The Politics of Deforestation in Indonesia

What is it about?

Despite growing concern over the extent and consequences of tropical deforestation in the 1980s and early 1990s, it is continuining unabated. This article maintains that a key reason for the failure to slow deforestation is the inadequacy of conventional explanations. These provide important insights into the specific agents and underlying causes of deforestation but do not sufficiently explain the process which leads to the destruction of tropical forests. To better understand this process, it is necessary to examine the politics which shape and drive the various factors contributing to deforestation. In the case of Indonesia, a centralized military-dominated leadership, attitudes of the Javanese decision makers, institutionalized corruption, an emphasis on stability and national integration, a political system which mainly benefits the elite, and financial and technical support frominternational institutions and Northern countries, especially Japan, encourage deforestation while protecting interests which exploit the forests. This political context increases the environmental impact of land clearing for agriculture, large-scale development projects, logging, poverty, population growth and poorly designed government policies. As a result, Indonesia continues to lose nine hundred thousand hectares of forest every year. The analysis suggests that to decrease the rate of forest loss in Indonesia it is essential to recognize and reshape political institutions and attitudes driving deforestation-only then will effective solutions be possible.

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