Forest Certification in Developing and Transitioning ... - UTas ePrints

forest certification in indonesia
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designing the conflict resolution and negotiation mechanisms. Although the design
processes are still not adequate, at least there is willingness to solve conflict in better
ways. One company, XIP, developed a community-company partnership program,
which has been underway for more than 10 years. XIP’s pulai planting program is
focused on the grass and scrub bush lands owned by transmigrant families, who generally
do not have the economic resources to develop it. Most households in the rural
areas of Musi Rawas are first- and second-generation transmigrants that have two to
five hectares of land under village land entitlements. A typical household has one to
two hectares of land in rice (padi) and two to four hectares of land in a combination
of alang grass, scrub bush land, and tree crops (rubber, coffee, coconut).
Under the joint management agreements, XIP finances site preparation,
establishment and maintenance costs, and has management control over the land
until the trees are harvested in ten years time. Farmers are given the option of
working as labourers on their land. While some take up this option, most do not.
They continue with their (presumably more attractive) other on- or off-farm
activities. Note that before the arrival of XIP much of the candidate land was fallow,
often because farmers did not have the resources to make it productive. XIP’s
initiative has given farmers the opportunity to make the land more productive in the
short term from agricultural crops and for the long term with the wood crop.
Companies involved in certification continuously conduct training of employees
and community-participants in various topics relating to sustainable development.
Workers unions and other workers rights receive more attention from the management.
In general, as one top manager put it:
Environmental, social and economic objectives are included in the whole
company organization and key performance indicators of every employee
from supervisor and above positions, thus, awareness in addressing and
balancing concerns for the profit, the planet and the people has widened, and
concerns for the elements of sustainable development goes beyond
compliance. 9
Partnerships have expanded with community, university, and environmental
NGOs.
In most of the companies under a certification program, land tenure issues are
considered a priority to resolve. Many of them have been unsuccessful, however,
because land tenure issues are intimately connected to national policy and law
enforcement. Companies initiate discussion about the situation with affected local
communities and engage in participatory mapping, identification and protection of
sites of significant importance for community, and the development of appropriate
conflict resolution mechanisms.
Community development programs, established initially as charity programs to
meet government regulations, have improved as a consequence of certification.
Community programs now adopt more participatory approaches through
community planning and companies are learning better and effective community
development approaches.
9 Personal email correspondence
with top management
of Riau Andalan Pulp and
Paper (RAPP), Riau, Sumatra.
yale school of forestry & environmental studies