MA Thesis Summary (2021)
Recipes for Co-Managing Environmental and Economic Goals in National Parks: Lessons from Indonesia
Summary
Dini Harmita
Collaborative management is an approach which allows every side or stakeholder a right and obligation towards something essential for them. This approach emphasizes mutual understanding between sides or stakeholders. Collaborative management requires the involvement of communities. In the management of national parks, the local community’s participation determines how collaborative management works, but that of other related stakeholders is also significant.
This research will answer the following research question: What set of conditions enable conservation and poverty reduction through collaborative management of national parks?
This study is aimed at formulating the “recipes” to co-manage environmental and economic goals in national parks. It offers simple recipes, conditions commonly observable in more successful cases, and presents other relevant issues. Inparticular, I revisit and revise Ostrom's (1990) design principles in light of national parks in Indonesia.
I analyze eleven national parks in Indonesia, which compilesboth more and less successful cases. Although I use the information gathered during the visits to a few cases, mainly secondary data is used to analyze most cases given the practical challenges of on-site visits due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and governmental restrictions on the cross-border transits. The national park cases include Bukit Dua Belas, Gunung Halimun Salak, Bali Barat, Kutai, Gunung Rinjani, Tanjung Puting, Bunaken, Komodo, Ujung Kulon, GunungPalung, and Meru Betiri National Parks.
The difficulty in collecting primary data may cause a limitation to this study. For example, people's perceptions of collaborative management and active conflict should have been measured and understood through direct interviews and observation. Due to the COVID-19, however, conducting fieldwork was problematic. To complement this, I collected and reviewed empirical studies on 11 national parks in Indonesia. I made utmost efforts to collect whatever fact-based information on the cases to avoid erroneous interpretation. However, subsequent research with primary information is needed in the near future.
Since collaborative management has not been a complete success, scholars have discussed what increases the chance ofdesired outcomes. Natural parks and other similar settings can be described as common-pool resources (Ostrom 1990),which means a resource pool identical to a public good. It is costly (but not impractical) to rule out potential recipientsfrom gaining profits. In her canonical work, Ostrom (1990) concludes that a set of conditions called the design principles are the keys for protecting long-enduring resources. The design principles include the following items.
Indonesia has 54 national parks. Each park has a different set of conditions to achieve successful collaborative management. The followings are the conditions found in the cases of national parks.
The Involvement of Stakeholders
First, related stakeholders’ involvement, including indigenous people, local communities, academicians, private sectors, local governments, the central government, NGOs, and donors/facilitators, is necessary starting from the planning. InBukit Dua Belas NP, without the involvement of Orang Rimba, collaborative management would only have been materialized on paper, which could have caused continuous conflicts (Yusuf and Syafrial 2019). In the case of Kutai National Park, Mitra Kutai, which consists of nine extracting companies, was involved only as a financial contribution, not engaged in management. This limited involvement caused a lack of communication and led to ineffective collaborative management (Wangke 2017). The involvement of donors or facilitators and NGO/INGO such as JICA, WWF, TNC, USAID, Sokola, and KAIL was also crucial in either triggering collaborative management facilitating the voices of the vulnerable ones, including local communities and indigenous people. The central government and local governments sometimes walked in different direction.
Sustainable Funding Mechanism
Second, a sustainable funding mechanism is one of the main factors (Harmita 2009). Gunung Halimun Salak NP in West Java Indonesia implemented Model Kampung Konservasi (Conservation Village Model) with JICA and local government. The program aims to help people surrounding the national park have a better livelihood so that they do not need to cut the national park trees anymore. However, asustainable funding mechanism is further needed even in this case since people tended to depend on the program's budget. Also in other national parks, especially the marine ones, the money accrued from aids was not coordinated well.
Sustainable Conflict Management
Third, sustainable conflict management is necessary to conserve nature and reduce poverty. Every stakeholder has their way of solving the conflict in their arena. The involvement of the third party, such as NGO/INGO or facilitator sometimes helps conflict resolution. Regardless, to build a sustainable relationship among stakeholders to reduce the chance of conflicts, the participation of local communities and indigenous people is necessary. For example, based on the national park visits, a conflict related to water resource management occurred in Bali Barat National Park. Local communities needed water, and they asked the national park to take water from inside the national park. Facilitated by the national park staff, their voices were delivered to the officials, and their demand was met. Wisely, the national park allowed them to use the water and made a new regulation about water use inside a particular zone in the national park. In cooperation with i-i network, Bali Barat NP developed its capacity to be good facilitators.
Harmonized Policies
Fourth, policy harmonization is necessary for implementing collaborative management sustainably. As mentioned before, sometimes the central government and local governments walk in different directions as the central government oftenemphasizes environmental conservation while local governments prioritize income generation. Both are important to achieve; therefore, the policies have to be harmonized.
Trust
Fifth, trust and certain kinds of networks are necessary for developing collaborative management. It will strengthen not only relationship between individuals within a unit but also between units. Once local communities and indigenous people trust the national park staff, they will help them cleaning the beach, for example, like what people did in the case of Bali Barat National Park. In Gunung Rinjani National Park, with the spirit of 'Our Rinjani', people tend to help each other take care of nature and improve welfare.
The following table explains the resume of the set of conditions in each case of the national park. As previously mentioned in the concluding remarks in the previous chapter, Bali Barat, Gunung Halimun Salak, and Gunung Rinjani are identified as the more successful cases. They can manage conflict sustainably. Besides conflict resolution, the other condition in the set becomes the criteria of the judgment.
Table 1. Set of Conditions of Each National Park
National Park | Set of Conditions | ||||
| Involvement of Related Stakeholders | Sustainable Funding Mechanism | Sustainable Conflict Management | Harmonized Policy | Trust and Networks |
Bukit Dua Belas NP | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
Gunung Halimun Salak NP | Strong | Moderate | Strong | Moderate | Strong |
Bali Barat NP | Strong | Strong | Strong | Moderate | Strong |
Kutai NP | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
Gunung Rinjani NP | Strong | Strong | Strong | Moderate | Strong |
Tanjung Puting NP | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
Bunaken NP | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
Komodo NP | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
Ujung Kulon NP | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
Gunung Palung NP | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
Meru Betiri NP | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
Note: The rows of the three most successful NPs are shadowed.
Source: Author
From the table mentioned above, it can be seen that all national parks have a moderate level of harmonized policy. Due to the omnipresence of un-harmonized policies between central and local governments regarding collaborative management implementation in Indonesia, it may happen. The national parks are still working on building better transparency in the national park management. Two national parks with strong involvement of related stakeholders, sustainable funding mechanisms, sustainable conflict management, trust and networks are Bali Barat NP and Gunung Rinjani NP. One national park with similar characteristics but a moderately sustainable funding mechanism is Gunung Halimun Salak NP.
The conditions are the suggestions for related stakeholders to act upon it to achieve their goals. Among various conditions, related stakeholders’ involvement, sustainable funding mechanism, trust and networks, and sustainable conflict management are the most consequential conditions. Each national park has its definition of collaborative management’s success, but they agree with managing conflict as one of the indicators. Interaction within the stakeholder itself influences the relationships between stakeholders.
This study has compiled stories from different times and different national parks. However, the study’s limitation is that the story doesn't have the same timeline for each different national park or country. It is a challenge for the next research. It will also be interesting to see conflict management from a psychological perspective where potential mediators sustain the conflict resolution mechanism.
The structured analysis of each national park in this study has merely delivered the idea of being successful, at least in managing conflict in protected areas, by implementing collaborative management to achieve environmental and economic goals. Perhaps the recipes produced by this study can enrich the related actors’ ideas to manage conflict in national parks both within and outside of Indonesia.
As a limitation of this thesis, the recipes for co-managing environmental and economic goals in the national park resulted in this study may be applicable to several national parks but may also not be relevant for others. The author also omitted the possibility of doing the interview online when it was possible. Bias may happen if we only interview those who are connected with internet technology without seeing the real condition in the field but at least it can complete and make the expressions in this thesis better.
