in Indonesia and concludes that there is very limited information available on the conservation of natural biodiversity in these forests. I conclude that more information is needed on the status of biodiversity in community managed forests. When forests are allocated for local management, special measures need to be in place to ensure that biodiversity values are monitored and maintained.
Highlights
Indonesia is experiencing major changes in land allocation and tenure systems, especially in relation to forests [1]
The Constitutional Court decision No.35/PUU-X/2012 was consistent with the Rio+20 declaration on environment and development, which recognized that indigenous customary law has a vital role to play in environmental management and development because it is inspired by traditional knowledge and practices
Traditional knowledge, as a way of knowing, is similar to western science in that it is based on an accumulation of observations, but it is different from science in some fundamental ways [12]
Summary
Indonesia is experiencing major changes in land allocation and tenure systems, especially in relation to forests [1]. The Constitutional Court decision No.35/PUU-X/2012 announced in 2013 was a historical landmark recognizing indigenous people’s rights over their traditional forests. Until this decision was taken most natural forests were legally under state jurisdiction. Very extensive areas of forest in Indonesia, especially in the Greater Sunda Islands, have been progressively enriched with fruit, resin, and timber tree species over long periods of time [7,8] These heavily modified forests have often been viewed by outsiders as natural forests and were often classified by the Ministry of Forestry as production or protection forests. It is not permitted to be traded and it should not change its function” [9]
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