Challenges for Local Communities and Livelihoods to Seek Sustainable Forest Management in Indonesia

Abstract

With the growing potentialities and respect of traditional knowledge for sustainable forest management, community-based forest management (CBFM) has been advocated in the mainstream discussion of forest management and sustaining livelihood of local communities. Forest certification has emerged as an experimental system for new forest governance beyond the state and mechanisms that combine legality with market incentives for producers and retailers. Yet there have been few case studies on its implementation and impact, particularly in developing countries. This article presents a case study of CBFM-certified Indonesian villages and discusses how CBFM has been practiced in the context of the multifaceted challenges of the community, linked with a forest certification scheme under the umbrella of sustainable forest management. Because this was the first village-based forest management case to be granted forest certification in Indonesia, this study's findings provide a model for other communities that seek forest certification and promote sustainable forest management.