Corruption and poor governance in the forests of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Corruption and poor governance are well-documented problems in the management of forests around the world, and are widely cited to be contributing to deforestation and forest degradation. However, whilst the link between corruption, poor governance and deforestation is widely assumed, few studies have analysed the mechanisms by which corruption and poor governance may be contributing to deforestation and forest degradation. That is, there has been research that supports the claim that corruption contributes to deforestation, however many of these studies have utilised measures of corruption, such as corruption perceptions indexes, which hide a lot of the variation in types of corruption. Localised case-studies of corruption and poor governance, which have identified many types of corruption, have often not focused on the impact on forest management. These two streams of research demonstrate that corruption and poor governance are multifaceted phenomena and may impact on forests in diverse and context-specific ways. This thesis seeks therefore to integrate these two streams of research by addressing the questions 'Does corruption and poor governance contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea? And if so, how?' Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) were selected as case studies for this research due to the important forest reserves and the high prevalence of corruption and poor governance. Grounded theory methodology, which provides a systematic and rigorous approach to generating theories from the data, was used to analyse the process of forest governance and corruption. Based on the data collected from semi-structured interviews and government and media reports, two grounded theories were developed on forest governance and on corruption in the forests. The core process of forest governance that emerged from the data was one of a process of negotiation over if, and how, regulations were implemented. The grounded theory on corruption also highlights the complex systems and relationships that support, or demand, corrupt exchanges in different contexts. The findings from the two grounded theories were then drawn on to analyse if and how corruption and poor governance contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia and PNG. The analysis focuses on four stages of forest management-land-use planning, concession allocation, monitoring and enforcing and the distribution of benefits-to identify what types of corruption and poor governance is occurring, and how this may impact upon the forests. The findings point to some very complex relationships between corruption, poor governance and deforestation and forest degradation in the case study countries, and highlight how other factors, such as regulatory quality, need to be understood in order to determine whether any specific corrupt exchange contributes to deforestation and forest degradation. My thesis is whilst corruption and poor governance do not necessarily lead to more area of forestland being cleared, corruption and poor governance do contribute to the wider problems associated with deforestation, such as unsustainable forest exploitation and environmental injustices. These findings have implications for current efforts to improve forest governance as a means to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in these two countries. Show more