Which Way Forward

CHAPTER TWO

Ideas and Institutions inSocial Forestry Policy

Rita Lindayati

For the past decade, Indonesia's forestry community has witnessed growing opposition to the incumbent state-centered forest management system. The belief in the state as the sole legitimate resource developer and custodian has been condemned as the root cause of many contemporary forest-related problems (e.g., deforestation, forest-related social conflicts), particularly in the Outer Islands.¹ In response to the ailing centralized system, many have proposed the community forestry alternative.² This alternative is usually regarded as a better way to deal with the Outer Islands’ social and ecological complexities as well as the perceived unjust distribution of forest-generated ...