Challenges to Implementing Socially-Sustainable Community Development in Oil Palm and Forestry Operations in Indonesia

Stephany I Pasaribu, Frank Vanclay and Yongjun Zhao
Additional contact information
Stephany I Pasaribu: Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
Frank Vanclay: Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands
Yongjun Zhao: Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, 9747 AD Groningen, The Netherlands

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Through the lenses of community development and social licence to operate, we consider the complex relationships between local communities and forest plantation and oil palm companies. We examine the practical challenges in implementing socially-sustainable community development (SSCD) by analyzing two corporate social investment community development projects located in West Kalimantan, Indonesia: Desa Makmur Peduli Api (integrated fire management) and Pertanian Ekologi Terpadu (ecological farming). Our study scrutinized: (i) What were the practice challenges faced by the companies in establishing SSCD?; Along with (ii) what should be done to improve how SSCD is undertaken, especially in Indonesia? We identified five challenges: (1) unresolved land conflict; (2) determining the right program; (3) building community capacity rather than providing irrelevant training; (4) a shortage of company field staff and government facilitators; and (5) managing community expectations. Better governance of SSCD will reduce conflict between affected communities and companies.

Keywords: sustainable development; social license to operate and grow; corporate social responsibility; strategic social investment; shared value; social sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/3/61/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/3/61/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:3:p:61-:d:324659

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().