Getting the boundaries right Indonesia's urgent need to redifine its forest estate

The results of a one day seminar on the forestry sector, organized in Jakarta this pastMarch by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and the World Bank, revealed that the stateof Indonesia’s forests is far worse than the government was willing to admit during the Suhartoperiod and that conflict between local forest dependent people and the wood industry continues toincrease. Should existing deforestation rates continue, Indonesia will cease to be major supplierof wood products early in the 21st century and it is likely that few conservation areas will remainintact.An important part of the process of coming to terms with the crisis in Indonesia’s forestsand reversing the trends, is to determine exactly what and where these forests are then how, inplaces where it still possible, to assure their protection. While some work has been done toimprove management in some natural forest settings, little attention has been paid to defining justwhat is and isn’t a forest in Indonesia. Related to this, is the urgent need to assess the methods theDepartment of Forestry and Estate Crops MoFEC uses to define the forest estate and theirimplications on how these areas are managed. There is little doubt that the way the forest estatehas been defined has led to widespread and increasing conflict on the ground between localpeople and forest industries who have been awarded rights over areas where in fact, traditional oradat rights apply2. Surprising many in the audience, in his opening remarks at the Marchseminar, the Coordinating Minister challenged the logic behind the government’s classification of88% of Indonesia’s outer islands as State Forest and questioned the ability of the MOFEC toadequately manage such an enormous area.This paper argues for a redefining of the State Forest Zone in order to achieve two centralobjectives:1. To determine priority areas of natural forests and watersheds that need focusedattention in their management and protection and;2. To address conflict by recognizing and securing the rights of smallholders whoselands have been misclassified as State Forest.

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