Transforming indigenous ownership claims into state-regulated access in a national park in Indonesia: A power relation perspective

Abstract

In many countries, the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities over forest resources are largely unrecognized and increasingly threatened by development projects and conservation policies. When Indigenous communities assert claims grounded in oral traditions and historical narratives, they often encounter formal legal systems privileging written documentation. Although Indonesia has introduced significant legal reforms, including the Constitutional Court Decision recognizing customary forests as distinct from state forests, the forest tenure system continues to inadequately accommodate indigenous forest rights and access. This paper examines how long-standing Indigenous claims over forest resources in Mamasa (West Sulawesi, Indonesia) were weakened during the establishment of Gandang Dewata National Park. Drawing on the Actor-Centered Power (ACP) framework, we identify the strategies through which the state weakened local resistance and reshaped Indigenous tenure claims. These strategies transformed collective ownership claims into administratively regulated forms of access through scientific-technocratic framing, conservation partnerships, and livelihood-based incentives. The study contributes to forest governance scholarship by demonstrating that conservation authority can be consolidated not only through formal legal power but also through the strategic reconfiguration of property claims, access, and social relations.

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