From fence-and-fine to participatory conservation: mechanisms of transformation in conservation governance at the Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, Indonesia

This paper addresses the transformation of forest bureaucracy, which has occurred in accordance with a national policy shift from fence-and-fine to participatory conservation, and its impact on resource users at Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park in Indonesia and analyzes causal relationships between this transformation and its outcome. The research suggests that the mode of conservation governance was transformed through the implementation of new ways of communication and interaction, learning processes and perceptional and behavioral changes. The result of this analysis indicates that while the dominant discourse of participatory conservation assumes a primary importance of satisfying local economic needs for conservation, what should be emphasized is the process of trust-building and learning between frontline staff and local resource users without which the durability of a conservation institution is questionable. The analysis also reveals both challenges and limitations of a trust-building approach: while the approach effectively functions to halt forest degradation, it might not lead to the rehabilitation of forest ecosystem.