Decentralization of Forest Management, Local Institutional Capacity, and its Effect on Access of Local People to Forest Resources: The Case Of West Sumatra, Indonesia

This chapter studies the capacity of local institutions to receive forest management rights in West Sumatra, Indonesia, where local institutions existed before the enactment of decentralization. We carried out focus group discussions to assess their capacity and a survey to learn its effect to households' access to forest products. From this fieldwork, we found that most local institutions are not ready to fully receive forest management rights transfer. They face lack of capabilities to formulate their internal regulation and negotiation processes against disputed issues. This condition leads to conflict. Therefore, conflicts are becoming more frequent among people, among local institutions, and between local institution and local government. There is an absence of low-cost conflict resolution. Consequently, households are facing uncertainty in the access to forest resources. The powerful households get higher benefit than the poorer households, indicating a continuation of elite capture, although the decentralization policy was enacted more than a decade ago.