Ahmad Maryudi

Decentralisation policy as recentralisation strategy: forest management units and community forestry in Indonesia

SUMMARY Critical political analyses on decentralisation policies have revealed that such approaches may not achieve their formal goal, and might even support centralisation efforts. A number of previous studies on decentralisation separated the analyses of administrative process from the analyses of political power of administrative actors across levels of government. Using bureaucratic politics theory, this article presents close examinations of both process and power relations reconfigured by decentralising and recentralising forces across governmental levels. This study illustrates how the Indonesian central government is on its way to reclaiming its authority for forest administration and management through so-called Forest Management Units (FMU) and closely related community forestry programmes. This study reveals that the sources of real contention in KPH and community forestry policies are the power struggles between national, provincial and district bureaucracies. The conceptual model and the results of this study contribute to the understanding of underlying dynamics of bureaucratic politics in the process of political power reconfigurations.

Smallholder Farmers’ Knowledge of Regulations Governing the Sale of Timber and Supply Chains in Gunungkidul District, Indonesia

Smallholder timber plantations may offer opportunities for farmers to increase their income. Nonetheless, such opportunities are often lost largely due to unfavorable regulations imposed on harvesting and marketing of timber. Adverse impacts are worsened because the regulations are not effectively communicated to smallholder farmers. We assessed the level of smallholder knowledge of existing regulations and found it very low. In part, this correlated to their socio-demographic characteristics. Poor literacy skills and a low level of education make it difficult for older farmers’ to increase their knowledge. This is compounded by the limited information channels that can reach the farmers. Improving smallholders’ knowledge by providing information concerning markets and regulations in a timely and clear manner could help smallholders exercise coping strategies and priorities when selling their timber that would in turn reduce the negative impacts of regulations. The roles of village authorities could be crucial. They are close to the smallholders and could channel the information. The government could provide training and incentives for them to be more active in communicating the regulations to the smallholders.

Renting legality: How FLEGT is reinforcing power relations in Indonesian furniture production networks

Highlights • We examine the power constellations of wood furniture actors under FLEGT.• FLEGT entrenches pre-existing inequalities and produces new modes of elite capture.• Legality verification drives new practices of renting out FLEGT licenses by larger producers.• Legality verification produces new opportunities for financial gain for larger firms.• Renting legality creates a new form of control over the market for large firms.

Assessing carbon pool of forest plantation to support REDD+ implementation in Indonesia

Forest resources supply a wide range of environmental services such as mitigation of increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+) is a strategy to engage forested developing countries in climate change mitigation. This paper explores carbon stock and CO2 sequestration potential in five (5) carbon pool in plantation forests. The research was conducted in plantation forest PT. FinnantaraIntiga, Sanggau, West Kalimantan specifically on Acacia mangium WILLD between May-June 2015. The estimation of carbon stock was conducted following the Indonesian National Standart (SNI) No.7724/2011 while the carbon content (%) was analyzed using Walkley and Black methods. The results indicated that the forest has the total stock carbon of 690.73 ton.ha−1 and the CO2 sequestration as high as 2534.97 ton.ha−1.