Menuju Tata Kelola Konservasi yang Efektif, Inklusif dan Adil

This policy paper, authored by Kasmita Widodo, Cristina Eghenter, Jusupta Tarigan, and Andris Salo, examines the case of Kayan Mentarang National Park in North Kalimantan as a model for collaborative conservation governance in Indonesia. Kayan Mentarang was the first national park in Indonesia to receive formal recognition for co-management with indigenous communities, when a collaborative management agreement was signed in 2002, making it a landmark precedent for the country.

The paper analyses the governance frameworks that enabled this co-management model, the roles played by indigenous Dayak communities alongside the national park authority, and the mechanisms for decision-making, benefit-sharing, and conflict resolution that have been developed over time. It also looks at how Indonesia's broader legal reforms — including the Constitutional Court Decision No. 35 of 2012 recognising indigenous forest rights — have created new opportunities and obligations for more equitable conservation governance.

The authors argue that Kayan Mentarang's experience offers important lessons for the wider reform of conservation governance in Indonesia: that effectiveness, inclusivity, and equity are not competing values but mutually reinforcing conditions for conservation success. The paper calls for scaling up collaborative management models across national parks and protected areas, with indigenous peoples and local communities as genuine co-managers rather than subjects of conservation.