JEAIL > Volume 14(2); 2021 > Regional Focus & Controversies
Research Paper
Published online: Nov. 30, 2021
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2021.14.2.08

Balancing the Principle of Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources and Sustainable Forest Management: Indonesian Experiences

Sri Wartini
Faculty of Law of Universitas Islam Indonesia
Jalan Tamansiswa, 158, Yogyakarata, 55153, Indonesia.
Corresponding Author: sri.wartini@uii.ac.id

ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
Most scholars argue that the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources (PSNR) has been used by developing countries as a legal basis to exploit their natural resources, including forests, for the sake of economic development. Land conversion and forest burning are the primary causes of forest degradation and deforestation in Indonesia. Thus, the biodiversity of Indonesian tropical forests is decreasing tremendously. This article aims to comprehensively analyze the experiences of the Indonesian government to balance the principle of PSNR and sustainable forest management (SFM). The paper argues that the implementation of the PSNR principle in SFM faces many challenges, such as deforestation, forest degradation, and the failures in implementing laws, as well as weak law enforcement. Therefore, to balance the PSNR principle with SFM, the Indonesian government needs to undertake various efforts, such as strengthening law enforcement, carrying out social forest management, and exercising mandatory forest certification. Moreover, all these efforts need to be further improved.

Keywords : Balancing, Deforestation, Forest Degradation, Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources, Sustainable Forest Management

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