At a time when climate change, land degradation, and forest exploitation are intensifying across Indonesia, the findings offer practical evidence that environmental protection does not always depend on centralized enforcement. Instead, when communities are positioned as custodians of forest ecosystems, environmental protection becomes embedded in everyday social practice.
Why Community Forest Stewardship Matters Now
Across Indonesia and other tropical regions, forests play a critical role in regulating water systems, stabilizing soil, and reducing disaster risks such as floods and landslides. However, conventional forest governance has often relied on top-down regulation that struggles to adapt to local realities.
In response, social forestry policies have expanded community access to forest areas. Yet access alone does not guarantee sustainability. Many programs falter due to weak institutions, limited oversight, or lack of community ownership. This is where the concept of community forest stewardship becomes central.
Community forest stewardship goes beyond legal access. It refers to a system in which local residents collectively manage forests based on shared norms, customary rules, and long-term responsibility for ecosystem health. Muchtar’s research shows that this approach can significantly strengthen local environmental resilience—the ability of ecosystems and communities to withstand, adapt to, and recover from environmental pressures.
How the Research Was Conducted
The study used a qualitative case study approach, focusing on forest-dependent villages in North Luwu Regency. The area was selected because it represents both active community-based forest management and ongoing environmental pressure, including land degradation and climate variability.
Data were gathered through:
- In-depth interviews with community forest managers, customary leaders, forest-dependent residents, and village officials
- Direct field observations of forest use and protection practices
- Analysis of village regulations, customary rules, and local environmental documents
Rather than relying on statistics alone, the research explored how people understand forests, how rules are enforced socially, and how daily practices influence ecological outcomes.
Key Findings: Social Practices Shape Environmental Outcomes
The study identified several interconnected mechanisms through which community forest stewardship strengthens environmental resilience.
Local rules are flexible and reviewed as environmental conditions change, allowing communities to adapt to long-term ecological shifts rather than rigidly following outdated practices.
Environmental Protection and Social Strength Go Hand in Hand
One of the most significant insights from the study is that environmental resilience and social cohesion reinforce each other. Collective forest management strengthens trust, shared responsibility, and cooperation within communities. In turn, strong social ties make environmental rules more effective.
According to Asikin Muchtar of Universitas Indonesia Timur, community stewardship works because it aligns environmental protection with everyday survival and shared identity. Forests are not treated as distant conservation objects, but as integral parts of local life systems.
This social dimension is often overlooked in formal environmental policy, which tends to prioritize legal frameworks over lived relationships between people and ecosystems.
Implications for Policy and Practice
The findings carry important lessons for policymakers, development agencies, and environmental practitioners.
For policymakers, the study suggests that successful social forestry programs must invest in strengthening local norms and institutions, not just issuing permits. Community capacity-building, recognition of customary rules, and long-term facilitation are critical.
For local governments, collaborative governance models that involve communities in monitoring and decision-making can improve environmental outcomes while reducing enforcement costs.
For communities, the research validates local knowledge and collective action as legitimate and effective tools for environmental protection.
The study also challenges the assumption that resilience must be built through large-scale interventions. Instead, it shows that resilience often emerges from small, consistent practices embedded in daily community life.
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