全球智库信息集成服务系统

Indonesia has experienced a rapid change in governance since the fall of President
Suharto, with a profound shift to regional autonomy and decentralised management that
rests primarily with the 420 or so districts (kabupaten) and municipalities (kota) in the
country. In exercising this new authority, district/municipal governments maintain
significant responsibilities and obligations. Districts/municipalities have a responsibility
to ensure that their laws and policies are consistent with those of the central
government. They also have a responsibility to develop laws in the public interest
and to follow the principles of what is typically considered ‘good governance’, in order
to ensure that natural resources are sustainably used. While recent legislation often
uses broad, general language to refer to the three pillars of good governance—access to
information, participation, and justice—there remain few meaningful details on how
regional governments are to implement those principles in real-life situations. In
addition, there is generally no consistent methodology used in developing new laws.
This paper provides a rough guide for developing regional legislation to manage forestry
resources. It first describes the responsibilities of regional governments. Next, it
describes some of the more important principles that should be applied in lawmaking
and identifies some feasible alternatives to implement them. It then outlines a
methodology for developing new legislation. The paper proposes alternatives and
methodologies that a district/municipality with limited experience and limited funding
can carry out for meaningful improvement in development of new legislation for forestry
management.