Paper short abstract:

to follow

Paper long abstract:

This presentation departs from the observation that Indonesian state tenure arrangements have failed to ensure sustainable use of natural resources in the delta of Mahakam River. This failure may be examined either from ecological, economic or social points of view. Perhaps most significant are the effects of a shrimp rush that was largely market-driven with short-term economic motives and concurrent population growth and the introduction of a new technology. Another factor that is important but largely overlooked in analyses of the shrimp frontier in the delta is the failure of state or government laws and policies. On paper these laws and regulations often contradict each other. In practice, legal implementation and legal enforcement are effectively absent. The 1999 decentralization of central state power has made the implementation and enforcement of laws and regulations even more problematic because central and local government began to debate about who has responsibility to protect the state mangrove forest in the delta. Disguising behind the argument that shrimp production has boosted the local economy, government officers prefer to keep supporting the shrimp pond owners while knowing that they operate within an area that is designated as state mangrove forest in which no such economic activity is allowed to take place. At the same time, pressured by local interests, sub-district officers legitimized the property rights of the shrimp ponds owners. Next a district and appellate state court legalized the illegal status of property rights in the delta. In my presentation I identify and analyze state laws and regulations and the ways in which bureaucrats and judges interpret, implement, and enforce those laws and regulations. This will allow me to specify the failures of state tenure arrangements and possible future improvements.