Sustainable community forestry management in Lombok, Indonesia

Diswandi Diswandi

Deforestation is a serious problem in Indonesia as a result of forest concessions that were granted by the government to private companies. The forest destruction was also caused by the encroachment by villagers during the political chaos and lack of law enforcement following the collapse of the New Order regime in 1998. In Lombok, villagers entered forests around their village, logged the trees and occupied the forests to plant fruit trees. As a response to this encroachment, the Indonesian government encouraged local participation by involving communities in forest management, which eventually developed into a community forestry management scheme. However, improper management by the forest farmers has generated negative externalities, primarily a reduction in the quantity and quality of water supply produced from the forest. To address the negative externalities problem, the local government in West Lombok developed a system of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). Importantly, the PES program in West Lombok was integrated with the Community Forestry program, designed for forest conservation and poverty alleviation. This study investigates the impact of the integrated Community Forestry and PES programs on local forest conservation and socio-economic improvement. The study utilises “participatory econometrics” as a mixed quantitative and qualitative research method. The research included in-depth interviews, field visits, surveys, a focus group discussion and aerial photo analysis. This thesis found that the PES program in West Lombok is a hybrid system that combines Coasean and Pigouvian theory. In conjunction with the Community Forestry program, the PES program could produce a sustainable outcome in the long term. This is confirmed by empirical evidence, as integrated PES and the Community Forestry program accommodates local needs, and can be used as a tool for forest conservation and the improvement of socio-economic conditions in the long term. Keywords: Community forestry, Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), Forest conservation, Poverty alleviation.

Sustainable community forestry management in Lombok, Indonesia

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