Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2023): NOVEMBER

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Conservation Policy, Indigeneity, and Changing Traditional Hunting Practices in West Papua

https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v7i2.27420
Sepus M. Fatem
Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Papua, Manokwari, Indonesia
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7185-5549
Yubelince Y. Runtuboi
Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Papua, Manokwari, Indonesia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0084-3046
Micah R. Fisher
East-West Center, Honolulu USA
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8246-2318
Yafed Sufi
Faculty of Letter and Culture, Universitas Papua, Manokwari, Indonesia
Ahmad Maryudi
Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5051-7217
Nurhady Sirimorok
Forest and Society Research Group (FSRG), Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Hasanudin, Makassar, Indonesia
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4041-6396

Corresponding Author(s) : Sepus M. Fatem

sepus_fatem@yahoo.com

Forest and Society, Vol. 7 No. 2 (2023): NOVEMBER

Abstract

Regional governments are increasingly developing conservation policy initiatives that are framed alongside the empowerment of Indigenous Peoples. This paper examines the case of Tambrauw, West Papua, that set out to establish one of the first ever Conservation Regencies in Indonesia. To understand the implications of conservation policy developments, we explored from an environmental justice perspective the ways that one of the most important forest-based activities of local communities – hunting – has changed in recent years. Data was collected using qualitative methods of participatory observation and interviews between 2015-2018 across three Tambrauw districts. The study shows how policy changes are increasing clashes between local hunters and conservation officials. This has implications for broader issues of conservation policy and local livelihoods, and sheds light on the more recent trend of foregrounding Indigenous identity in forest management. Although on the face of it the emergence of conservation regencies represents a trend in downscaling authority to empower local communities, findings shows that place-based and more locally responsive policies need to be established to address emerging conflicts that can also meet broader conservation outcomes.

Keywords

Hunting Conservation policy Environmental justice Tambrauw
Fatem, S. M., Runtuboi, Y. Y., Fisher, M. R., Sufi, Y., Maryudi, A., & Sirimorok, N. (2023). Conservation Policy, Indigeneity, and Changing Traditional Hunting Practices in West Papua. Forest and Society, 7(2), 359-379. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v7i2.27420
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX
References
  1. Agrawal, A., & Redford, K. (2009). Conservation and displacement: an overview. Conservation and Society, 7(1), 1–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0972-4923. 54790
  2. Awak, T. F., Fatem, S., & Yohanita, A. (2016). Sistem Perburuan Landak Moncong Panjang (Zaglossus bruijnii) pada Masyarakat Kampung Waibem dan Kampung Saukorem Tambrauw, Papua Barat. Jurnal Ilmu Kehutanan, 9(1), 57-66. https://doi.org/10.22146/jik.10184
  3. Awang, S. A. (2003). Politik kehutanan masyarakat. Kreasi Wacana & Center of Critical Social Studies.
  4. Batiran, K., Fisher, M. R., Verheijen, B., Sirimorok, N., & Sahide, M. A. K. (2023). Uprooting the Mosalaki: Changing institutions and livelihood impacts at Kelimutu National Park. Forest and Society, 7(2), 295-310. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs. v7i2.26464
  5. Bettinger, K. A. (2014). On the political edge: Conservation in an era of decentralization and democratization in central Sumatra, Indonesia [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
  6. Brechin, S. R., Wilshusen, P. R., & Fortwangler, C. L. (2012). Contested Nature: Promoting International Biodiversity with Social Justice in the Twenty-first Century. SUNY Press.
  7. Brockington, D. (2004). Community conservation, inequality and injustice: myths of power in protected area management. Conservation and Society, 2(2), 411–432.
  8. Cámara-Leret, R., Schuiteman, A., Utteridge, T., Bramley, G., Deverell, R., Fisher, L. A., ... & Heatubun, C. (2019). The Manokwari Declaration: Challenges ahead in conserving 70% of Tanah Papua’s forests. Forest and Society, 3(1), 148-151. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v3i1.6067
  9. Cribb, R. (2007). Conservation in colonial Indonesia. Interventions, 9(1), 49-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698010601173817
  10. Cronon, W. (2009). Nature’s metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. WW Norton & Company.
  11. Dawson, N., Martin, A., & Danielsen, F. (2018). Assessing Equity in Protected Area Governance: Approaches to Promote Just and Effective Conservation. Conservation Letters, 11(2), e12388. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12388
  12. Dove, M. R., Sajise, P. E., & Doolittle, A. A. (2011). Beyond the sacred forest: complicating conservation in Southeast Asia. Duke University Press.
  13. Faan, Y. (2006). Trend perdagangan satwa liar di Distrik Manokwari. University of Papua.
  14. Fatem, S. M., Awang, S. A., Pudyatmoko, S., Sahide, M. A. K., Pratama, A. A., & Maryudi, A. (2018). Camouflaging economic development agendas with forest conservation narratives: A strategy of lower governments for gaining authority in the re-centralising Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 78, 699–710. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.07.018
  15. Fatem, S. M., Syuf, Y., Baru, J., Marwa, J., Runtuboi, Y. Y., Tawer, V., ... & Runtuboi, F. R. (2020). The Sausapor Declaration: Challenges in promoting good governance to protect customary communities and natural resources in Tambrauw district, West Papua. Forest and Society, 4(2), 330-337. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v4i2.9346
  16. Fisher, M. R., Dhiaulhaq, A., & Sahide, M. A. K. (2019). The politics, economies, and ecologies of Indonesia’s third generation of social forestry: An introduction to the special section. Forest and Society, 3(1), 152–170. https://doi.org/10.24259/ fs.v3i1.6348
  17. Fisher, M. R., & van der Muur, W. (2020). Misleading Icons of Communal Lands in Indonesia: Implications of Adat Forest Recognition From a Model Site in Kajang, Sulawesi. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 21(1), 55–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2019.1670244
  18. Gibson, C. C. (1999). Politicians and Poachers: The Political Economy of Wildlife Policy in Africa. Cambridge University Press.
  19. Goss, A. (2011). The floracrats: State-sponsored science and the failure of the Enlightenment in Indonesia. University of Wisconsin Press.
  20. Hecht, S. B., & Cockburn, A. (2010). The fate of the forest: developers, destroyers, and defenders of the Amazon. University of Chicago Press.
  21. Hoang, C., Satyal, P., & Corbera, E. (2019). ‘This is my garden’: justice claims and struggles over forests in Vietnam’s REDD+. Climate Policy, 19(sup1), S23–S35. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2018.1527202
  22. Luttrell, C., Resosudarmo, I. A. P., Muharrom, E., Brockhaus, M., & Seymour, F. (2014). The political context of REDD+ in Indonesia: constituencies for change. Environmental Science & Policy, 35, 67–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci. 2012.10.001
  23. Martin, A., Coolsaet, B., Corbera, E., Dawson, N. M., Fraser, J. A., Lehmann, I., & Rodriguez, I. (2016). Justice and conservation: The need to incorporate recognition. Biological Conservation, 197, 254–261. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.biocon.2016.03.021
  24. MOEF Data and Information Centre. (2014). Statistik Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan 2014 / Ministry of Environment and Forestry Statistics 2014. Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
  25. Neumann, R. P. (1998). Imposing Wilderness: Struggles Over Livelihood and Nature Preservation in Africa. University of California Press.
  26. Niezen, R. (2003). The origins of indigenism: Human rights and the politics of identity. University of California Press.
  27. Nursey-Bray, M., Marsh, H., & Ross, H. (2010). Exploring Discourses in Environmental Decision Making: An Indigenous Hunting Case Study. Society & Natural Resources, 23(4), 366–382. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920903468621
  28. Pangau-Adam, M., Noske, R., & Muehlenberg, M. (2012). Wildmeat or Bushmeat? Subsistence Hunting and Commercial Harvesting in Papua (West New Guinea), Indonesia. Human Ecology, 40(4), 611–621. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-012-9492-5
  29. Pattiselanno, F., & Lubis, M. I. (2014). Hunting at the Abun Regional Marine Protected Areas: A Link Between Wildmeat and Food Security. HAYATI Journal of Biosciences, 21(4), 180–186. https://doi.org/10.4308/hjb.21.4.180
  30. Peluso, N. L. (1992). Rich forests, poor people: resource control and resistance in Java. University of California Press.
  31. Phatthanaphraiwan, S., Zeitler, L., & Fairfield, B. (2022). The Pagoda of the Gods: A case for Indigenous Karen sacred sites as Special Cultural Zones along Thailand’s borders. Forest and Society, 6(2), 675-698. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs. v6i2.20962
  32. Redford, K. H., & Robinson, J. G. (1987). The game of choice: Patterns of Indian and colonist hunting in the neotropics. American Anthropologist, 89(3), 650–667.
  33. Ribot, J. C., Agrawal, A., & Larson, A. M. (2006). Recentralizing while decentralizing: how national governments reappropriate forest resources. World Development, 34(11), 1864–1886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2005.11.020
  34. Ribot, J. C., & Larson, A. M. (2013). Democratic decentralisation through a natural resource lens: cases from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Routledge.
  35. Robinson, J., & Bennett, E. L. (2000). Hunting for Sustainability in Tropical Forests. Columbia University Press.
  36. Robinson, J. G., & Bodmer, R. E. (1999). Towards Wildlife Management in Tropical Forests. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 63(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.2307/3802482
  37. Sahide, M. A. K., Supratman, S., Maryudi, A., Kim, Y.-S., & Giessen, L. (2016). Decentralisation policy as recentralisation strategy: forest management units and community forestry in Indonesia. International Forestry Review, 18(1), 78–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1505/146554816818206168
  38. Sahide, Muhammad Alif K., Fisher, M., Nasri, N., Dharmiasih, W., Verheijen, B., & Maryudi, A. (2020). Anticipating a new conservation bureaucracy? Land and power in Indonesia’s Essential Ecosystem Area policy. Land Use Policy, 97(104789), 104789. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104789
  39. Schlosberg, D., & Carruthers, D. (2010). Indigenous struggles, environmental justice, and community capabilities. Global Environmental Politics, 10(4), 12–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/GLEP_a_00029
  40. Sikor, T., Martin, A., Fisher, J., & He, J. (2014). Toward an Empirical Analysis of Justice in Ecosystem Governance. Conservation Letters, 7(6), 524–532. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1111/conl.12142
  41. Sikor, T., & Stahl, J. (2012). The Global Forest Tenure Transition: Background, Substance, and Prospects. In Sikor, T., & Stahl, J. (Eds.), Forests and People (pp. 37–50). Routledge.
  42. Suryadi, S., Wijayanto, A., & Wahyudi, M. (2004). Survey pasar/monitoring perdagangan hidupan liar di Kabupaten Jayapura dan Manokwari. Conservation International Indonesia & Seksi Konservasi Sumberdaya Alam Wilayah Manokwari.
  43. Syawal, A., Pudyatmoko, S., Faida, L. R. W., Sirami, E. V., Setyadi, E. G., Puradyatmika, P., ... & Imron, M. A. (2023). Ethno-conservation of New Guinea Singing Dog among Tribes in Pegunungan Tengah, Papua, Indonesia. Forest and Society, 7(1), 135-149. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v7i1.24022
  44. Syufi, Y., & Arwam, H. (2014). Pemetaan Kebudayaan Di Kabupaten Tambrauw. Kepel Press.
  45. van der Muur, W., Vel, J., Fisher, M. R., & Robinson, K. (2019). Changing indigeneity politics in Indonesia: From revival to projects. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 20(5), 379-396. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2019.166 9520
  46. Wood, P., Sheil, D., Syaf, R., & Warta, Z. (2014). The Implementation and Sustainability of Village Conservation Agreements Around Kerinci Seblat National Park, Indonesia. Society & Natural Resources, 27(6), 602–620. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/08941920.2014.901464
Read More

Author Biography

Sepus M. Fatem, Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Papua, Manokwari, Indonesia
Scopus Author ID: 55898924100
Download this PDF file
PDF