Forest and Society: Initiating a Southeast Asia Journal for Theoretical, Empirical, and Regional Scholarship

Abstract

Welcome to our first edition. We are excited to provide a new, and what we believe, timely avenue for presenting research findings and publications in Southeast Asia, for scholars interested in Southeast Asia. Although Southeast Asia as a region of study has provided tremendous contributions to theory and practice regarding forests and society across the social and natural sciences, avenues for cultivating a scholarship of the region remain limited. We seek to engage on a broad set of themes through the application of targeted research related to timely issues affecting the human-environment interface in a diverse region that we have much to learn from. We take a broad understanding of the forest -as a politico-administrative unit, a geographic area, and as an ecological unit. We do not limit the forest to its boundaries but rather seek to engage on the dynamics of change in social and ecological processes. Under such an umbrella, new approaches and methods become possible. 'Forest' can be analyzed as land use, ecological process, divided across watersheds, as landscapes, mountains, and more. The lens of 'society' allows for opportunities to understand change, whether it is the interaction between a resource to be preserved, exploited, forgotten, or erased. Forests, therefore, operate as the clues of what once was, has become, and what can be. Particularly in the age of climate change, riddled by increasingly complex challenges, a new dimension also emerges for the forest. Different perspectives at different scales -from the local to the global -provide equally important dimensions, and are those which we seek to provide avenues to learn from, and communicate through this journal. As the reader will find in this inaugural issue, we have compiled an initial set of studies across multiple methods and geographies that help to set the terms of future editions. We examine: historical political ecologies of land use around opium cultivation in the uplands of Thailand; emerging governance regimes of corporate social responsibility in Myanmar; the capacity of new state institutions to manage land conflict in forest estate lands in Indonesia; a close analysis of forest harvesting and management in a mangrove forest in Malaysia; and, an economic valuation of non-timber forest products in a national park in Indonesia. There is much to choose from and much more to delve into. We hope that this issue serves as an impetus to engage on these timely themes and further encourages new ideas for submissions.

The Effect of Sustainability Certification for Export on Operational Profitability of Malaysian Palm Oil Companies

“…Some studies find the sustainability certification alone does not matter for exports. In an analysis of sustainability certification for the timber industry, Fisher et al (2017) verify that certification alone is not enough for companies to tap into the export markets. The authors suggest that a combination of sustainability certification with dedicated managers as well as depth knowledge related the certifications are necessary for improving the export activities.…”

Modelling of Poverty Percentage in East Java Province With Semiparametric Regression Approach

“…In addition, there are several factors that cause children to drop out of school, such as environmental factors, understanding of the importance of education, culture, availability of educational facilities/infrastructure, and others. This is in line with states that children who drop out of school are generally unable to pay tuition fees and do not receive information about scholarships, both regarding scholarship sources and how to access them, so the response is to build a Scholarship Village [7].…”

Sustainability Practices and Financial Profitability: The Case of the World’s Top 20 Crude Palm Oil Producers

“…Green products or services are usually more expensive and are not favored by Indonesian consumers and this could affect a company’s financial performance since there are no incentives provided by the government. Besides, Fisher et al (2017) opined that sustainability certification was not enough to serve as a ticket to tap the EU market. Sustainability certification was not developed for economic reasons but simply out of concern for the environment (Van Kooten et al, 2005).…”