The devolution of control over the world's forests from national or state and provincial level governments to local control is an ongoing global trend that deeply affects all aspects of forest management, conservation of biodiversity, control over resources, wealth distribution and livelihoods. This powerful new book from leading experts provides an in-depth account of how trends towards increased local governance are shifting control over natural resource management from the state to local societies, and the implications of this control for social justice and the environment. The book is based on ten years of work by a team of researchers in Malinau, Indonesian Borneo, one of the world's richest forest areas. The first part of the book lays the theoretical framework and larger context in which changes in state and society relations have occurred and examines the theory of “state-in-society”, and the implications of this theory for decentralization's impact on power struggles between the state and society. Part two covers in detail how the devolution process has occurred in Malinau, the policy context, struggles and conflicts and how Malinau has organized itself. The third part of the book looks at the broader issues of property relations, conflict, local governance and political participation associated with decentralization. Importantly, it draws out the salient points for other international contexts including the important determination that cultural alliances, especially among ethnic minorities, are taking on greater prominence and ethnic minorities are finding new ways to influence forest policy in the world's richest forests.  Published with CIFOR.

The Decentralization of Forest Governance: Politics, Economics and the Fight for Control of Forests in Indonesian Borneo (Earthscan Forestry Library) PDF

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