Preventing future forest fires (2)

By Aleksius Jemadu

This is the second of two articles on how we can prevent forest fires in the future.

BANDUNG (JP): Yet the question is how can we establish multiorganizational service networks in the forestry sector? We have learned that networks consist of interactions among public and private actors who are bound together by the fact that they are interdependent.

To see how these actors might depend on each other, let us describe their respective roles and positions. The Ministry of Forestry holds the authority over state forest lands and is responsible for the protection of the forest and the environment. To perform its multiple tasks in managing forest areas the ministry has limitations both in terms of human and financial resources. Therefore it needs to share its responsibilities with the local people.

The Ministry of Forestry might also need to provide soft loans to local people which can be taken from the Reforestation Fund. Local government authorities could be trusted to organize the management of the credits.

Local authorities can also be responsible for supervising the implementation of the project. The task can be carried out by the Provincial Forestry Service (Dinas Kehutanan Propinsi) or the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda Propinsi). Timber industries which might need a supply of raw materials from local people can contribute to the financing of training and education of the people.

The Ministry of Environment can be expected to provide incentives to any group having the best performance in protecting and conserving their forest area. From this scenario it can be seen that the more the actors cooperate the more they are encouraged to realize a common objective of sustaining forest resources. It is the task of public administrators and development managers to facilitate such cooperation.

There are several advantages to these multiorganizational service networks. First, they can be proposed as an alternative to the implementation of the forest village development program, which seems be too hierarchical and dominated by the interests of powerful actors.

Second, much forest area can be conserved because local people will participate in this goal and can achieve real benefits from doing so. In addition, the project can give a significant contribution to local economic development.

Third, the project can also reduce the burden of forestry authorities in controlling large forest areas, because some of this responsibility has been transferred to the local people. Instead of recruiting new personnel, they could improve the skills of the existing ones.

In addition, the Ministry of Forestry can concentrate more on the supervision of forest concessionaires. Local people's participation in controlling forest areas is particularly important to prevent forest fires.

Fourth, this project can reduce illegal logging since social control in rural communities is believed to be strong. Moreover, the participation of traditional leaders in the project can also be used to control the behavior of local people.

The prominence of interdependence among actors in the application of multiorganizational service networks in managing forest resources is very much in line with the idea of Elinor Ostrom (1994) regarding the necessity of voluntary actions instead of a coercive state in governing common natural resources.

Ostrom argued that the use of centralization of control and privatization as policy prescriptions in managing natural resources was actually based on unrealistic assumptions about the real function of institutions. It takes for granted human capabilities and limitations in dealing with problems of managing common resources.

It would be a great mistake if the local population were excluded from government efforts to sustain Indonesian forest resources. Had the government and timber companies been more willing to share its responsibilities with the so-called "traditional keepers" of forests, forest fires might have been reduced to a minimal level. It seems that the thick haze which has obscured our vision in the governance of the forestry sector should be removed first before we come to terms with the real haze.

The writer is the director of the Parahyangan Center for International Studies at UNPAR, Bandung. His research areas include global politics and environmental problems in developing countries.