Reviewing the prospects of forest decentralization in Indonesia after the Omnibus Law

Abstract

In 2020 Indonesia's government passed the Omnibus Law with the objective of creating more jobs and raising foreign and domestic investments by reducing regulatory requirements for businesses. This study examines how the central government is dealing with the administrative and legislative issues caused by the new law with regard to forest management. Results reveal that while administrative decentralization appears to be occurring, when viewed through the lens of political/democratic decentralization, effective forestry decentralization is not currently taking place due to a lack of devolvement of effective power to local level representatives.