With 120 million hectares of forest area, Indonesia has the third largest area of biodiversity-rich tropical forests in the world, and it is well-known as a mega-biodiversity country. However, in 2020, only 70 percent of this area remained forested. The government has consistently undertaken corrective actions to achieve Sustainable Development Goal targets, with a special focus on Goals #1 (no poverty), #2 (zero hunger), #3 (good health and well-being), #7 (affordable and clean energy), #8 (decent work and economic growth), #13 (climate action), and #15 (life on land). Good environmental governance is a core concept in Indonesia’s forest management and includes mainstreaming ecosystem services as a framework for sustainable forest management. This paper analyzes efforts to mainstream Indonesia’s remaining forest ecosystem services. We review the state of Indonesia’s forests in relation to deforestation dynamics, climate change, and ecosystem service potential and options and provide recommendations for mainstreaming strategies regarding aspects of policy, planning, and implementation, as well as the process of the articulation of ecosystem services and their alternative funding.

Social forestry (SF) has long been implemented in production and protected forests in Indonesia. SF is considered to be a win–win solution for occupied and cultivated forest areas. The aim of this paper was to review the implementation of social forestry in Indonesia and its strengths and challenges. The secondary purpose was to synthesize the lessons learned and recommendations for the government about designing SF that can integrate the objective of forest biodiversity conservation and the social welfare of the surrounding communities. The study used a systematic literature review (SLR) of international and national peer-reviewed articles. The results of the study indicate that SF is intended to achieve benefits in three main areas: social, economic, and ecological. However, the review found that the ecological aspects of biodiversity conservation often receive less attention compared to the social and economic goals. A strong point of SF implementation is increasing community access to forest land use, while a challenge that must be resolved is that including communities in forest management can result in fragmentation and changes to animal habitats; thus, there is the potential for population decline and extinction. This study advises policymakers to pay more attention to ecological functions to ensure forest sustainability in SF development.

Given the huge impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and agriculture sectors, rapid measures are needed to reduce the risk of food crises, especially among the poor and the most vulnerable communities. The government of Indonesia planned to establish the Food Estate National Program to ensure food security. Most of the area will be on peatlands, and as such, the program still faces pros and cons as it might open up opportunities for deforestation, threats to biodiversity, and loss of community livelihoods. We conducted the present research in Central Kalimantan to formulate a food estate (FE) development strategy by taking into account the potential benefits and risks to ensure increases in the local community’s welfare and the sustainability of biodiversity. Data were collected through field surveys, interviews, focus group discussion (FGD), and literature studies. The results show that the operation of a food estate on degraded peatlands has a moderate to high level of risk of negative impacts. Community activities and changes in farming methods through using more inputs and mechanical equipment are the most risky activities in FE development. The low substitutability of peatlands requires mitigation efforts as part of risk management. The operation of food systems on peatlands must be based on a strong sustainability perspective with a main principle of complementary resources. The main strategy is to protect natural resources and replace cultivated exotic plants with potential native peat plants with minimal risk. In addition, the policy and capacity building of farmers towards a business-oriented direction will maximize socioeconomic benefits. Utilization of biodiversity and low-impact cultivation techniques can ensure sustainability.

Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, with 17,000 islands of varying sizes and elevations, from lowlands to very high mountains, stretching more than 5000 km eastward from Sabang in Aceh to Merauke in Papua. Although occupying only 1.3% of the world’s land area, Indonesia possesses the third-largest rainforest and the second-highest level of biodiversity, with very high species diversity and endemism. However, during the last two decades, Indonesia has been known as a country with a high level of deforestation, a producer of smoke from burning forests and land, and a producer of carbon emissions. The aim of this paper is to review the environmental history and the long process of Indonesian forest management towards achieving environmental sustainability and community welfare. To do this, we analyze the milestones of Indonesian forest management history, present and future challenges, and provide strategic recommendations toward a viable Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) system. Our review showed that the history of forestry management in Indonesia has evolved through a long process, especially related to contestation over the control of natural resources and supporting policies and regulations. During the process, many efforts have been applied to reduce the deforestation rate, such as a moratorium on permitting primary natural forest and peat land, land rehabilitation and soil conservation, environmental protection, and other significant regulations. Therefore, these efforts should be maintained and improved continuously in the future due to their significant positive impacts on a variety of forest areas toward the achievement of viable SFM. Finally, we conclude that the Indonesian government has struggled to formulate sustainable forest management policies that balance economic, ecological, and social needs, among others, through developing and implementing social forestry instruments, developing and implementing human resource capacity, increasing community literacy, strengthening forest governance by eliminating ambiguity and overlapping regulations, simplification of bureaucracy, revitalization of traditional wisdom, and fair law enforcement.

Sihombing VS, Gunawan H, Sawitri R.2017. Diversity and community structure of fish, plankton and benthos in Karangsong Mangrove Conservation Areas, Indramayu, West Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 18: 601-608. The Karangsong Mangrove Conservation Area in Indramayu District, West Java, Indonesia, extending across 20 hectares of coastal land, has undergone eight years of managed revegetation. It has a variety of productive habitats that support the availability of fish resources. The research described in this paper was conducted in July 2016 with the purpose of assessing the diversity, evenness, and structure of fish, plankton and benthos communities as an indicator of the effectiveness of the rehabilitation of the mangrove ecosystem. The fish, benthos, and plankton were collected and analyzed in the Biotrop Laboratories. Fish sampling was carried out using a gill net with mesh size of 25 mm, and with traps. Juvenile fish were collected using a fish net with mesh size of 15 mm, by combing the water column horizontally for 10-15 minutes in the morning and afternoon. For plankton sampling a net No. 25 was used, while samples of benthos were collected using an Ekman Grab sampler. To calculate the community structure and diversity of fish, the study used ecological indices (abundance, dominance, constancy and ecological significance) and diversity indices (Shannon and Simpson diversity). A total of 413 individuals were obtained from 18 fish species, representing 16 families. Family Lutjanidae and Acanthuridae had the highest representative number of species and Pomacentridae showed the highest relative abundance of individuals. The value for the fish diversity index was 2.44 and for the species evenness index was 0.84. The fish population consisted of 44.44% omnivores, 38.89% carnivores and 16.67% herbivores/ detritivores. The highest density of plankton was accounted for by Bacillariophyceae (78.57%), followed by Chlorophyceae (14.29%) and Zooplankton (7.14%). The diversity index for the plankton (H) ranged between 1.040 and 1.462 across habitats, while the evenness index (E) ranged between 0.144 and 1.22. The benthos consisted of Gastropods (83.58%), Crustacea (3.28%), Palaemonidae (1.64%) and Oligochaeta (11.48%). The diversity index for the benthos ranged from 0. 939 to 1. 199 and the evenness index from 0.158 to 0.207. Hence, it may infer from the domination of the environment by Bacillariophyceae and Gastropods, and the low values for diversity index and evenness index, that the area is not particularly good as a fish nursery and breeding habitat. Nevertheless, there are two species of fish that exhibit potential productivity in every habitat; they are Chanos chanos and Scatophagus argus.