Moira Moeliono

Facilitating Cooperation During Times Of Chaos: Spontaneous Orders And Muddling Through In Malinau District, Indonesia

Adaptive management has become increasingly common where natural resource managers face complex and uncertain conditions. The collaboration required among managers and others to do adaptive management, however, is not always easy to achieve. We describe efforts to work with villagers and government officials in Malinau, East Kalimantan Indonesia, where a weak, uncertain institutional setting and complex shifting political landscape made formal cooperation among these groups for forest management problematic. Through successive trials, the team learned instead to work with and enhance a “spontaneous order” of cooperation using four tactics: (1) continuous physical presence, (2) regular contact with the people who advised and were close to major decision makers, (3) maintenance of multiple programs to fit the needs of different interest groups, and (4) hyperflexibility in resource allocation and schedules.

Interactive land-use planning in Indonesian rain-forest landscapes: reconnecting plans to practice.

Indonesia’s 1999–2004 decentralization reforms created opportunities for land-use planning that reflected local conditions and local people’s needs. We report on seven years of work in the District of Malinau in Indonesian Borneo that attempted to reconnect government land-use plans to local people’s values, priorities, and practices. Four principles are proposed to support more interactive planning between government and local land users: Support local groups to make their local knowledge, experience, and aspirations more visible in formal land-use planning and decision making; create channels of communication, feedback, and transparency to support the adaptive capacities and accountability of district leadership and institutions; use system frameworks to understand the drivers of change and resulting scenarios and trade-offs; and link analysis and intervention across multiple levels, from the local land user to the district and national levels. We describe the application of these principles in Malinau and the resulting challenges.

Discursive barriers and cross-scale forest governance in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Students of social-ecological systems have emphasized the need for effective cross-scale governance. We theorized that discursive barriers, particularly between technical and traditional practices, can act as a barrier to cross-scale collaboration. We analyzed the effects of discursive divides on collaboration on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) policy development in Central Kalimantan, an Indonesian province on the island of Borneo selected in 2010 to pilot subnational REDD+ policy. We argue that the complexities of bridging local land management practices and technical approaches to greenhouse gas emissions reduction and carbon offsetting create barriers to cross-scale collaboration. We tested these hypotheses using an exponential random graph model of collaboration among 36 organizations active in REDD+ policy in the province. We found that discursive divides were associated with a decreased probability of collaboration between organizations and that organizations headquartered outside the province were less likely to collaborate with organizations headquartered in the province. We conclude that bridging discursive communities presents a chicken-and-egg problem for cross-scale governance of social-ecological systems. In precisely the situations where it is most important, when bridging transnational standards with local knowledge and land management practices, it is the most difficult.

REDD+, transformational change and the promise of performance-based payments: a qualitative comparative analysis

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) has emerged as a promising climate change mitigation mechanism in developing countries. This article examines the national political context in 13 REDD+ countries in order to identify the enabling conditions for achieving progress with the implementation of countries’ REDD+ policies and measures. The analysis builds on a qualitative comparative analysis of various countries’ progress with REDD+ conducted in 12 REDD+ countries in 2012, which highlighted the importance of factors such as already initiated policy change, and the presence of coalitions calling for broader policy change. A follow-up survey in 2014 was considered timely because the REDD+ policy arena, at the international and country levels, is highly dynamic and undergoes constant evolution, which affects progress with REDD+ policy-making and implementation. Furthermore, we will now examine whether the ‘promise’ of performance-based funds has played a role in enabling the establishment of REDD+. The results show a set of enabling conditions and characteristics of the policy process under which REDD+ policies can be established. The study finds that the existence of broader policy change, and availability of performance-based funding in combination with strong national ownership of the REDD+ policy process, may help guide other countries seeking to formulate REDD+ policies that are likely to deliver efficient, effective and equitable outcomes. Policy relevance Tropical forest countries struggle with the design and implementation of coherent policies and measures to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Evidence on which factors and configurations are crucial to make progress towards these challenging policy objectives will be helpful for decision makers and practitioners at all levels involved in REDD+. Key findings highlight the importance of already initiated policy change, and the availability of performance-based funding in combination with strong national ownership of the REDD+ process. These findings provide guidance to REDD+ countries as to which enabling conditions need to be strengthened to facilitate effective, efficient and equitable REDD+ policy formulation and implementation.

Coordination and cross-sectoral integration in REDD+: experiences from seven countries

Ever since a global mitigation mechanism that aims to reduce emissions by avoiding deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) was introduced in climate change negotiations, governance challenges in implementing this concept in tropical forest countries have received considerable attention. In particular, multilevel governance has been identified as a key challenge, as REDD+ aims to tackle local deforestation activities through a global results-based financial scheme. This paper will present an analysis from seven REDD+ countries (Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania and Vietnam) where 293 qualitative interviews were conducted with national-level REDD+ actors. We examined what kind of multilevel coordination problems emerge, particularly in relation to horizontal, cross-sectoral coordination, and analysed these problems through the concepts of functional alignment, institutional complexity and accountability. We argue that there are problems with coordination that have emerged due to failures in recognizing the key multilevel issues. REDD+ is not adequately integrated into existing policies, and there is a gap between REDD+ and sectoral and national development policies. This leads to overlapping regulations and unequal resource allocation among sectors. Our analysis suggests that effective coordination mechanisms for REDD+ should be built on existing mechanisms and experience, include all the stakeholders, ensure the flow of information across the levels and harness the potential of REDD+ itself to overcome multi-sectoral problems. At the national level, there is great awareness of the issues that hinder coordination and effective REDD+ implementation, but this awareness does not seem to be matched by the actions taken to date.

Promises and perils of decentralized forest governance: the case of Indonesia’s Forest Management Units in Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+)

Indonesias forest management unit (Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan or KPH) system can be a promising mechanism for balancing international and national interests for global carbon mitigation initiatives with local interests in project implementation. We discuss the potential role of the KPH system in implementing REDD+ (Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) projects and improving decentralized forest governance. Substantial financial gains from international initiatives like REDD+ and others can provide appropriate motivation for the central government to ensure successful decentralization of forest management. Development and implementation of REDD+ activities can also support the KPHs in performing their basic functions: conducting forest inventory, developing and implementing forest management plans, and strengthening communication and coordination with local communities. However, engaging indigenous peoples and local communities, which is a legal mandate for the system, will require building some measure of democratic process that can hold the KPHs accountable to local people.

Incentives to conserve or convert? Can conservation compete with coal in Kutai National Park, Indonesia?

Discussions on climate change and potential mechanisms to support conservation efforts have fixed the attention on incentives to conserve and protect forests. However, incentives alone will not do the job for forest conservation; what might? We use the case of Kutai National Park to examine the potential for incentives to boost conservation and the urgent need to simultaneously apply disincentives against conversion of the park. Kutai National Park is an extreme case: conservation values have to compete with the value of vast deposits of high-grade coal. The park management unit has tried to calculate the conservation benefits derived from the park ecosystem, but these values are miniscule compared to the alternatives of mining and logging. Incentives for encroachment and the conversion of the park are the easily accessible timber and enormous known coal deposits. These resources provide immediate tangible benefits for the settlers in the park and the local government to exploit the park, and affect local possibilities for conserving it. If we are to be serious about conserving important ecosystems, incentives alone are insufficient. Action is needed to ensure that all stakeholders support the national governments commitment to preserve representative examples of biodiversity and ecosystems; each stakeholder will have to make some sacrifices.

Women's Participation in REDD+ National Decision-Making in Vietnam

SUMMARY Numerous conceptual and empirical studies have been undertaken on the participation of women in decision-making bodies related to forestry. However, very little of this knowledge and experience has been applied to REDD+ decision-making at the national level. This study uses Vietnam as a case study to analyse factors that influence womens participation in national level REDD+ decision-making processes. Although large numbers of women participate in REDD+ meetings, and women at the national level are less affected by discriminatory cultural and social norms, considerable obstacles remain to the full participation of women. The recruitment protocol of Vietnams forestry sector is not favourable to women, they are rarely appointed to leadership positions and their participation in REDD+ working groups is often nominal. In addition to weak capacity to implement gender strategies, a lack of concern for gender issues prevails among national organizations working on REDD+ in Vietnam.

Preparing the ground for better landscape governance: gendered realities in southern Sulawesi

In recognition of the importance of effective and equitable governance at the landscape scale in enhancing human and environmental well-being, we use a recently developed framework for assessing mens and womens involvement in local governance. These results set the stage for an ongoing examination of the success of the AgFor project in southern Sulawesi in achieving this goal. Our findings establish a baseline on gender and governance in five communities with landscapes that include forestry, agroforestry, and agriculture: Bonto Tappalang and Tana Toa in South Sulawesi, and Tawanga, Ladongi, and Wonua Hua in Southeast Sulawesi. These indicators, which we complement with ethnographic insights, fall into two categories: (1) level of public involvement and (2) skills relevant for political action, each of which is assessed for both women and men. Our findings reflect what we believe to be a comparatively equitable gender situation in Sulawesi, with hopeful prospects for enhancing womens (and mens) public involvement in governance. We conclude with some practical and ethnographically informed suggestions for enhancing collaboration with women and men in these (and similar) communities.

From product to place - Spatializing governance in a commodified landscape

This article analyzes the potential for landscape governance in large-scale commodity landscapes in Indonesia. It conceptualizes landscape governance as the spatialization of governance, which entails the interplay between natural-spatial conditions of place, public-private actor constellations, and policy responses. The article presents the case of a commodified oil palm landscape in West Kalimantan, where a potentially new type of landscape governance is emerging out of the experimental activities of an ecologically responsible commercial enterprise. It describes the development of a multifunctional concession as a process of productive bricolage involving the creative combination of different land uses within a single productive space. It also describes how such a multifunctional concession does not fit into existing policies, which are sectorally defined and embedded in sticky institutional frames. The formation of new public–private institutional arrangements needed for the development of multifunctional concessions is a difficult process, as it requires an alignment of contrasting discourses and an integration of sectorally-defined policy frames. If successful, it might facilitate the transition from multifunctional concessions to multifunctional landscapes. Such a fundamental change in land use and production relations however requires intensive stakeholder engagement and policy dialog. Indonesia’s continuous decentralization process offers opportunities for this, as it increasingly provides institutional space at the landscape level, for public and private actors to explore common concerns, and craft public–private arrangements specific to the landscape.