This is the first Green Growth Policy Review of Indonesia. It examines progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with a special emphasis on the nexus of land use, ecosystems and climate change.

Indonesia has made impressive progress in reducing income inequality and improving living standards since the Asian Financial Crisis but the decline in poverty has slowed in recent years while inequality has risen and a large part of the population remains vulnerable.

This Review, undertaken in close co-operation with the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture, assesses the performance of Indonesian agriculture over the last two decades, evaluates Indonesian agricultural policy reforms and provides recommendations.

This wide-ranging report assesses physical connectivity and cross-border trade across five economic corridors in the Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT). Exploring possibilities for reconfiguring and expanding these vital zones to include further provinces and states, this study analyzes the emerging network of corridors, and examines their uses in major value chains. In addition to mapping the proposed route for a sixth corridor in the IMT-GT, this publication provides details of practical steps and systems that can boost subregional collaboration on the development of all economic corridors in these three countries.

Fire in the wet tropical climate of Indonesia is not a new phenomenon. The ‘Great Fire of Borneo’ in 1982-83 was one of the worst fire events in recent decades. Small holders clearing land for cultivation were primarily blamed for starting fires that rapidly spread out of control. Subsequent fires linked to El Nino-Southern Oscilation occurred in 1987, 1991 1994 and most recently in 1997-98. The impact of the latest fire event is immense; estimates of the area burnt in 1997 vary between two and five million hectares (forest and non-forest), the number of people affected by smoke haze and fire at 75 million and the total economic costs in the region at as much as US$4.5 billion. The 1982-83 fires brought the issue to world attention. After 1992 three long-term projects were initiated with the objectives of management and monitoring of fires. These were the EU-Forest Fire Prevention and Control Project in Southern Sumatra (1995-1998), GTZ’s Integrated Forest Fire Management Project in East Kalimantan (1994-2000), and JICA’s Forest Fire Prevention and Management Project in Bogor, Jambi and West Kalimantan (1996-2001). In addition, the Indonesia-UK Tropical Forest Management Programme started in 1992 and comprised a number of components related to fires as part of its overall improved forest management objective. After the 1997 fires numerous short- and long-term fire projects were proposed and started. Others, such as the first phase of the WWF project and the ADB’s regional (RETA) and national (ADTA) projects, within a short time frame try to cover many aspects of fire problem such as socio-economic assessments, fire-fighting, area estimates, economic and policy assessments and ecological assessments. Representing a longer-term approach, CIFOR-ICRAF-UNESCO propose an in-depth study of the underlying causes and effects of fires. In addition to the international response Indonesia has several government agencies charged with the task of preventing, monitoring and controlling land and forest fires. Following the forest and land fires of 1994, the National Coordination Team for Land and Forest Fire Control was established in 1995. Interest in fire is only short-lived after a major fire event. Before the 1994 fires little attention was paid to the fire problem and missions mainly focussed on control and prevention of fires. Most of the new generation of fire projects established in 1997-98 address both issues.

This paper proposes an overview of the development of oil palm production in Indonesia combining two levels: (i) a national and historical perspective of the development of the sector; (ii) a regional approach considering two contrasting provinces, Riau and Jambi. Starting with colonial times, the national approach deals first with the main periods that punctuate the development of oil palm plantations up to the contemporary period, marked by the liberalization of the economy. It emphasizes several factors that played a strategic role in the development of palm oil production, such as the role of the State and migration. After presenting the different models that structure the relationships among stakeholders and how these relationships have evolved, the role of small family planters is analyzed. This section ends with a review of some controversial issues: livelihood improvement, land tenure and customary rights, inclusion versus exclusion, market risks, forest and environmental threats and governance. The regional approach gives context to the development of palm oil production within two territories that have different historical backgrounds, with Jambi entering into production relatively recently. In each of the two provinces, the themes and issues involved in palm oil development identified at national level are analyzed, with specific emphasis on stakeholders’ strategic behaviours. The paper concludes with a comparative perspective on both provinces.