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Key messages

• Mediation is a conflict resolution mechanism that has emerged in countries with lots of conflicts related to land and industrial tree plantations. Its application on the ground, however, has yet to show satisfactory results.
• Mediation can be seen as a part of conflict transformation as it aims at reaching a long-term solution acceptable to all parties.
• There are many approaches to mediation in Indonesia, depending on legal processes and the status of mediators. In turn, this opens the door to mediation through the courts with certified mediators.
• The emergence of mediation and its recognition by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry is closely linked to the acknowledgment of the presence of ‘conflict’ within the forest domain, which is opposed to the ‘violation of the law’ terminology that was traditionally used.
• Research of a case that stakeholders deemed a success in Jambi province in Sumatra, shows the challenges surrounding the application of conflict mediation, which can be fragile with the possibility of unsustainable outcomes if it does not fulfill its role as a means for conflict resolution.
• The limitations inherent in mediation should not prevent stakeholders in Indonesia from promoting it as an alternative approach in conflict management, from building a legal framework, or from developing experiences and a dynamic mediator network.