Decentralization of Forest Administration in Indonesia, Implications ...

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The Impacts of Decentralization on Tenure and Livelihoods
state, it is difficult for many people to conceive of an adat structure independent and
parallel to the state (Bourdieu 1994). On the other side, adat communities have always
had the ability to absorb new ideas and adjust to new laws and situations (Sonius 1981);
and many forest-dependent people have been sufficiently isolated not to have been aware
of the unitary state anyway. With regional autonomy, adat communities were quick to
see, adjust and use new opportunities. Writing down the law as communities are now
doing, however, will not answer the question of fit (Devung 1999).
Decentralization also puts a heavy burden on district governments. Besides being
faced with the problem of reconciling adat and statutory law, districts are required to
provide better services for their constituents. In the case of forest management, however,
being located closer physically to the resource, does not mean better understanding of
sustainable and equitable management practices. After all, many government officials
have become politicians and bureaucrats by escaping their rural background.
For the government in Malinau (East Kalimantan), it is a rational step to try and
merge the many small settlements into one administrative unit. For the inhabitants of
these settlements, however, there remains the question of rights to land, forests, and
other resources. Will the merging of territories imply they have to share their rights with
all people in one village, even those not of their own ethnic group or clan? What about
individual property located in another village?
These questions are linked to yet another disconnect -- that of tenure. As already
mentioned, the Department of Forestry has recently inaugurated a new Social Forestry
program. Despite compelling reasons to rationalize the Forest Estate, there is insistence
on the part of the central government that land currently within the Kawasan Hutan
remain under state control: Land tenure, the Ministry of Forestry has argued, is not an
issue and need not be discussed. On the ground, however, more and more adat as well as
local communities want their rights recognized.
The evolving dynamics of adat, land tenure, and forest access also have significant
implications for rural livelihoods. After the central government revoked the authority of
districts to issue small-scale timber and forest conversion permits, local communities
again lost access to many of the benefits associated with commercial timber exploitation.
As Indonesia’s once-vast forest resources are now seriously declining, there are fewer and
fewer large timber concessions operating in the country, and it would appear that national
government efforts to recentralize control over forests may be aimed largely at securing
control over resource rents associated with these areas (Prasetyo et al. forthcoming).
Within this context, however, the movement toward adat has strengthened, partly because
this is perhaps the last chance for communities to obtain a more equitable share of benefits
from the country’s rapidly diminishing forest resources.
Endnotes
1
Decree IX/2001 of the People’s Consultative Assembly on agrarian reform and natural resources
management (Ketetapan Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia tentang
Pembaruan Agraria dan Pengelolaan Sumberdaya Alam).
2
Government Regulation 76/2001 on General Guidelines for Administering Villages (Pedoman
Umum Pengaturan Mengenai Desa).
3
Personal communication, Bupati of Malinau, February 2002.