Multilevel Peatland Governance: Exploring the Policy Impact among Local Actors in Shaping Peatland Policy Intervention in Indonesia

Indonesia established the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG, now BRGM) in 2016 to address land and forest fire issues through measures to develop and strengthen the implementation of policies to restore some part of the 24 million hectares of the country's damaged peatlands. BRGM was presented as a response to the transboundary haze issue and was applauded globally, with substantial success claimed in delivering changes in local land management behaviours. However, limited detailed analyses have been conducted regarding how the BRGM programme is implemented. Employing concepts drawn from work exploring multilevel governance strategies and actor-network theory (ANT), we explore how the BRGM’s programmes were implemented in seven different district locations in Riau province. We focus on local actors' views concerning the programme to assess local perceptions and responses to BRGM initiatives. Our findings show that multilevel peatland governance, as implemented by BRGM, encounters significant obstacles and challenges. Key issues were linked to poor coordination and synergy between different levels of governance and the actors involved, which in turn hampered collaboration efforts. In addition, problematic implementation due to formal and informal power struggles linked to actors' diverse interests also inevitably impacted local responses to the programme and, hence, its performance and efficacy. We suggest that these underreported factors inevitably affect the BRGM programmes' capacity to deliver on their formal aims sustainably and may hinder the achievement of justice and equity outcomes in the community.