Land Grab and Land Grant: Contextualizing Landscape Justice in Social Forestry in Indonesia

Abstract

Social forestry has emerged as a popular approach to achieving landscape justice by empowering local communities. However, the development and implementation of such programs often face challenges. This paper explores the concept of landscape justice within the context of Indonesian social forestry in two ways. First, it juxtaposes the social forestry program with palm oil plantations to highlight the relationship between environmental initiatives and capital expansion, and the formation of green capitalism. By examining the historical development of social forestry, the paper argues that current political and legal frameworks have facilitated the depoliticization of previously radical, anti-capitalist, and anti-palm oil civil movements, despite notionally "empowering" local communities. Second, the paper interrogates the inclusivity of the social forestry program within local communities, noting that NGOs sometimes label local people as "cooperative" or "stubborn," thus overlooking the pre-existing social tensions. The paper posits that more attention should be given to the social foundations underlying environmental projects and the new eco-social structure arising from environmental governance.

● Reviews the debate surrounding neoliberal environmental projects and the concept of "green capitalism"

● Contextualizes the essence of landscape justice by tracing the local historical and political developments

● Examines environmental projects from both macro-level political economy perspectives and micro-level day-to-day practices

● Investigates the role of environmental NGOs on the ground and the evolving social relations resulting from environmental projects

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Social Forestry / Landscape Justice / Community-Based Natural Resource Management / Green Capitalism / Environmental Justice / Plantation / Indonesia

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Acknowledgements

Penny White Project Fund by Graduate School of Design, Harvard University

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