Measuring social capital in Indonesian community forest management

Yohan Lee,Indri Puji Rianti,Mi Sun Park

doi:10.1080/21580103.2017.1355335

Yohan Lee, Indri Puji Rianti + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/21580103.2017.1355335

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Abstract

ABSTRACTSocial capital provides an overview of a community's togetherness, unity, and mutual trust in achieving common goals towards sustainable development. Community forest management requires a certain level of social capital for sustainable forest management. This study aims to identify and analyze key factors influencing the community's social capital in forest management. The key factors influencing the level of social capital in a community include internal factors such as individual characteristics and knowledge of community forest management, and external factors such as extension activities, the role of the forest farmer group, and access to information. Using the theoretical framework of social capital and multiple linear regression models, we found that social capital was significantly influenced by both internal and external factors, indicating a need to improve these factors. To increase the value of social capital for maintaining the sustainability of community forest management, the results of this Indonesian case suggest that individual characteristics, procedural knowledge of community forest management, and the role of forest farmer groups need to be considered for forest management based on the social capital of forest communities.

Highlights

For a long time, communities depending on forest resources have been regarded as an obstacle in forest resource management, because various activities by communities, such as illegal logging and slash-and-burn farming, caused deforestation and forest degradation (Geist and Lambin 2002)
Community forest management (CFM) demonstrated a traditional management pattern known as “tumpangsari,” a system passed down from ancestors. This method was introduced in Java in the late 19th century as a reforestation method mostly in state-owned teak forests for timber production (Djamhuri 2008, p. 84). This traditional pattern was known as an agroforestry system, and the selection of cultivation systems in CFM was based on land suitability, community needs, community culture, and market demand
This study investigated key factors that influence the social capital of a community in forest management

Summary

Introduction

Communities depending on forest resources have been regarded as an obstacle in forest resource management, because various activities by communities, such as illegal logging and slash-and-burn farming, caused deforestation and forest degradation (Geist and Lambin 2002). A new approach to the concept and roles of communities in forest management has emerged. The community has been reconsidered as an alternative way of forest management including forest conservation. According to Article 12d of the Forest Principles: “Appropriate indigenous capacity and local knowledge regarding the conservation and sustainable development of forests should, through institutional and financial support and in collaboration with the people in the local communities concerned, be recognized, respected, recorded, developed, and as appropriate, introduced in the implementation of programs. Community forest management (CFM) has been recognized over the past three decades as an approach to SFM. The community plays a positive role in resource management as a small spatial unit, as a homogenous social structure, and as shared norms (Agrawal and Gibson 1999)

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