Land Use Conflict with a Particular Reference to Spatial Planning Implementation in South Sulawesi

Abstract

Land use changes and conflicts have recently become a major issue in newly developed regions of Indonesia, since the implementation of regional autonomy policies, which put emphasis on decentralization of land use governance. In South Sulawesi, there are two main issues related to land use conflict. First is the invasion on protected forest land in rural areas, and second is the growing spread of urban development into rural areas which has created many types of conflicts over land use. The primary aim of this paper is to assess land use conflict within these two contexts in terms of unsuitable spatial location of existing land use with land use functions in the spatial regulation at two different scales: provincial and regency. At a provincial level, a careful detection was done at some selected area in South Sulawesi, while at regency level, some forms of conflict were assessed in the southern parts of South Sulawesi. The study employed integrated techniques of spatial data analyses and interviews, and the data were analyzed in geographic information systems (GIS). This study indicates that, at a provincial level significant areas of dry land agriculture, estate plantation, mining, and residential were found in the land designated as protected forest, and within GIS data base it can be identified a total areas of 2,075 ha, 677 ha, 1,415 ha, and 193 ha, respectively. At a regency level, conflicts occurred between existing land use and land functions in local spatial planning regulation, particularly at agriculture and urban-suburban areas. Results of interviews and questionnaires by purposive sampling with the community indicate several factors causing land use change include: a) low incomes of local community, b) increasing of price of basic needs, c) attempts to gain more revenue from land use, c) land use existed before spatial regulation being implemented, and d) ecological condition that forces farmers to practice shifting cultivation. The results of this study will give insights into how to design future land use policies both at provincial and regency levels in this region.