Territorializing Restoration: The Exclusion of Indigenous Agroforestry in Indonesia

Abstract

For decades, formal forest restoration initiatives in Indonesia have largely been driven by the state, companies, international donors, and NGOs. Meanwhile, despite widespread state and plantation enclosures Indigenous Dayak groups have been regenerating lands through swidden and turning them into fruit-based agroforestry for generations. Across Indonesia, traditional practices are largely excluded from the national and international restoration agenda. This paper examines forest restoration through the lens of Indigenous agroforestry, specifically through the transformations unfolding in shifting cultivation practices among the Dayak Ga'ai in Long Buang village, Bulungan District, North Kalimantan. Through a political ecology lens, the study examines the main drivers of deforestation alongside the obstacles of integration of Indigenous restoration practices. The fieldwork involved participant observation and interviews with various members of the local community. The findings reveal how local knowledge and practices can and do successfully enact forest restoration in subtle and overlooked ways, while also providing subsistence and income, as well as helping to maintain traditional land ownership and relationships to the land. However, the expansion of market-oriented oil palm plantation and state territorialization cannot be understated, which has expanded through the designation of state forests, and which continue to impact agroforestry practices. In situating our approach around the processes of territorializing forestry, the analysis shows the importance of integrating local (Indigenous land tenure and knowledge) with land reform policies at the national level aimed at solving land tenure conflicts. Only in doing so, can any reform initiative hope to support equity through rights recognition and achieve more lasting forest restoration that has become a growing international priority.

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