Empowering Communities and Facilitating Good Governance during Economic and Political Transition

Transcription

1 Empowering Communities and Facilitating Good Governance during Economic and Political Transition Agus Purnomo, WWF-Indonesia & TI-Indonesia Presented for the Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG): East Asia Ministerial Conference, September 2001, Bali Hyatt Hotel, Denpasar, Indonesia

2 Transition period TIME LAW ENFORCEMENT PERFORMANCE

3 DECENTRALIZATION IMPACTS FORESTRY CENTRAL FORESTRY PROVINCIAL FORESTRY DISTRICT SFM?

4 Obstacles and Challenges ceffort to combat corruption has not been successful. The impeachment of President Wahid indicates cooptation, rather than adoption, of anticorruption agenda by political parties. cthe political reality will likely enhance corrupt practices of forest management for the benefit of political parties. Transparency and accountability will have to start from national & local parliaments. calthough on the surface the new policies have dismantled the concentration of economic powers, the country is still run by the same bureaucracy with even weaker law enforcement ability. cdespite the best intentions in many corners there is a lack of leadership on substantive issues to promote law enforcement activities

5 Obstacles and Challenges cbureaucratic inertia. Another resistance group on decentralized forest management reform is the incumbent bureaucracy at national level. It has never been easy to trim down huge bureaucracy and to transfer the staff from the center to district. cthe central government bureaucracy will continue to invent functions and tasks under new structure to justify their presence at the DoF in Jakarta. con the side of the empowered district governments, there are problems of minimum resources to implement their new authority with responsibility.

6 Obstacles and Challenges cthere are also problems generated from the lack of implementation regulations. The laws on Regional Autonomy came with general wordings and vague descriptions about many decentralized functions and tasks, which then subject the laws to multiple interpretations. csince most of the districts and provinces cannot meet their ends from local sources, the decentralized system required local authorities to look for additional income within their administrative boundaries. Such decentralized system can provide corrections to the inequity problems for the benefit of local stakeholders. However, short-term need of present generation has the potential to displace the need of a larger society and future generations.

7 Obstacles and Challenges cthe pressures toward existing forest conservation area has significantly increased not only because of illegal logging activities by settlers and outsiders, but also because of the encouragements of local stakeholders. There have been claims made by local authority to reduce the size of protected areas. cthere is also a rush to cultivate logs while the law enforcement level is low and the demand for timber is still high. The tragedy of the commons can be found in many forest areas. can important aspect that hinders the implementation of SFM in decentralized structure is the traveling rouge investors who visit villages with a big bag of money to encourage illegal logging activities.

8 Opportunities cunleashing the social energy at local (decentralized) level. The local people who have been a bystander and often victim of forest exploitation in the past may replace the Jakarta appointed concessionaires and in turn employing SFM principles for their self interests preventing floods and erosion at local level. ccombating corruptions. There are more than 75 anti-corruption organizations in almost every major cities in Indonesia. cfinancial support for good governance projects has increased, however, the pooling of resources under a large partnership scheme between the Indonesian government and donor institutions, with modest involvement of prominent civil society celebrities, has generated new problems.

9 Opportunities cthere are also a growing number of local NGOs that address forestry management problems to the media, parliament and government authorities at district and provincial levels. cthere are about 44 organized indigenous communities through out Indonesia with total population of 10 millions people. Their alliance, called AMAN, has been active in promoting legal recognitions for land rights claims. can association of district (Kabupaten) governments was formed several years ago. This association can facilitate internal discussions within a district as well as sharing of experiences across districts. cmulti-stakeholders forum. This multi-stakeholders forum will complement existing governance structure and will enhance the understanding of local aspirations as well as the large society demands.

10 Opportunities cindonesia is not the only country in the world that has gone through a decentralization process, neither as the only country in political transition. What need to be done is to learn from other countries in transition how they have coped with those problems. cthere is also a growing need to reorganize land use allocation at district level. A revision of spatial plans for district governments would serve as a crucial leverage to maintain high value forests while creating space for development activities. cwe need actions to mobilize consensus among local stakeholders to manage their forest resources using SFM principles to cater for the demand of society at large as well as future generations