Ecosystem restoration concessions and German development cooperation

Abstract: Approaches and instruments focusing on market mechanisms and private enterprises are increasingly promoted to mitigate and resolve global environmental and developmental problems. In this context, private protected areas have been created in varying forms worldwide, providing new instruments aiming at the protection and restoration of forests and biodiversity. In Indonesia, Ecosystem Restoration Concessions (ERC) have been developed as a market-oriented governmental instrument to counter current deforestation and degradation processes in production forests, and to restore forest ecosystems in logged-out concession areas. Conservation organizations as well as state authorities and development organizations conceive of ERCs as a highly promising instrument for nature conservation in Indonesia, and in other countries as well. Development cooperation and official development assistance (ODA) have been crucial for the establishment of ERCs in Indonesia. To start these enterprises requires considerable capital expenditure which largely comes from development assistance. At the same time, ERCs provide appealing possibilities for governmental development aid organizations to conveniently distribute growing public funds dedicated for nature conservation and climate protection. Experiences with ERCs are still very limited, however, their impacts so far are ambivalent, and their viability is uncertain. The implementation of ERCs in Indonesia has been controversial, and their effects on forests and forest-dependent communities are fiercely disputed in national and transnational discourses. This chapter explores these conflicts and disputes focusing on the Harapan Rainforest Project, and weighs the relevance of ERCs for German development cooperation. The implementation of such market-oriented instruments according to international standards regarding nature conservation, the rights of indigenous and local populations, as well as sustainable development is highly challenging. Looking at the experiences with the Harapan ERC so far, it is necessary to improve the transparency and accountability of such projects, warrant the free and prior information and consent of affected people, and secure the active participation and benefit of local communities. It is also necessary to establish independent and easily accessible facilities for mediation and conflict resolution in the course of the planning and implementation of such projects by default. With regard to the conceptualization and planning of forest related development cooperation, it is furthermore needful to reconsider prevailing mindsets. A reconsideration and exploration of such cognitive frames, which significantly determine the perception of forest related problems and the choice of strategies for their solution, is required to be able to decide more deliberately and efficiently about the most appropriate strategies and instruments in forest related development cooperation

Angaben zum Objekt

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch
• Anmerkungen: Advances in environmental research. - New York : Daniels, Justin A. (Hrsg.), 2017. - 1-99, ISBN: 978-1-53612-275-6

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Natürliche Ressourcen, Energie und Umwelt

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wo): Freiburg
• (wer): Universität
• (wann): 2021
• Urheber: Buergin, Reiner

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.6094/UNIFR/194020
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-1940204
• Rechteinformation: Kein Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 14.08.2025, 10:52 MESZ