Researchers have focused on collaborative governance as an effective measure to realise sustainable natural resource management through the participation of various stakeholders. However, the literature has indicated that issues such as power imbalances tend to undermine the effectiveness of collaborative governance. Powerful actors represented by the government tend to control collaborative processes and produce benefits for dominant groups, while less empowered local communities are often deprived of opportunities for livelihood improvement. Although numerous researchers have analysed the key factors that influence the processes and outcomes of collaborative governance, few have identified a concrete measure to reduce the risk of failure, particularly when managing power imbalances in developing countries. This study explored a methodology to address the power imbalances in collaborative governance based on a case study of a participatory peatland fire prevention project implemented in West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys conducted with project participants suggested that measures such as establishing a joint team of government officers and villagers, providing a common facilitation training programme, training villagers as facilitators, promoting equal knowledge sharing, and allowing villagers to make their own decisions mitigated the power imbalances between the two groups.
Researchers have focused on collaborative governance as an effective measure to realise sustainable natural resource management through the participation of various stakeholders. However, the literature has indicated that issues such as power imbalances tend to undermine the effectiveness of collaborative governance. Powerful actors represented by the government tend to control collaborative processes and produce benefits for dominant groups, while less empowered local communities are often deprived of opportunities for livelihood improvement. Although numerous researchers have analysed the key factors that influence the processes and outcomes of collaborative governance, few have identified a concrete measure to reduce the risk of failure, particularly when managing power imbalances in developing countries. This study explored a methodology to address the power imbalances in collaborative governance based on a case study of a participatory peatland fire prevention project implemented in West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys conducted with project participants suggested that measures such as establishing a joint team of government officers and villagers, providing a common facilitation training programme, training villagers as facilitators, promoting equal knowledge sharing, and allowing villagers to make their own decisions mitigated the power imbalances between the two groups.
Land fires are an annual agenda in Indonesia, especially in areas covered by peatlands. Peatland management using fire is the main cause. The general paradigm for land fires is that the farmers' economy is low. In fact, the factors that cause land fires are not only from the economic aspect, but from the social and institutional aspects which affect the behavior of farmers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is (1) to analyze the correlation of factors that influence land burning behavior, and (2) to determine the model for the changing of burning behavior into non burning farm land cultivation, in order to prevent land fire in Kuburaya Disrict and Bengkayang District, West Kalimantan. The research involved farmers farming on peatlands in both districts. Regression models was used for the correlation analysis. Based on the results of the regression analysis, a land burning behavior change model was determined based on the influencing factors descriptively. The result of the analysis showed the factors that significantly influence land burning behavior at the household level are knowledge level (consist of farming problems faced by farmers, agricultural extension materials and the application of technology), observance of rules, activeness of mutual assistance, cosmopolitan level, appraisal on burning behavior, and imitation level. The resulting model for changing the behavior of burning land is implementing activity of assistance, social capital stimulus and positive agreements/ pressure to the land users.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.