Op-Ed Jakarta Post: The role of villages in forest conservation programs

Continuing with the theme of forest management, in this article, I read the opinion of two academics commenting on forest management in Indonesia, which is currently dealing with a problem of deforestation and unhealthy haze as a result of forest burning. The authors, Edi Purwanto of the Tropenbos International Indonesia Program and Soren Moestrup of the University of Copenhagen, argue that village governments need to be more involved and more responsible with forest management governance in Indonesia. Citing values of "self-governance" and also plain old effectiveness, Purwanto and Moestrup believe that it is the responsibility of NGOs, companies, and broader governments to "empower" village governments to participate in forest management processes on a "grassroots" level. This will make for a better use of natural resources for local communities in areas where extraction or deforestation is taking place. That said, I can't help but notice that there is some sort of paradox taking place in talking about "empowering" local governments to have a say while simultaneously describing them as having a "poor capacity" to do so and describing them as needing education about what forest management is "really" about (my quotes on that last one).