Benefit sharing in context: a comparative analysis of 10 land-use change case studies in Indonesia.
Abstract
This brief presents key findings on multilevel governance and benefit-sharing arrangements linked to land use change in Indonesia, based on data from CIFOR's Global Comparative Study on REDD+. The brief analyses 149 interviews conducted in 2013 and 2014 with key informants involved in 10 land use change initiatives in Central and West Kalimantan. The cases include REDD+ projects, conservation initiatives, community-managed forests (both village forests- hutan desa; and community forests- hutan kemasyarakatan) and oil palm initiatives. After briefly discussing the benefit-sharing policy context at multiple levels, the cases describing the different types of benefits associated with them, are explored. The importance of non-monetary benefits are emphasized. Some potential benefits from land use initiatives can manifest as burdens for actors, including local communities, particularly when procedural legitimacy is lacking in the design of benefit-sharing arrangements. This brief suggests that the legitimacy of benefit-sharing arrangements varies considerably among initiatives that aim to reduce carbon emissions from land use or to support conservation, and offers several possible explanations for this variation based on the data.