Governing the Commons Differently: Social-Environmental Innovation and Customary Rights in Eastern Indonesia's Contested Forests

Abstract

Constitutional recognition of customary forests in Indonesia (Constitutional Court Decision MK35/2012) has not reversed the pattern of territorial dispossession affecting Indigenous communities across Eastern Indonesia (Papua, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara). This study aims to synthesize recent legal-policy and empirical literature on customary forest governance in Eastern Indonesia and to develop an integrated social-environmental innovation framework from that evidence. A structured narrative (integrative) review was conducted of peer-reviewed articles and institutional reports published between 2021 and 2026, screened against explicit inclusion criteria, and coded thematically into three pillars: tenure recognition, inclusive governance, and environmental governance. The literature shows substantial normative progress but fragmented implementation, limited local government capacity, and persistent agrarian conflict linked to plantation expansion and nationally strategic projects. Monitoring data record 154 conflicts linked to Nationally Strategic Projects between 2020 and 2024, and primary forest loss in Papua rose by about 11 percent in 2024 while the national total fell by 14 percent. The paper proposes a "governing the commons differently" framework linking legal recognition with participatory free, prior and informed consent mechanisms and Indigenous-knowledge-based environmental governance. Formal recognition is necessary but insufficient without inclusive governance and subnational institutional capacity; the framework requires site-specific testing in Papua, Maluku, and Nusa Tenggara.