Conversion of forests into oil palm plantations in West Kalimantan,Indonesia: Insights from actors' power and its dynamics

Oil palm plantations have been touted as one of the main drivers of deforestation in Indonesia. This paper aims to explain how oil palm companies accumulate power that enables them to control forestland and convert it into oil palm. Specifically, this paper identifies empirical evidence pointing to why oil palm companies emerge as powerful actors in land use conflicts. This paper uses the case of forest lands claimed by different actors – i.e. a timber plantation company, an oil palm company, and local communities – in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Before the decentralisation policy, the interests of timber plantations were principally safeguarded by coercion from the forest ministry. The timber company was also supported by local communities by promising financial incentives to them. Following the decentralisation policy, additional actors get involved in the land use conflicts leading to more complex power interplays. In fact, some forestlands licensed for timber plantations are used by the oil palm company. Oil palm interests resonate with the economic interests of local governments, who use their legal mandates on land use allocation to facilitate the establishment of oil palm. The power of the oil palm company is also enhanced by the support from local communities, to which it handed more financial incentives than those of the timber plantation. It also used dominant information of customary claims and land appropriation by the ministry of forestry, with which it persuades local communities to pressurize government institutions to support oil palm operations.     

Estimating aboveground biomass in forest and oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo using ALOS PALSAR data

Conversion of tropical forests to oil palm plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia has resulted in large-scale environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity and significant carbon emissions. For both countries to participate in the United Nation’s REDD (Reduced Emission from Deforestation and Degradation) mechanism, assessment of forest carbon stocks, including the estimated loss in carbon from conversion to plantation, is needed. In this study, we use a combination of field and remote sensing data to quantify both the magnitude and the geographical distribution of carbon stock in forests and timber plantations, in Sabah, Malaysia, which has been the site of significant expansion of oil palm cultivation over the last two decades. Forest structure data from 129 ha of research and inventory plots were used at different spatial scales to discriminate forest biomass across degradation levels. Field data was integrated with ALOS PALSAR (Advanced Land-Observing Satellite Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar) imagery to both discriminate oil palm plantation from forest stands, with an accuracy of 97.0% (κ = 0.64) and predict AGB using regression analysis of HV-polarized PALSAR data (R² = 0.63, p < .001). Direct estimation of AGB from simple regression models was sensitive to both environmental conditions and forest structure. Precipitation effect on the backscatter data changed the HV prediction of AGB significantly (R² = 0.21, p < .001), and scattering from large leaves of mature palm trees significantly impeded the use of a single HV-based model for predicting AGB in palm oil plantations. Multi-temporal SAR data and algorithms based on forest types are suggested to improve the ability of a sensor similar to ALOS PALSAR for accurately mapping and monitoring forest biomass, now that the ALOS PALSAR sensor is no longer operational.     

Property rights,land conflicts and deforestation in the Eastern Amazon

In the Brazilian Amazon, insecure property rights are among the main causes of land conflicts and deforestation. Through an in-depth empirical case study in Maranhao in the Eastern Amazon, this research analyzes how distorted agrarian, forest and environmental policies, laws and regulations originated insecure property rights not only over land, but also over timber, which allied to social and political factors, such as uneven distribution of land and strong organization of landless peasants, led to land conflicts and deforestation. This paper also shows that the causes of and the several actors involved in the deforestation of the Amazon were not independent, rather they were related and interact to each other. Compatibility between environmental goals and agrarian policies, regulations and laws are necessary to provide secure and clear property rights to allow a better enforcement of environmental regulations and to give actors incentives to avoid deforestation.     

Why do Farmers Prefer Oil Palm? Lessons Learnt from Bungo District,Indonesia

Indonesia has been the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil since 2008. This paper discussed the livelihood impacts of oil palm development in Indonesia, based on lessons learnt from Bungo district, in the province of Jambi. The various community-company partnerships that structure the sector are reviewed and the difficulties raised by the joint ventures schemes are discussed. The merits and drawbacks of oil palm as a smallholder crop are then analysed, based on household socio-economic surveys conducted in 2007–2010. The main causes of conflicts between oil palm companies and communities are unclear land tenure, and a recurrent lack of leadership in smallholders’ cooperatives. Under fair partnerships between smallholders and companies, oil palm could become a smallholder friendly crop. The land-use profitability analysis demonstrates the high returns that can be generated by oil palm independent smallholdings, making it highly competitive with rubber, and much more profitable than rice production.     

Governing the design of national REDD +: An analysis of the power of agency

This paper investigates how three aspects of governance systems, namely the policy context, the influence of key agents and their discursive practices, are affecting national-level processes of policy design aimed at REDD +, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries. We conducted analysis in six REDD + countries (Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam). The paper combines three methods: policy analysis, media-based discourse analysis and policy network analysis. The paper shows that policies both within and outside the forestry sector that support deforestation and forest degradation create path dependencies and entrenched interests that hamper policy change. In addition, most dominant policy coalitions do not challenge business-as-usual trajectories, reinforcing existing policy and political structures. No minority policy coalitions are directly tackling the root causes of deforestation and forest degradation, that is, the politico-economic conditions driving them. Instead they focus on environmental justice issues, such as calls for increased participation of indigenous people in decision-making. Only in two of the six countries are these transformational change coalitions vocal enough to be heard, yet to exercise their agency effectively and to support more substantial reforms, these coalitions would need the participation of more influential policy actors, particularly state agencies that have the authority to make binding decisions about policy. Furthermore, discourses supporting transformational change would need to be reflected in institutional practices and policy decisions.     

‘The fridge in the forest’: Historical trajectories of land tenure regulations fostering landscape transformation in Jambi Province,Sumatra, Indonesia

Indonesia has attracted increasing global attention in recent years due to concerns over large-scale deforestation. The island of Sumatra in particular is severely affected by the rapid expansion of monoculture cash crops. Since Dutch colonial times, land tenure regulations here have generally favored such resource exploitation. The current National Development Plan continues to see Sumatra as a center of resource production in order to eradicate poverty and accelerate national development. This developmental focus, however, is accompanied by contested land use scenarios.Taking a historical perspective, this research discloses different layers of past and present land tenure regulations to understand present contestations of land use, resource exploitation, and their social consequences. Based on a village case study, the research demonstrates how different political eras and their accompanying land tenure approaches are inscribed in today's local landscape. We found that de jure regulations which were added to customary laws created a situation of legal pluralism. Our case study explains how local actors craft institutional arrangements in a process of institutional bricolage to use ‘their’ resources.     

The conservation value of oil palm plantation estates, smallholdings and logged peat swamp forest for birds

The expansion of industrial oil palm cultivation threatens tropical biodiversity globally, especially in developing countries. Driven by plans to generate economic revenue, large-scale plantations are emerging in Southeast Asia, Africa and Brazilian Amazon. However, the ecological impacts of the sector are poorly studied with respect to oil palm management system, and recommended conservation measures are based on limited data. We studied avifauna in oil palm landscapes in Peninsular Malaysia under different management systems (large plantation estates versus smallholdings) and age classes (uniform age versus mixed-age stands). We sampled 41 large plantation estates and 14 smallholdings, as well as 20 sites in an extensively logged peat swamp forest, the type of natural forest prior to conversion to oil palms. Compared with logged peat swamp forest, our results showed that forest conversion to oil palm cultivation may have eliminated 48-60% of bird species. We also found: (i) plantation estates and smallholdings supported similar bird assemblages but the latter supported significantly more species (P = 0.007); and (ii) despite reduced species richness in oil palm landscapes, we found high abundance of some individual bird species in specific types of stands including some forest, migratory, and wetland species. Conversion of natural forest to oil palm landscapes should not occur in the future through clearing of primary or secondary native forests. To complement conventional conservation approaches (e.g. the establishment of protected areas) in palm oil-producing countries, existing plantation estates and smallholdings should be managed in ways to promote improved conservation outcomes, although oil palm landscapes maintained a fraction of the original forest biodiversity. Managing habitat heterogeneity at both a local and a landscape-level is highly recommended in oil palm landscapes to maintain and/or enhance avian biodiversity.     

The REDD/Carbon Market Offsets Debate: Big Argument,Small Potatoes

Both proponents and opponents of using forest carbon markets to pay for Reductions in Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) have exaggerated their importance. The resources mobilized by the principal drivers of deforestation—beef, soy, palm oil, and wood products—dwarf all REDD funding, even if one only counts exports of these commodities from tropical forest countries. By far the largest part of that REDD money has come from public funding, not carbon markets, and even that has mostly been “voluntary market” funding, not offsets usable for regulatory compliance. While substantial carbon market growth is projected, the rules of most of those markets do not allow the use of REDD offset credits. It is important for those on both sides to realize that they are talking about an alternative that is very small, compared both to other kinds of REDD funding and to the scale of finance operating to drive deforestation. Far more urgent than continuing the debate about whether forest carbon markets are a solution or a threat, is the question of how to change the behavior of the industries and commodities driving deforestation so as to move them to a zero-deforestation business model.     

Effects of roads,topography, and land use on forest cover dynamics in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Roads and topography can determine patterns of land use and distribution of forest cover, particularly in tropical regions. We evaluated how road density, land use, and topography affected forest fragmentation, deforestation and forest regrowth in a Brazilian Atlantic Forest region near the city of São Paulo. We mapped roads and land use/land cover for three years (1962, 1981 and 2000) from historical aerial photographs, and summarized the distribution of roads, land use/land cover and topography within a grid of 94 non-overlapping 100 ha squares. We used generalized least squares regression models for data analysis. Our models showed that forest fragmentation and deforestation depended on topography, land use and road density, whereas forest regrowth depended primarily on land use. However, the relationships between these variables and forest dynamics changed in the two studied periods; land use and slope were the strongest predictors from 1962 to 1981, and past (1962) road density and land use were the strongest predictors for the following period (1981–2000). Roads had the strongest relationship with deforestation and forest fragmentation when the expansions of agriculture and buildings were limited to already deforested areas, and when there was a rapid expansion of development, under influence of São Paulo city. Furthermore, the past (1962) road network was more important than the recent road network (1981) when explaining forest dynamics between 1981 and 2000, suggesting a long-term effect of roads. Roads are permanent scars on the landscape and facilitate deforestation and forest fragmentation due to increased accessibility and land valorization, which control land-use and land-cover dynamics. Topography directly affected deforestation, agriculture and road expansion, mainly between 1962 and 1981. Forest are thus in peril where there are more roads, and long-term conservation strategies should consider ways to mitigate roads as permanent landscape features and drivers facilitators of deforestation and forest fragmentation.     

Understanding forest certification using the Advocacy Coalition Framework

Forest certification is an indirect economic incentive for improved forest management. Originating in the early 1990s, and supported by environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), forest certification has become one of the more controversial topics in forest policy discussions, and the real benefits it provides to forest owners and managers have been questioned. Under these circumstances, the rapid spread of certification has been subject to divergent interpretations. In this article, the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), an actor-based analytical framework developed by Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith in the US, is used to analyse the development of forest certification systems in Canada, Indonesia and Sweden. The ACF provides a convincing framework for this analysis, particularly when it is complemented with elements from the policy network approach and the concept of epistemic communities. Support is provided for several of the key hypotheses of the ACF, and a number of proposals for modifications to the ACF are made. Based on the example of forest certification, it is argued that the ACF can be a useful tool for understanding policy processes with multiple actors and involving policy learning.     

Barriers to policy implementation and implications for Zambia's forest ecosystems

Policies play a vital role in setting priorities and actions for forest use and management. High rates of forest loss can be attributed to failure by policies to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. It is argued that in most Least Developed Countries such as Zambia, adopted forest and natural resources policies are rarely put into effect resulting in ecosystem degradation.This study examined policy actor's perception of implementation of policies aimed at reducing deforestation and forest degradation and their implications for forest resources.To examine policy implementation, 55 policy actors were interviewed at national, regional and local levels. This included government officials, Non-Governmental Organisations, traditional leaders and local people. Interviews were analysed using discourse analysis.Findings show that policy implementations deficits are prevalent in Zambia's forest sector. Policy actors identified the main barriers as inadequate institutional capacity, inadequate legal framework, political influences, insecure land tenure, poor funding, and lack of intersectoral coordination. The paper has shown gaps between policies and their implementation. To halt deforestation and forest degradation, it is imperative that formulated policies are implemented. This will require improved communication and coordination among government units and various stakeholders, sufficient resources and harmonizing policies and legal frameworks.     

Fire economy and actor network of forest and land fires in Indonesia

Forest and land fires are a recurrent phenomena in Indonesia and little progress has been made in reducing their occurrence. The mineral and peat fire in 2015 burnt 2.6 million hectares, mostly in the provinces of Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan and Papua, and costed USD16.1 billion as estimated by the World Bank in 2015. Although only 30% of the fire was on peatland area, it had a much higher impact than that on mineral land because of its fire density. Fires in Indonesia are caused by human both individually or collectively. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has committed to reducing fire during his term of office. Government actions have focused on fire suppression, biophysical and technological issues such as canal blocking and an early warning system. Significant actions on the underlying causes of fires such as providing economy incentives for land preparation without burning are rare. We conducted a political economy study of fire and haze to provide policy makers with an understanding of the economic, social and political causes of forest and land fires. The study focused on four districts in Riau Province, which experienced fires and forest transition to palm oil plantations. We collected social, policy and economy data from survey in ex post fire sites and carried out focus group discussions with the key stakeholders. We implemented value chain and social network analyses to the collected data. We found a diversity of actors were involved and gaining benefits from fires. We found that farmer group organizers obtained enormous benefits, as much as USD486 per hectare. These actors influence decision-making processes through their patronage network for their own interests. The networks provide power, support, protection and access to various resources. To effectively reduce fire, governments need to disempower these farmer group organizers through law and policy.     

Reforestation policy integration by the multiple sectors toward forest transition in the Republic of Korea

The Republic of Korea (ROK) started to experience forest transition in the 1960s in spite of severe deforestation and forest degradation by the mid 1950s. This ROK case followed the state policy pathway to forest transition. This study interpreted the reforestation policy of the multiple sectors in ROK with the theory of environmental policy integration. ROK has attempted an integrated policy program for reforestation, land management and social development as an innovative approach to solving the problem of flood and erosion due to deforestation while pursuing economic growth. This integrated approach to reforestation of ROK was implemented in three pillars of action: 1) coordinated national plans, 2) collaboration among the governmental branches, and 3) organizational reformation. The integrative approach helped the reforestation policy to be implemented successfully. The case of policy integration for reforestation in ROK is a good example demonstrating that policy integration should be a principle of forest policy design and implementation. The Korean experience could be informative to developing countries experiencing deforestation for design and implementation of forest policy to avoid deforestation and achieve forest transition.     

Towards a donut regime? Domestic actors,climatization, and the hollowing-out of the international forests regime in the Anthropocene

Political responses to global deforestation, as a defining characteristic of the so-called Anthropocene, are a key field for scholarship and policy analysis. In the past decade, research has proliferated on global forest governance and the international forest regime (IFR), yet the academic literature on the IFR is just as dispersed and fragmented as the IFR itself. An emerging body of literature now suggests the key role of domestic actors in international forest governance, questioning an implicit top-down logic of global arrangements. In spite of all the resources at its disposal, the IFR is characterised by complexity, fragmentation and ineffectiveness regarding its main objective of reducing global deforestation.Based on an extensive literature review, the authors’ long-standing observations and selected own empirical findings, this review article aims to provide an updated historical account of the IFR and proposes a from-below approach for analysing the IFR from the viewpoint of domestic actors. In this bottom-up perspective the IFR is conceptualised as a set of resources that key domestic actors can pick and choose from according to their interests and in the light of domestic politics.Using illustrative empirical examples from recent research and own observations, the article finds that the IFR is being hollowed-out by (i) the growing policy links between forests and climate change - a process referred to as “climatization”- and (ii) domestic influences. We conclude that our from-below approach is instrumental in further explaining why deforestation has largely continued, despite the emergence of the IFR some three decades ago. Our findings about the importance of domestic actors illustrate that global governance arrangements cannot operate effectively, relative to their ambitious mandate and for tackling policy issues relating to the Anthropocene, unless they are granted adequate resources and support by key domestic actors.     

Native vegetation and its ecosystem current situation in Brazil

GeographyandclimateBrazilIiesinsouthernhemisphere.withanareaof8.511.965km',9OpercentofthecountryiswithinthetropicalzoneTherearefiveclimaticregionsinBrazilfequatorial.tropicaI.semi-arid,highlandtropical,andSubtroplcaIThereisneitherbIisteringheatnorse-verecoldTheannuaIaveragetemperatureintheAmazonregionisintherangeof22-26"C.almostnoseasonalvariation,temperaturesofabove32"CarerarelyhappenedthereNortheastisthehottestpartwithtemperaturesofmorethan38'Cindryseasons.AlongtheAtlanticcoast,annuaI…     

Intensive plantation cropping,a source of sustainable food and energy production in the tropical rain forest areas in southeast Asia

About 90% of the annual losses of tropical rain forests are caused by transformation into arable land. Most of the cropping activities on the former forest land are characterised by low input, partly shifting cultivation practices, leading to fast degradation of the lands which are finally abandoned owing to infertility. Success in protecting land from further degradation is determined by the economic viability of the respective system. Therefore, sustainability of agricultural systems depends on their economic sustainability. Intensive plantation cropping on former rain forest land appears to offer such an incentive to prevent the land from further degradation by employing the best technology available.Examples of intensive oil palm cultivation as a sustainable cropping system, in terms of economy and ecology, are given. Oil palm cultivation in a suitable environment outyields most annual crops and reveals a significant potential for efficient conversion of solar energy.With the employment of sound agronomic measures the present production potential can be fully realised and new techniques in the production of tissue cultured planting material provide further improved economic viability and environmentally sound cropping systems. Such an intensification offers excellent prospects for reducing the rate of deforestation in the humid tropics.     

Expansion of traditional land-use and deforestation: a case study of an adat forest in the Kandilo Subwatershed,East Kalimantan,Indonesia

Deforestation issues are more problematic when indigenous(adat) communities,living within a forest,have lived there for many generations.These adat communities,who employ traditional land-use,are frequently accused of encroaching on the forest.To understand existing and future trends in the spatial patterns of the expansion of traditional land-use and deforestation,we conducted a case study in the Kandilo Subwatershed using mixed methods with image interpretation,spatial modelling and sociocultural surveys to examine the interrelationships between physical conditions,community characteristics and traditional land-use expansion.We investigated community characteristics through household interviews,communication with key informants,and discussions with focusgroups.By using an area production model,we were able to analyze the effect of improved farming systems,policy intervention and law enforcement on traditional land-use expansion and deforestation.Based on our examination of a 20-year period of traditional land-use activities in adat forests,the evidence indicated that the steeper the slope of the land and the farther the distance from the village,the lower the rate of deforestation.Our study found that customary law,regulating traditional land-use,played an important role in controlling deforestation and land degradation.We conclude that the integration of land allocation,improved farming practices and enforcement of customary law are effective measures to improve traditional land productivity while avoiding deforestation and land degradation.     

The restoration of research

Research per se is a highly heterogeneous activity with a variety of objectives, actors and stakeholders, and a range of mechanisms to enhance collaboration while minimizing cost and unnecessary duplication. There is an urgent need to disseminate the results of research in forms that can be understood by policy-makers, administrators, the media and the public as well as by resource managers and peer scientists.To be effective, research itself needs to be restored. It must be both proactive and reactive to policy and public issues and use modern techniques of information technology and networking. Current human demands on forests for social, environmental and economic benefits require new, interdisciplinary approaches to research and rapid implementation of relevant results by appropriate stakeholders.In this paper, the extents, rates and causes of deforestation are identified together with the criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management that have specific relevance to restoration of site productivity. The changes in forest policies and management objectives over the second half of the 20th century are described and it is recognized that the role of forests as global resources may conflict with national sovereignty.     

Non-Governmental Organizations, Rural Communities and Forests: A Comparative Analysis of Community-NGO Interactions

Scholars, policy-makers and advocates have, in the last decade, recommended greater involvement by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in community forest management in developing countries. Behind these recommendations lies a notion that NGOs are a sound complement to formal governments and that NGOs can improve communities’ abilities to manage their own forests. There is limited empirical work, however, testing how NGO activity affects local forest governance and deforestation. This paper reports the results of quantitative statistical tests on the effects of local NGO importance—as measured by local forest users’ reports of NGO importance—on deforestation in a sample of 200 rural Bolivian communities. In addition, it examines the effect of NGO importance on community forestry institutions—specifically, the presence of institutions for rule-making, forest monitoring, sanctioning, and enforcement of rules. Contrary to earlier research, these results suggest that NGOs have no discernible effect on community forestry institutions, though other external actors—most notably, municipal governments—seem to have a positive effect. The paper also reports a negative correlation of NGO importance on deforestation. Although these quantitative results are in part supported by qualitative field observations in selected Bolivian communities, care is needed in drawing generalized causal inferences from this evidence.     

Revenue loss from legal timber in Indonesia

The link between forest revenue administration and under performance of revenues from legal timber has received little attention in the literature. This article analyzes revenues from the timber royalty and reforestation fund fee, two important forest non-tax revenues in Indonesia whose tropical forest has been under threat of extensive deforestation particularly from commercial timber logging. It shows that revenue realization does not reflect potential with two key findings: first, timber royalty revenues represent only 52% of their potential, and second, revenues from reforestation fund fee suggest a counter-intuitive pattern – revenue realization is 34% above its potential. We provide plausible explanations from the perspective related to features of revenue collection. We further consider policy relevance in terms of forest revenue administration.