"The present study examines the preliminary effects of decentralisation on forests and estate crops in Malinau district, East Kalimantan. It is one of nine district level case studies carried out during 2000 and early 2001 by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in four provinces: Riau, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. The findings presented in these studies reflect the conditions and processes that existed in the study districts suring the initial phase of Indonesia's decentralisation process"--P. vii.

Berau district has been one of East Kalimantan's largest sources of timber since the mid-1980s. Until the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, most of the district's formal timber production was conducted by large-scale HPH concession holders, and the vast majority of the fiscal revenues generated flowed to the national government. Over the last several years, considerable volumes of logs have also been harvested illegally both by timber concessionaires and by small-scale manual loggers. Following the onset of Indonesia's regional autonomy and decentralization processes in late 1998, district officials moved aggressively to establish greater administrative control over the forest resources within their jurisdiction. They did so by allocating large numbers of small-scale forest conversion licenses, known as IPPK permits. Many of these were assigned to 'foundations' established by local entrepreneurs to coordinate the creation of logging ventures with village cooperatives and other community groups in parts of Berau with valuable stands of timber. When the central government pressured district governments to stop issuing IPPK permits within the officially designated 'Forest Estates' in late 2000, Berau officials shifted tactics and began allocating a new type of logging permit, known as IPKTM, in forested areas where individuals or community groups held titles of ownership or other types of land certificates. District officials have also pressured PT Inhutani I, the state forestry enterprise owned by the central government, and other HPH concession holders to enter into equity partnerships with the district government. This has given the district government a direct stake in protecting the operations ...

"Since early-2000, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has conducted research on the decentralisation of forest administration and policies affecting forests in Indonesia. This project has sought to document the real and anticipated impacts of decentralisation on forest management, forest community livelihoods, and economic development at the provincial and district levels. During the initial phase of this research, CIFOR conducted case studies in nine kabupaten or districts, in four provinces: Riau, East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. These case studies were carried out in 2000, with follow up visits to some districts conducted in early 2001. As such, the findings presented in the present report and the companion case studies reflect the conditions and processes that existed in the study districts during the initial phase of Indonesia's decentralisation process"--P. iii.

The decentralization of control over the vast forests of the world is moving at a rapid pace, with both positive and negative ramifications for people and forests themselves. The fresh research from a host of Asia-Pacific countries described in this book presents rich and varied experience with decentralization and provides important lessons for other regions. Beginning with historical and geographical overview chapters, the book proceeds to more in-depth coverage of the region's countries. Research findings stress rights, roles and responsibilities on the one hand, and organization, capacity-building, infrastructure and legal aspects on the other. With these overarching themes in mind, the authors take on many controversial topics and address practical challenges related to financing and reinvestment in sustainable forest management under decentralized governance. Particular efforts have been made to examine decentralization scales from the local to the national, and to address gender issues. The result is a unique examination of decentralization issues in forestry with clear lessons for policy, social equity, forest management, research, development and conservation in forested areas across the globe from the tropics to temperate regions. Published with CIFOR

'This book provides an excellent overview of more than a decade of transformation in a forest landscape where the interests of local people extractive industries and globally important biodiversity are in conflict. The studies assembled here teach us that plans and strategies are fine but in the real world of the forest frontier conservation must be based upon negotiation social learning and an ability to muddle through.' Jeffrey Sayer senior scientific adviser Forest Conservation Programme IUCN - International Union for of Nature The devolution of control over the world's forests from nationa.