Policy under pressure: policy analysis of community-based forest management in Indonesia

Public policy relating to community-based forest management (CBFM) in Indonesia seeks to foster economic development via forest-based enterprises to enhance rural livelihoods and encourage a shift to sustainable forest management to reduce deforestation. However, the policy context for CBFM is an expression of the multiple and conflicting pressures faced by Indonesia's tiers of government. Policies to encourage transmigration to relieve the intense pressure caused by a high population in some areas of Indonesia, and policies that act to be a catalyst for buoyant rural-based industries like oil palm and rubber, have created challenges for policy-makers about how best to design and implement policies to encourage the expansion of CBFM. The authors' draw on their analysis of CBFM policy in Indonesia that indicates a need to: Assess the commercial opportunities for smallholders from forest-based enterprises within the broader context of opportunities from other rural enterprises; Integrate and analyse the range of rural development policies that influence CBFM; and Clarify the access to, and ownership of, rural land.