Using a Delphi approach to identify the most efficacious interventions to improve Indonesia’s forest and land governance

Improvements to forest and land governance are key to addressing deforestation and degradation of peatlands in Indonesia. While this is a priority area, the steps to achieving good forest and land governance have been under-researched. There is a need for better links between theoretically informed academic analysis and work in the field. This study drew together a panel of experts on forest and land governance using a Delphi method to discuss the underlying drivers of deforestation and peatland degradation, and correspondingly, to identify interventions to improve land and forest governance in Indonesia. Seventeen panelists with an average of more than 12 years’ experience reached agreement over four governance interventions: increasing the capacity of local communities to manage and monitor forests and natural resources (65% of panelist’s votes); identify strengths and weaknesses of community organisations and institutions, and develop strategies to improve their performance (65% of panelist’s votes); gazetting forests to clarify land boundaries and determine which areas should be village, community and state forest zone (59% of panelist’s votes); and, integrating participatory community maps into spatial plans to protect local communities and indigenous peoples’ development needs (53% of panelist’s votes). They also supported action research involving the government, private sector and communities, and political economy approaches to researching forest and land governance issues. Panelists indicated that community level approaches such as securing community forest tenure through clarifying land claims and integrating local land tenure into spatial planning had an important role in sustainable forest management.     

Which smallholders are willing to adopt Acacia mangium under long-term contracts? Evidence from a choice experiment study in Indonesia

Smallholder ownership of forests has grown rapidly over the last 25 years, leading to global forest transition; however, incentives are required to keep smallholders growing trees under long-term afforestation contracts. This article reports on smallholders’ willingness to join afforestation programs, growing Acacia mangium under contract on their private farmland. In a Choice Experiment, we examine the effects of policy attributes of afforestation contracts, including contract duration, labour participation, timber insurance, training opportunities, road improvement, and expected income. We report the marginal value of changes in monetary terms. A scale-extended latent class model was used to analyse preference heterogeneity in data of 323 smallholders from three different regions in Indonesia (West Kalimantan, Yogyakarta, and South Sumatera). These regions are at different forest transition stages. Our results indicate that there are four latent preference classes, which value attributes of the contract differently. Individual characteristics (risk orientation, tree growing experiences, and occupation), and regional differences explain the probability of preference class membership. Our findings have important implications for enhancing afforestation strategies that improve social welfare of smallholders in various forest transition stages.     

Major issues in Indonesia's urban land development

This article addresses issues of urban land development in Indonesia, including urban land use; ownership and transfers; land taxation; and land information systems. Until very recently, urban land-use planning in Indonesia was largely top-down in character and neglected to include the public as a stakeholder. This article argues that the role of government in urban land-use development needs to change at all levels and that the capacity of local government in land-use management needs to be strengthened. The presence of private developers in urban development should be encouraged. Land development permits—as a means of urban development control—while they may still be necessary should be granted primarily in relation to urban land-use plans (RUTR). Land taxation instruments have not been effectively applied to control land utilisation in the cities. Data and information on land affairs are lacking.     

Influence of purchaser perceptions and intentions on price for forest land parcels: A hedonic pricing approach

A hedonic model was developed to analyze the market for undeveloped forest land in Minnesota. Variables describing in situ conditions, locational characteristics, buyer perceptions and intentions, and transactional terms were tested for their influence on sale price. The independent variables explained 67% of the per hectare sale price variation. Water frontage, road access and density, absentee ownership, future intentions, and financing arrangements had large, positive influences on price. Lack of a real-estate agent and agricultural land in the vicinity of the parcel had negative influences. A parcel's merchantable timber volume was not a significant predictor of price.     

公众对森林火灾的态度

利用里克特量表试图评估公众、消防战士和受森林火灾影响的村民等3个人群对森林火灾的看法。3组所有受访者一致认为,森林火灾会造成空气污染、土壤侵蚀、温室效应和浓雾,间接导致哮喘、呼吸系统感染、皮肤感染等疾病。受森林火灾危害的村民支持森林防火灭火,认为森林火灾是大问题。然而,市民和消防战士不同意这种看法,研究结果将帮助有关当局制订防火决策和教育活动。     

参与式方法在集体林权制度改革中的应用思考

中国的集体林是一个特殊的、具有历史性、复杂性和关键性的产权系统。当前,中国政府正在开展集体林林权制度改革,希望通过改革能促进林业的发展。林权改革的目的在于通过明晰产权,进一步把森林管理的权力下放并改善权属的安全性。作为林业管理和改革的主体与核心,林农的参与十分重要。从参与的概念出发,探讨了在集体林权改制中应用参与式方法的可能性、应用的领域和应该注意的问题。建议在改革全过程中必须确保有实际意义的真正参与。     

印度尼西亚工作合同的比较研究

印度尼西亚在吸引外商投资勘查、开发矿产资源等经济活动中,比较注重标准工作合同的签订,现选用的第六代工作合同已经过七次修改,与第五代工作合同比变化较大.文章比较了第五、六代工作合同文本,分析了两代合同反映的经济法律关系.     

黑龙江省地方国有林场林权制度改革的对策

基于黑龙江省地方国有林场基本状况,分析了制约黑龙江省地方国有林场林权制度改革的因素,在对制约因素进行深入分析的基础上,结合近年来地方国有林场林权制度改革的经验,提出了林权制度改革的方案,该方案从总体思路和具体做法两方面进行了全面分析。     

The impact of forest management plans on trees and carbon: Modeling a decade of harvesting data in Cameroon

By 2010, about 25% (180 million ha) of The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) producer countries’ permanent forest estate was being managed using an approved forest management plan (FMP). While the existence of a FMP is often used as evidence of sustainable forest management (SFM), State officials mandated to monitor and verify FMPs’ implementation often lack the technical knowledge and political incentives to assess the changes that have been introduced, notably in terms of harvested volumes and species. Among tropical timber producers, Cameroon is considered to be exemplary for its progressive forest regulatory framework. Here we aim to estimate for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa the causal impact of the implementation of FMPs on harvested volumes, species and carbon stocks. We do so by using a 12-year (1998–2009) unbalanced longitudinal data set of a detailed, official harvesting inventory of 81 concessions in Cameroon. Results provide evidence to the theoretical expectations that for many years many practitioners have had on the implementation of SFM, i.e. that FMPs show a substantial opportunity to reduce carbon emissions from forest while presenting logging companies with acceptable financial trade-offs. We explore the technical and political reasons for our findings and conclude that these analyses are important for countries that are underwriting carbon-related schemes in which they propose to reduce their emissions through the effective implementation of SFM. We also demonstrate that producer countries do record useful information that, when effectively used, can help them to inform their policies and improve their sustainable development strategies.     

Amazon forest on the edge of collapse in the Maranhão State,Brazil

The year 2019 in Brazil was marked by environmental setbacks, which catalyzed the increase of illegal deforestation and fire rates in the Brazilian Amazon. In the Amazon region of Maranhão state, original forest cover diminished from 25 % (24,700 km²) in 2016 to 24 % (23,967 km²) in 2019, and 6,038 km² of remaining forests were degraded by fires and/or illegal logging – processes related to high levels of violence against indigenous and rural communities. Almost half of all deforested areas in the region (36,060 km²) are considered a global restoration hotspot, however secondary vegetation remains unprotected and 8,294 km² were cleared between 2014 and 2018. Due to uncontrolled deforestation and fragmentation, Maranhão has no more forest core areas (outside protected areas) with the minimum size to ensure sustainable forest management practices for timber production. New policies at the state level must promote old-growth and secondary forest conservation and restoration. However, the trends point to the opposite direction: the Ecological-Economic Zoning (ZEE) allows the reduction of forest protection and the State Forest Policy reinforces federal legislation setbacks. The Amazon region of Maranhão state has forest aptitude, and forest and agroforestry product chains would bring social and environmental benefits, making them the best opportunity for sustainable economic development in the region. Therefore, the forest must be re-planted for the benefit of people and nature.     

新一轮林改后南方集体林区乡村林场发展问题研究——以贵州锦屏县为例

在新一轮集体林权制度主体改革基本完成之后,家庭式的分户经营为主的林业经营形式更加稳固,而曾为集体林区林业建设做出巨大贡献的乡村林场则陷入内外部经营不善的困境,更面临着林农收回林地资源而倒闭的问题,进一步剖析这些问题的原因,提出改革乡村林场经营体制的政策。     

Factors Determining Joint Venture Formation in the Agribusiness Sector of Sub-Saharan African Countries

This paper reviews the definition and the importance of joint ventures (J.V.'s) as well as the determining factors for their formation with particular reference to agribusiness in sub-Saharan African countries. The study provides evidence to show: · that African countries have increasingly attempted to create an attractive environment to encourage foreign investment in general, and J.V.'s in particular; · and that where J.V.'s have been successfully established the host countries have benefited substantially. The paper concludes that while the various reforms underway in terms of political changes, liberalisation of regulations, privatisation, and other measures taken by African countries should encourage J.V. formation, much remains to be done as regards proper implementation of policies, promotion of entrepreneurship, strengthening regional markets, overcoming the debt crisis, and improvement of the infrastructure, all of which would require substantial support from the international community.     

Forest transitions: An introduction

When people speak about ‘forest transitions’, they generalize about the ways in which the extent of forested land changes as societies undergo industrialization and urbanization. Alexander Mather coined the term ‘forest transition’, outlined a theory to explain it, and carried out a series of careful historical studies to illustrate the idea. The papers assembled in this special issue both extend and deepen Mather's pathbreaking work. They suggest that the idea of the forest transition, like the much critiqued idea of a demographic transition in population studies, has become a useful theoretical tool for understanding contemporary land use changes.