NGOs, social capital and environmental citizenship : a sociological inquiry into livelihoods and resources access in coastal Sumatra

Access to and control over natural resources are essential for community livelihoods, particularly in rural areas. Access to coastal natural resources is heavily contested due to scarcity of resources, poor resources governance and power inequalities. In Indonesia, despite the demise of the New Order authoritarian regime, state control and top down resources management still dominate the field of access to resources. Exclusion of local communities from accessing coastal resources is evident in the form of resources grabbing for green conservation, plantations and modern fisheries. Using case studies from Sumatra, this thesis argues that only when political capital increases can the local communities negotiate access to and control over resources management, vis-a-vis the powerful state and corporate interests. Political capital in this study refers to the engagement of the local community and civil society actors in influencing policy changes. Political capital is gained from the mobilization of linking social capital, which involves NGOs as civil society actors. The core findings indicate that at the grassroots level, participation in local associations is high, but participation in village environmental governance is low. The thesis finds that NGOs mediate negotiation over access to resources. NGOs pursue three different roles in environmental citizenship. Firstly, advocacy NGOs demand space in the field of policymaking in order to influence pro-poor access to natural resources. These NGOs demonstrate capacity to exercise their political capital to defend the agrarian rights of small farmers and artisanal fishermen. Secondly, community development NGOs strengthen local associations and enhance livelihood opportunities, but have limited roles in reclaiming and negotiating access to natural resources. The third group, membership based NGOs as people organizations, are grassroots based and actively engage in reclaiming access to coastal resources including land tenure. The key finding of the study is that linkages, networks and alliances of civil society actors help to enhance political capital which can be mobilized to achieve improved representation and articulation of the interests of local communities in the struggle for resources rights. Collective actions to demand spaces in the policy process to reclaim resources have become the pattern of environmental citizenship in Sumatra. The empirical evidence shows that there is continuing elite capture which constrains the participation of ordinary citizens in local governance. Despite providing superior group cooperation, collective action and reciprocity, local associations have limited roles in the village environmental policy process. The informality of local associations leads to their not automatically count in the decision-making process. In a sense, the absence of devolution of natural resources management in the fisheries and agrarian resources areas constrains control over resources by local communities. Strengthened political capital facilitates collective actions by both NGOs and local communities to defend livelihood rights to natural resources. However, the political capital takes the form of infra-politics, which is limited informal participation in the policy process in the form of pressure groups. Consolidation of the political capital of civil society organizations is therefore pivotal in the contestation over rights to resources. Keywords: Social Capital, Political capital, empowerment, citizenship, coastal livelihoods