Community Forests at a Crossroads
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Community Forests at a Crossroads: Lessons Learned from Lubuk Beringin Village Forest and Guguk Customary Forest in Jambi Province - Sumatra, Indonesia Intan Maya Sari Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Culture, Environment and Sustainability Centre for Development and the Environment University of Oslo Blindern, Norway August 2013 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the help, support and patience of my supervisor, Prof. Desmond McNeill. I am deeply grateful to be supervised by you. I would like to thank Prof. Signe Howell for your inspiration in doing a research. I acknowledge the Quota Scheme Scholarship for making my study in Oslo feasible. I thank all members of Department of International Relations at Universitas Gadjah Mada for the worthwhile academic life in Jogjakarta and for your trust and motivation in guiding me to finish two master’s degrees. I thank Senter for Utvikling og Miljø for providing me a place to write both of my thesis during what it seems to be endless nights and days. I thank the people in Senamat Ulu, Laman Panjang, Mengkuang Kecik, Lubuk Beringin, and Guguk for sharing great lessons about hutan desa and hutan adat. I express my sincere gratitude to Numbu Issahaque Sumabe for your great encouragement and kindness to proofread my thesis. My deepest appreciation goes to Anne Line Sandåker for your gracious encouragement to finish my first master degree, and for your dedication and sensibility as a Student Advisor. To Sofia Mazariegos, you have become a good friend, family and a mentor. No words could describe how much you helped me to adapt and gave me so many perspectives in life. To Misha, Ted, Eirik, Eivind, Carlos, Marte, Lan, Siri, Melanie, Desalegn, Alvaro, and Victor, thank you so much for being such a nice and awesome friends. I am eternally grateful to Jesus Christ, my family and friends for all their support and love in my life. I thank Syeilendra Pramuditya for inspiring me to pursue master’s degree and for the sweetest birthday gift from Japan. To Mieke Velma, I am so blessed to have a friend like you. To my best friends in Jakarta: Ayu, Stevie, Rachel, Yuli and Richard, thank you so much for all your love and encouragement. To my Indonesian friends in Oslo: Vivin, Mr. Kadarisman and family, Kak Rosi and family, Mas Feri, Mas Dimas, Mas Rahmat, I would not survive a month here without your kindness and wit. To Jørgen, I am really thankful for your caring and support throughout the thesis writing process. To Rahma, I would not survive the last three months without your caring and love. Many thanks to Jorge Cham for creating such a great and interesting PhD comics, it has helped me to rationalize and justify the good and the odd sides of academic life. I would like to thank each and everyone of you that I cannot mention here one by one. At last, to a little girl named ‘Climate’, don’t ever Change. iii Abstract The study focuses on two types of community forest, village forest and customary forest - using qualitative case study from two villages namely Lubuk Beringin and Guguk in Jambi Province. The findings show that village forest management in Lubuk Beringin is mainly by village officials, while the customary forest, Guguk, host a self- determined customary community that pay attention to the representativeness of sub- clans within the forest management. The schemes nowadays are mainly self-supported by the people as the facilitation assistance given to the villages was primarily limited to the period until forest managing permit was obtained. The study identifies three main actors at the village level, namely Warsi (Indonesian Conservation Community, KKI-Warsi), forest managing groups, and the villagers. The relations between these actors are analyzed using the ‘Actor-Centered Power concept’. Warsi is shown to be the driving force in the adoption of both the village forest and customary forest schemes. The study of power relations between these three groups shows that trust, incentives and coercion are all relevant to different extents. Key words: Community Forest, Village Forest, Customary Forest, Lubuk Beringin, Guguk Customary Community, Community-Based Forest Management, Actor- Centered Power concept, Power Relations. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... iii Abstract ....................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ v List of Figures ........................................................................................................... viii List of Tables .............................................................................................................. ix List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................... x Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................... xi 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Question ............................................................................................. 2 1.3 Research Objectives .......................................................................................... 3 1.4 Research Significance ....................................................................................... 3 1.5 Thesis Organization ........................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2 Literature Review and Conceptual Framework ............................................. 5 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Background on Indonesian Forest and Community Forestry ................................ 5 2.3 Summary of Reviewed Literature on Village Forest and Customary Forest ...... 11 2.4 Village Forest (Hutan Desa) ............................................................................... 12 2.5 Customary Forest (Hutan Adat) .......................................................................... 14 2.6 Who are the Indigenous People in Indonesian context?...................................... 15 2.7 Actor-Centered Power Concept ........................................................................... 21 Chapter 3 Methodology ................................................................................................ 24 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Research Method ................................................................................................. 24 3.3 Fieldwork Site ..................................................................................................... 26 v 3.4 Data Collection Techniques ................................................................................ 26 3.4.1 Literature Review .......................................................................................... 26 3.4.2 Key Informant Interviews ............................................................................. 27 3.4.3 Informal Group Discussion ........................................................................... 28 3.4.4 Observation ................................................................................................... 28 3.4.5 Secondary Data ............................................................................................. 29 3.5 Gaining Access and Seeking Consent ................................................................. 29 3.6 Ethical Considerations ......................................................................................... 30 3.7 Research Limitations ........................................................................................... 31 3.8 Trustworthiness of the Research ......................................................................... 33 3.9 Reflections from the Field ................................................................................... 34 Chapter 4 Results .......................................................................................................... 38 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 38 4.2 Village Forest ...................................................................................................... 38 4.2.1 Lubuk Beringin Village ................................................................................ 40 4.2.2 The Management of Lubuk Beringin Village Forest .................................... 44 4.2.3 Lubuk Beringin Managing Group ................................................................. 44 4.2.4 Functional Groups in Lubuk Beringin Village ............................................. 45 4.2.5 Challenges of Implementation ...................................................................... 50 4.3 Customary Forest ................................................................................................. 51 4.3.1 The Historical Background of Guguk Customary Community .................... 52 4.3.2 The Story behind the Establishment of Guguk