Problem Statement and Structure of the Study

1.6.1. The Challenge for the Indonesian Forestry Sector to apply the EsA

Severe environmental disasters happen repeatedly throughout Indonesia, for example, landslides, floods, lack of fresh water, clean water scarcity etc. Usually forestry aspects have been seen as the main factor of such accidents. This kind of simplicity often raises trouble for the forestry sector. Such issues usually relate to forest degradation due to intensive land conversion that might lead to decreasing natural resilience and environmental quality. Within the forestry sector, issues like habitat loss for various rare plants and wild animals, or fragmentation of natural areas into much smaller patches have been understood as results of habitat isolation. Low watershed quality and fragile environments have caused various disasters. The quality of life has also declined due to air pollution, over-heating etc. as an effect of environmental imbalance. Pollutions usually are originated from industry, agriculture, home activities and transportation. Simple attribution to the forestry sector as the sole actor with responsibility for maintaining the ecosystem is certainly inadequate. The Government of Indonesia recognized that all development sectors have responsibility. Each sectoral contribution with an elaborated concept how to maintain ecosystems in development needs to be studied. But there are few studies that tailor those issues, particularly at the management level, across sectors and in the frame of integrated management.

Since early 2003, Indonesia’s forest policy has committed to an ‘ecosystem approach’.

This approach has been determined by the Ministry of Forestry (MoF) through a decree No.

342/2003 on Strategic Planning of the Forestry Department. However, the Ministry of Environment (2009) in the Indonesian Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan has reported that the achievement is not yet clarified, although the ratified UN-CBD of 1994 has entered into force through Law No. 5/1994.

Although the application of EsA’s principles is voluntary or non-legally binding, the challenge is to identify the conceptual constraints concerning their application and integration into the referring management system as well as to estimate what consequences will be with the current practices.

1.6.2. Aims, Objectives and Questions of the Study

The aim of this study in general is to support forestry, particularly forest management, related to the committed ecosystem approach. This includes:

 to learn about ecosystem approach principles and their practical implementation through study cases;

 to support the current forestry concept based on the ecosystem approach;

 to identify the areas that are administered by the forestry sector and to assess the respective expertise and opinion of foresters ;

 to highlight the importance of forestry in any type of land development;

 to promote inter-sectoral collaboration, particularly from the forestry standpoint.

Accordingly, this study has four objectives, namely:

 To evaluate some cases of sectoral development policies and practices focussing on environmental management issues and ecological forest functions with the EsA principles as a normative background. The goal is to find out about challenges, to present the relevant knowledge of the respective disciplines, to emphasize legal-instruments and to present conservation experiences.

 To position forestry in development. The EsA principles are basically focussed on biodiversity means. Nonetheless they might also be seen as a concept that enables the initiation and promotion of forest enhancement. In this respect they might act as a challenge in areas where the forest has been fragmented and has shrunk to small and degraded remainders due to agricultural and urban development. This involves cross-sectoral development issues. Thus, understanding the general ecological context and key ecological components of the study area, including information about the regional conservation efforts are important. On the way around, the study is expected to explain to what extent the ‘ecosystem approach’ and its principles have been followed by the forestry sector.

 To reaffirm the management system in place, including its statutory support. The expected outcome is to explore the meaning of ecological functions of forests under Indonesian laws and to learn from practice examples shown in the case studies, how they are integrated in sectoral development.

 To position the role of foresters. Since the Ecosystem Approach is the new strategy that replaces the traditional one, the role of foresters might need to be extended and redefined.

In this respect, several case studies will be analysed on the basis of the following research questions:

(1) What is the substantial content of laws concerning ecological functions of forests and area management in Indonesia; what are the implications of those laws concerning the study site?

(2) What responsibilities have been taken by the forestry sector to improve ecological functions of forests in the study area?

(3) What are the consequences when EsA principles are applied by the forestry sector including collaboration with other development sectors and local communities?

(4) How does EsA intend to preserve the quality of the existing forests, and its biodiversity; how will it enhance the forest landscape and improve the environment quality for human’s comfort?

1.6.3. Study Area and Case Studies

The Bengawan-Solo-River Basin (later: BS Basin), Java (Indonesia) was selected as the area for all case studies. The Basin lies in two provinces, Central- and East-Java, where natural habitat areas are extremely fragmented and minimized. Many species have been lost, and many other species have been reduced to unsustainably small and isolated populations that may soon disappear. Like other places in Java, the Basin has a high density of human population which resulted in expansive land conversion for settlement and agricultural use. Even the steepest slopes and the most remote areas have been opened-up by road network development and converted to urbanized areas.

In this area, six forestry related sectoral development projects and two reports about the area’s development were chosen to investigate their ecological relevance concerning forest functions and to assess their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with regard to the EsA.

1.6.4. Structure of the Study

This study is structured into eight chapters, which are arranged in the following manner:

 Chapter 1 provides an introduction and some background information concerning the issues of the study. This chapter also outlines the problem statement as well as the research aims, objectives and questions as basis for the following investigations.

 Chapter 2 provides the theoretical and the conceptual framework which was necessary for the study. It encompasses the concept of ecosystem functions as the essential reason for management. The background of EsA and perspectives of environmental ethics are discussed to deduct the necessary actions to support forest functions. Chapter 2 further outlines differences between the two important views on forest management, namely EsA and SFM; and it discusses why the EsA approach is more suitable for this study. The EsA principles are portrayed literally as well as their correlation with the recent forest management.

 Chapter 3 describes the research procedure and the methods used for the study

 Chapter 4 presents first the existing legal system in place, including the hierarchy of legislations and a list of current regulations that determine ecological forest functions and their management. Then it provides the selected study cases that are related to the issues.

 Chapter 5 provides the selected study cases that are related to the issues.

Conclusions and recommendations to each case are also given.

 Chapter 6 evaluates the EsA context in Indonesia’s forest function management providing by a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis in order to answer the research questions and identify appropriate future management strategies.

 Finally chapter 7 presents general conclusions that reflect the results of the evaluation and gives recommendations for future management.