Factors affecting participation in Indonesian social forestry

Social forestry was designed as a solution for massive deforestation, lack of land access and poverty issues in community dependent forests. The Indonesian Government allocated 12.7 million ha of forest area as community managed forests through a social forestry program. This paper analyzes the factors affecting household participation in Indonesian Social Forestry. Participants are defined as households who are formal members and actively participate in a social forestry group. A survey was conducted with 240 households in three different villages in the region of Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan. The logistic regression estimates indicate that training in forestry, more landownership, experiences of natural resource conflict and dependence on forest resources increase the likelihood of household participation in a social forestry group. The study finds that a higher education level by the head of household decreased the odds of household participation by 81 [percent]. In addition, households from Penepian Raya village were less likely to participate than households from Selaup Village