Political Economy of the Public Forest Certification in the Gunungkidul Regency, DIY Province

Abstract

Public forests, particularly the ones in Java island, were developed in the 1930s by Dutch colonial government although the government’s policy did not fully recognize and legitimate them as state forests. Nevertheless, the contribution of the forests to local communities cannot be denied, because the existence of community forest can be lifesaving. That public forest after deforestation becomes an alternative solution can be seen in changes in the timber industry, in that demand for wood is increasing. The change resulted could be seen in the cultural change of this industry on the management of public forest in Java, especially in Gunungkidul Yogyakarta. The demand and pressure of international market that set requirements on the wood sold to be of high quality and accompanied with legal documents of public forets is an absolute condition to have the logs be accepted, recognized and marketed in international market. In political economical context, forest certification in Gunungkidul regency needs the intervention of the State to protect the marketing of timber from public forests.