The political economy of soil erosion in Cirasea sub basin, upstream Citarum basin

Abstract

The current problems of the Upstream Citarum basin, particularly in the Cirasea Sub-Basin, are near related to economic factors and the low political position of the community. One of the reasons is the biophysical aspect, which influenced the erfpacht rights for Dutch and British plantation companies in the Agrarische Wet policy at the end of the 17th century. When Indonesia became independent, the Government had worked on environmental rehabilitation as well as dealing with land conflicts, but rehabilitation activities often failed to meet the primary needs of the community. Therefore, rehabilitation efforts in various programs often fail. The objective of this this study is to figure out the preferences of interests and motives from the government and other access authorities which ultimately affect the lives of other communities through the formulation of an environmental rehabilitation program. The approach is Bernstein Political Economy Analysis. The results show that political economy is be able to reveals the problem of erosion, which is always imposed on groups with a low political position compared to other groups who are more vital in reaching access. Even though the community has limitations in implementing environmentally-friendly agricultural practices. Moreover, the political economy can reveal the government’s interests behind the land rehabilitation program which often sided with big investors and even tended to repeat the pattern of conflicts in the colonial era. Therefore, erosion can be an important element in describing the conditions of poverty that occur in rural areas.