Finding Common Ground in Rinjani, Lombok, Indonesia: Towards Improved Governance, Conflict Resolution, and Institutional Reform

Abstract

"The Rinjani National Park in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, and the protected forests around it represent the single most important watershed ecosystem for the whole island of Lombok. The area is plagued by a myriad of conflicts between local communities and government over illegal logging, land-occupation, and the extraction of various non- timber forest products and fauna. This 125,000-hectare ecosystem harbors more than half a million people who reside in over 80 village communities; more than half of which directly share a border with the national park. The National Parks management unit also faces various jurisdictional conflicts with three district governments that overlap with the park area. In order to raise local revenues, district governments have begun to issue various extraction permits that have led to the exploitation of surrounding forests on a massive scale.

"In an effort to manage these conflicts in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of this island-ecosystem, a participatory action research (PAR) and conflict resolution (CR) process was recently initiated. This initiative attempts to involve all stakeholders - communities, agencies of district and provincial governments, the National Park Management Unit, and various NGOs in the development of lasting agreements for long-range natural resource and ecosystem management. So far, the multistakeholder research and mediation team has conducted participatory field research in about 30 representative villages and has initiated participatory policy analysis with officials from the three districts and the province.

"A main objective and challenge of the PAR process is to identify strategic common concerns as a basis for generating agreements among all the various stakeholders for sustainably managing the natural resources of the area. It is anticipated that without a strategic and unifying issue, it will be extremely difficult to forge long-lasting agreements and commitment among all stakeholders.

"This paper explores the potential viability of organizing around water management as a strategic common concern for bringing about significant changes in natural resource governance, conflict management, and institutional reform in the context of Rinjani."