Multi-agent simulation of alternative scenarios of collaborative forest management

International calls for sustainable development advocate that forest management should be carried out in a multi-stakeholder environment. The importance of community participation is acknowledged in theIndonesian Act No. 41 on Forestry (1999). However, it is not clear how to achieve this in areas already allocated to a concession holder. Current regulations offer little flexibility for concessionaires to develop site-specific management, or to involve local communities in forest management. The research reported here examines the application of simulation techniques to explore scenarios of sustainable forest management addressing those limitations. Several scenarios have been developed using multi-agent simulation to examine social and biophysical issues. Of the four scenarios examined in this study, collaborative forest management involving both the concessionaire and the local community appears to offer the most promising pathway toward sustainability. The authors wish to acknowledge that this paper has been produced with financial support from Department for International Development of the UK, and the Asian Development Bank under RETA Grant 5812 and CIFOR. The views expressed here are those of the authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the donors or of CIFOR. The authors also thank Bruce Campbell for his inputs to the paper.