Paper short abstract:

Despite emphasizing in their charters the role of local custom (adat) in natural resource management, recently established conservation districts and subdistricts in Indonesia have undermined this role of customary councils through processes of cooptation and governmentalisation.

Paper long abstract:

One aspect of the trend toward proliferation of new administrative units in Indonesia as part of the regional autonomy initiated in 1999 has been the reversion, especially in the outer islands, of some aspects of resource management back to local customary (adat) councils. More recently, customary management of natural resources has been included in the charters to establish 'conservation districts' in Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumatra, as well as 'conservation subdistricts' in Sulawesi. This paper focuses on some of the drivers and consequences of this nascent form of resource governance, concentrating upon the consequences for the operation of customary management of resources at a local level.

After surveying the range of these new conservation-oriented administrative units within Indonesia, this paper focuses upon the formation of Malinau Conservation District in East Kalimantan in relation to Kayan Mentarang National Park and of the Lindu Conservation Subdistrict in Central Sulawesi in relation to Lore Lindu National Park. It highlights changes in the role of adat in the management of the associated national parks and the retrenchment of the sphere of authority of local customary officials in environmental regulation brought about the new conservation district and subdistrict. The paper concludes by discussing how this new regimen of regularization of conservation undermines previous initiatives in co-management of the national park with customary authorities, suggesting that such a governmentalizing strategy may exacerbate conservation conflicts.