Local policy-making mechanisms: processes, implementation and impacts of the decentralized forest management system in Tanjung Jabung Barat District, Jambi, Sumatra

Abstract

Following the enactment of Decentralization Laws No. 22/1999 and No. 25/1999, and several Forestry Ministry's decrees issued in 1999, district governments throughout Indonesia were given a greater authority to formulate local regulations over forest resources. The District Government of Tanjung Jabung Barat in Jambi took this opportunity to introduce three policies regarding small-scale timber utilization and forestry revenues. This report begins with a normative legal analysis and basic evaluation of these policies. It then explores the district's policy-making processes and mechanisms for implementing district regulations and describes the functions and roles of the relevant district institutions. The report then figures out the players in the process and how they influence the policy agenda and at the end provides an analysis of the impacts of decentralized forest policies on local people, focusing on small-scale timber concession licences. This work is the result of research meant to generate information and analysis to facilitate negotiated recommendations for improving forest policies and policy making processes by supporting public input to shape the decentralized forestry policy agenda for the district, and help develop a forest management model oriented to increased prosperity and justice for local people. The research calls for the District to draft a new regulation on public participation in district policy making, with the policy objective of building consensus and synergy amongst local stakeholders by using appropriate public involvement mechanisms.