Paper short abstract:

We study the impact of Indonesia’s social forestry on mangrove deforestation and poverty. Using data and official indices, we focus on indigenous forest rights and its interactions with public services, aiming to inform effective social forestry practices for conservation and environmental justice.

Paper long abstract:

Building upon evidence of positive environmental and social impacts arising from granting forest management rights to indigenous people and local communities, our study examines the nationwide impact of Indonesia’s social forestry (SF) policy on reducing mangrove deforestation and alleviating poverty at village level. We will measure mangrove forest cover change using publicly available datasets, such as those from Mapbiomas Indonesia. The measurement of poverty alleviation will be through social resilience and economic resilience indices developed by the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration. These indices, informed by three waves of village survey data from the Indonesian Statistics Agency (2014, 2018, and 2021), echo aspects of the multidimensional poverty index developed by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. Our focus lies on adat (indigenous) forest designation, where communities are granted full bundle of rights without temporal limitation. Another key feature of Indonesia’s SF involves commercialization through business cooperative establishment, expected to contribute further to poverty alleviation. Furthermore, we will also consider the interaction between SF and other direct and/or indirect factors that may influence its effectiveness in reducing mangrove deforestation and poverty. One example is investment in basic public services (e.g., healthcare and education facilities, roads) essential for value-addition in remote areas, recognizing that rural poverty stems partly from limited access to public services and connectivity. This study aims to inform the government and practitioners of social forestry and mangrove conservation, fostering a more cohesive evaluation of the global agenda of forest-based climate mitigation, conservation, and environmental justice.