Economic Opportunity Bias of Peatland Conservation Governance in Indonesia: Evidence from a Rural Household Survey in Riau Province

Abstract

With peatland fires worsening from the 1990s, in 2016 the Indonesian government established the Peatland Restoration Agency and introduced peatland conservation governance (PCG), aimed at restoring peatlands and improving communities’ welfare. This study investigated peatland fire prevention and income improvement programs’ (IIPs) operations in a PCG framework at the village level. To detect the challenges of sustainable PCG in R Village, Riau Province, we examined the distortions in PCG operation and the resulting inequity distribution of economic benefits. In fire prevention programs, the local firefighting group Masyarakat Peduli Api (MPA) was institutionally positioned as a contact point for collaborating with external actors. In IIPs, MPA mediated between the village and external actors in selecting contract workers. As a result, households owning mineral soil lands tended to improve their income; however, households that faced livelihood loss risks due to the increasing probability of fire and restrictions on using peatlands did not experience improved income. Therefore, we find that IIPs did not contribute to peatland restoration and possibly contributed to household income inequity. These results imply that widening economic opportunity biases may inhibit sustainable PCG. To achieve sustainable conservation governance, we suggest a mechanism that ensures equity by matching households restricted from using peatlands with those benefiting from IIPs.