2011 Volume 19 Issue 3 Pages 123-133
The process of implementing the Community Forest (Hutan Kemasyarakatan: HKm) scheme in Gunungkidul district of Java, Indonesia, was explored by a case study method. Topics focused on were: 1) the local agrarian context in which the scheme was introduced, 2) the household characteristics of participants and non-participants, and determinants for participation, and 3) the conditions of the tree planting, and the effects the planted trees had on rural livelihoods. Transferred state forestland in the studied sub-village had been extensively encroached upon and utilized for crop cultivation by local people at the time HKm was initiated. The primary determinant of whether a household participated in HKm was whether the household had previously occupied any faming plots in the current HKm area. While intercropping between the rows of planted trees was allowed, reforestation on the encroached plots led to a loss of farming opportunities among the participant households as the canopy of planted trees closed over. It was revealed that providing official long-tem usufruct through the scheme worked adversely for local livelihoods in the case of Gunungkidul; reforestation was carried out at the expense of de facto land use opportunities for local people. The results suggested that implementation of community-based forest management schemes or programs without careful consideration for existing local agrarian contexts, especially forestland encroachment, may generate unexpected outcomes.
