Adaptive Forest Oversight Governance in North Sumatra: Integrating Information Systems and Institutional Capacity
Abstract
This study aims to analyze forest oversight governance in North Sumatra by examining patterns of tree-cover loss, institutional constraints, and the requirements for developing an adaptive forest protection framework. A qualitative policy analysis was conducted using documentary evidence derived from forestry regulations, institutional reports, environmental datasets, remote-sensing information, and relevant scientific literature. The data were analyzed through thematic coding informed by control process theory, policy implementation perspectives, and responsive regulation. The findings indicate that North Sumatra experienced substantial tree-cover decline between 2000 and 2025, with approximately 1.70 million hectares of indicative tree-cover reduction recorded in Global Forest Watch data. The analysis further identifies fragmented information management, limited interoperability among monitoring systems, weak institutional coordination, predominantly reactive monitoring practices, and insufficient integration between regulatory enforcement and ecological restoration as major governance constraints. In response, this study proposes the PASTI-HUTAN framework, an adaptive forest oversight model integrating spatial information governance, risk-based monitoring, interinstitutional coordination, proportionate regulatory responses, and continuous policy evaluation. These findings extend environmental governance scholarship by conceptualizing forest protection as an adaptive control system rather than solely as a conventional law-enforcement function. Practically, the framework highlights the need for integrated forest information systems, stronger cross-institutional collaboration, preventive risk-based monitoring, and adaptive regulatory mechanisms. Because the study relies primarily on documentary and secondary data, future research should empirically test the PASTI-HUTAN framework across different forest governance contexts and evaluate its effectiveness in improving enforcement, restoration, and long-term forest sustainability.
References
Affandi, O., Kartodihardjo, H., Nugroho, B., & Ekawati, S. (2021). Institutional analysis of forest governance after the implementation of Law Number 23/2014 in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Forest and Society, 5(2), 304–325. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v5i2.8755
Agrawal, A., Hajjar, R., Liao, C., Rasmussen, L. V., & Watkins, C. (2018). Editorial overview: Forest governance interventions for sustainability through information, incentives, and institutions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 32, A1–A7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.08.002
Ahrends, A., Bulling, M. T., Platts, P. J., Swetnam, R., Ryan, C., Doggart, N., Hollingsworth, P. M., Marchant, R., Balmford, A., Harris, D. J., Gross-Camp, N., Sumbi, P., Munishi, P., Madoffe, S., Mhoro, B., Leonard, C., Bracebridge, C., Doody, K., Wilkins, V., … Burgess, N. D. (2021). Detecting and predicting forest degradation: A comparison of ground surveys and remote sensing in Tanzanian forests. Plants, People, Planet, 3(3), 268–281. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10189
Astuti, R., Miller, M. A., McGregor, A., Sukmara, M. D. P., Saputra, W., Sulistyanto, & Taylor, D. (2022). Making illegality visible: The governance dilemmas created by visualising illegal palm oil plantations in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 114, Article 105942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105942
Austin, K. G., Baker, J. S., Sohngen, B. L., Wade, C. M., Daigneault, A., Ohrel, S. B., Ragnauth, S., & Bean, A. (2020). The economic costs of planting, preserving, and managing the world’s forests to mitigate climate change. Nature Communications, 11(1), Article 5946. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19578-z
Basu, A., & Basu, J. P. (2023). Impact of forest governance and enforcement on deforestation and forest degradation at the district level: A study in West Bengal State, India. Regional Sustainability, 4(4), 441–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsus.2023.11.002
Baylis, K., Honey-Rosés, J., Börner, J., Corbera, E., Ezzine-de-Blas, D., Ferraro, P. J., Lapeyre, R., Persson, U. M., Pfaff, A., & Wunder, S. (2016). Mainstreaming impact evaluation in nature conservation. Conservation Letters, 9(1), 58–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12180
Blattert, C., Eyvindson, K., Hartikainen, M., Burgas, D., Potterf, M., Lukkarinen, J., Snäll, T., Toraño-Caicoya, A., & Mönkkönen, M. (2022). Sectoral policies cause incoherence in forest management and ecosystem service provisioning. Forest Policy and Economics, 136, Article 102689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2022.102689
Bösch, M. (2021). Institutional quality, economic development and illegal logging: A quantitative cross-national analysis. European Journal of Forest Research, 140, 1049–1064. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-021-01382-z
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027
Budi, B., Kartodihardjo, H., Nugroho, B., & Mardiana, R. (2021). Implementation gap of social forestry policy: The case of HKm Beringin Jaya and HTR Hajran. Jurnal Manajemen Hutan Tropika (Journal of Tropical Forest Management), 27(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.7226/jtfm.27.1.1
Butler, J. R. A., Busilacchi, S., & Skewes, T. (2019). How resilient is the Torres Strait Treaty (Australia and Papua New Guinea) to global change? A fisheries governance perspective. Environmental Science & Policy, 91, 17–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.10.005
Chaffin, B. C., Gosnell, H., & Cosens, B. A. (2014). A decade of adaptive governance scholarship: Synthesis and future directions. Ecology and Society, 19(3), Article 56. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06824-190356
Curtis, P. G., Slay, C. M., Harris, N. L., Tyukavina, A., & Hansen, M. C. (2018). Classifying drivers of global forest loss. Science, 361(6407), 1108–1111. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau3445
Dalglish, S. L., Khalid, H., & McMahon, S. A. (2021). Document analysis in health policy research: The READ approach. Health Policy and Planning, 35(10), 1424–1431. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czaa064
Edi Rustanto, A., Djoko Waluyo, S., Kusuma Winanti, Y., Wou Onn, C., Sufian, M., & Ronald O. Mesina, J. (2025). Digital governance and user satisfaction in higher education information systems: A PLS-SEM approach on the mediating roles of organizational governance and information quality. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 10(3), 16–37. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPR.202645364
Engelman, M., Lagerkvist, C.-J., & Gren, I.-M. (2018). Hunters’ trade-off in valuation of different game animals in Sweden. Forest Policy and Economics, 92, 73–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.04.004
Fardiansyah, A. I., & Fikri, A. (2025). Integrating sustainable environmental law and Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah: A preventive legal framework for disaster governance in disaster-prone regions. Gender, Islamic Law, and Sustainability, 1(1), 30–47. https://doi.org/10.70211/gils.v1i1.386
Fassnacht, F. E., White, J. C., Wulder, M. A., & Næsset, E. (2024). Remote sensing in forestry: Current challenges, considerations and directions. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, 97(1), 11–37. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpad024
Febriani, E., Woods, R., Madkur, A., & Hasanah, U. (2025). Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the education and environmental sectors: A comparative study of Indonesia and Australia. Gender, Islamic Law, and Sustainability, 1(2), 102–116. https://doi.org/10.70211/gils.v1i2.547
Fischer, R., Giessen, L., & Günter, S. (2020). Governance effects on deforestation in the tropics: A review of the evidence. Environmental Science & Policy, 105, 84–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.12.007
Fritz, S., See, L., Carlson, T., Haklay, M., Oliver, J. L., Fraisl, D., Mondardini, R., Brocklehurst, M., Shanley, L. A., Schade, S., Wehn, U., Abrate, T., Anstee, J., Arnold, S., Billot, M., Campbell, J., Espey, J., Gold, M., Hager, G., … West, S. (2019). Citizen science and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Sustainability, 2(10), 922–930. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0390-3
Gao, W.-Q., Liu, J.-F., Xue, Z.-M., Zhang, Y.-T., Gao, Z.-H., Ni, Y.-Y., Wang, X.-F., & Jiang, Z.-P. (2018). Geographical patterns and drivers of growth dynamics of Quercus variabilis. Forest Ecology and Management, 429, 256–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.07.024
Goldstein, J. E., & Faxon, H. O. (2022). New data infrastructures for environmental monitoring in Myanmar: Is digital transparency good for governance? Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 5(1), 39–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848620943892
Goodrich, K. A., Sjostrom, K. D., Vaughan, C., Nichols, L., Bednarek, A., & Lemos, M. C. (2020). Who are boundary spanners and how can we support them in making knowledge more actionable in sustainability fields? Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 42, 45–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2020.01.001
Hariandini, Y., Yuda, I. B., & Ahmed, W. (2025). Implementing digital integrated learning in schools: Evidence from classroom practices. Digital Learning, Social Science, and Life-course Studies, 2(1), 46–56. https://doi.org/10.70211/disolife.v2i1.348
Hastri, E. D., Pauzi, H. M., Sjaifurrachman, & Kurli, A. (2025). Regulatory integration and environmental control in risk-based licensing: Lessons from Indonesia’s forestry governance. Journal of Property, Planning and Environmental Law. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPPEL-12-2025-0084
Hasyim, Z., Laraswati, D., Purwanto, R. H., Pratama, A. A., & Maryudi, A. (2020). Challenges facing independent monitoring networks in the Indonesian timber legality assurance system. Forest Policy and Economics, 111, Article 102025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2019.102025
Hermawan, S., Karim, M. F., & Rethel, L. (2023). Institutional layering in climate policy: Insights from REDD+ governance in Indonesia. Forest Policy and Economics, 154, Article 103037. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2023.103037
Hoang, N. T., & Kanemoto, K. (2021). Mapping the deforestation footprint of nations reveals growing threat to tropical forests. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5, 845–853. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01417-z
Indirwan, S. I., Sam, M., Nilwana, A., & Irwan, I. (2025). Implementation of transparency principles in governance of Sidenreng Rappang Regency. Journal of Governance and Local Politics (JGLP), 7(1), 127–139. https://doi.org/10.47650/jglp.v7i1.1903
Jackson, C. M., Durowoju, O. S., Adelabu, S. A., & Adeniyi, S. A. (2025). An assessment of Kenya’s forest policy and law on participatory forest management for sustainable forest management: Insights from Mt. Kenya Forest Reserve. Trees, Forests and People, 19, Article 100770. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2024.100770
Laraswati, D., Rahayu, S., Pratama, A. A., Soraya, E., Sahide, M. A. K., & Maryudi, A. (2020). Problem-method fit in forest policy analysis: Empirical pre-orientation for selecting tested or innovative social-qualitative methods. MethodsX, 7, Article 100794. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2020.100794
Maryudi, A., & Fisher, M. R. (2020). The power in the interview: A practical guide for identifying the critical role of actor interests in environment research. Forest and Society, 4(1), 142–150. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v4i1.9132
Maryudi, A., Sahide, M. A. K., Daulay, M. H., Yuniati, D., Syafitri, W., Sadiyo, & Fisher, M. R. (2022). Holding social forestry hostage in Indonesia: Contested bureaucracy mandates and potential escape pathways. Environmental Science & Policy, 128, 142–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.11.013
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Muhyidin, A. (2019). Guarding central government control over forest: Forest governance in the post decentralization Indonesia. Jurnal Politik, 4(1), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.7454/jp.v4i1.186
Mullissa, A., Saatchi, S., Dalagnol, R., Erickson, T., Provost, N., Osborn, F., Ashary, A., Moon, V., & Melling, D. (2024). LUCA: A Sentinel-1 SAR-based global forest land use change alert. Remote Sensing, 16(12), Article 2151. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16122151
Mustafa, M., Ilmi, D., Nalus, S., Elvita, Y., Ramli, S., Movitaria, M. A., & Azra, M. F. (2025). Challenging the Eco-Islamic decoupling: A critical analysis of strategic gaps between government mandates and Green Madrasah SWOT capacity toward institutional transformation. JPI: Jurnal Pustaka Indonesia, 6(1), 327–343. https://doi.org/10.62159/jpi.v6i1.2104
Muttaqin, T., Soraya, E., Dharmawan, B., Laraswati, D., & Maryudi, A. (2023). Asymmetric power relations in multistakeholder initiatives: Insights from the government-instituted Indonesian National Forestry Council. Trees, Forests and People, 12, Article 100406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2023.100406
Myers, R., Fisher, M., Monterroso, I., Liswanti, N., Maryudi, A., Larson, A. M., Mwangi, E., & Herawati, T. (2022). Coordinating forest tenure reform: Objectives, resources and relations in Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, and Uganda. Forest Policy and Economics, 139, Article 102718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2022.102718
Nesha, K., Herold, M., De Sy, V., Duchelle, A. E., Martius, C., Branthomme, A., Garzuglia, M., Jonsson, O., & Pekkarinen, A. (2021). An assessment of data sources, data quality and changes in national forest monitoring capacities in the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005–2020. Environmental Research Letters, 16(5), Article 054029. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd81b
Ramachandran, N., Irvin, J., Sheng, H., Johnson-Yu, S., Story, K., Rustowicz, R., Ng, A. Y., & Austin, K. (2024). Automatic deforestation driver attribution using deep learning on satellite imagery. Global Environmental Change, 86, Article 102843. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2024.102843
Ramadhan, R., Karim, S., Fisher, M. R., Mursyid, H., & Indrawan, M. (2023). Assessing the governance modes of Indonesia’s forest management unit. In A. Triyanti, M. Indrawan, L. Nurhidayah, & M. A. Marfai (Eds.), Environmental governance in Indonesia (pp. 151–165). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15904-6_9
Rantala, S., Swallow, B., Paloniemi, R., & Raitanen, E. (2020). Governance of forests and governance of forest information: Interlinkages in the age of open and digital data. Forest Policy and Economics, 113, Article 102123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102123
Rantala, S., Swallow, B., Lähteenmäki-Uutela, A., & Paloniemi, R. (2022). Forest data governance as a reflection of forest governance: Institutional change and endurance in Finland and Canada. Environmental Science & Policy, 136, 751–760. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.07.031
Resosudarmo, I. A. P., Tacconi, L., Sloan, S., Hamdani, F. A. U., Subarudi, Alviya, I., & Muttaqin, M. Z. (2019). Indonesia’s land reform: Implications for local livelihoods and climate change. Forest Policy and Economics, 108, Article 101903. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2019.04.007
Roengtam, S., & Agustiyara, A. (2022). Collaborative governance for forest land use policy implementation and development. Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1), Article 2073670. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2022.2073670
Roengtam, S., Agustiyara, A., & Nurmandi, A. (2023). Making network governance work in forest land-use policy in the local government. SAGE Open, 13(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231194491
Rokhman, R., Diana, N., Etek, Y., Koderi, K., & Sufian, M. (2024). The development of a scientific-based academic supervision management model. AL-ISHLAH: Jurnal Pendidikan, 16(2), 1383–1398. https://doi.org/10.35445/alishlah.v16i2.4626
Sahide, M. A. K., Fisher, M. R., Erbaugh, J. T., Intarini, D., Dharmiasih, W., Makmur, M., Faturachmat, F., Verheijen, B., & Maryudi, A. (2020). The boom of social forestry policy and the bust of social forests in Indonesia: Developing and applying an access-exclusion framework to assess policy outcomes. Forest Policy and Economics, 120, Article 102290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102290
Samsuri, S., Zaitunah, A., Samsura, A., & Marbun, H. Y. (2025). Land cover change and ethnoecological practices in Forest Management Unit XXV, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity, 26(9), 4545–4556. https://doi.org/10.13057/biodiv/d260926
Sari, D. A., Margules, C., Lim, H. S., Widyatmaka, F., Sayer, J., Dale, A., & MacGregor, C. (2021). Evaluating policy coherence: A case study of peatland forests on the Kampar Peninsula landscape, Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 105, Article 105396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105396
Sayer, J., Boedhihartono, A. K., Langston, J. D., Margules, C., Riggs, R. A., & Sari, D. A. (2021). Governance challenges to landscape restoration in Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 104, Article 104857. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104857
Shen, F., Tang, R., Sun, X., & Liu, D. (2019). Simple methods for satellite identification of algal blooms and species using 10-year time series data from the East China Sea. Remote Sensing of Environment, 235, Article 111484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111484
Sorge, S., Mann, C., Schleyer, C., Loft, L., Spacek, M., Hernández-Morcillo, M., & Kluvankova, T. (2022). Understanding dynamics of forest ecosystem services governance: A socio-ecological-technical-analytical framework. Ecosystem Services, 55, Article 101427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101427
Suwarno, S., Wisnu, W., & Jacky, J. (2025). Tapak Raja Cave as a contextual Social Studies learning resource for strengthening students’ environmental awareness and ecotheological values. JPI: Jurnal Pustaka Indonesia, 6(1), 313–326. https://doi.org/10.62159/jpi.v6i1.2204
Ullah, A., & Bavorova, M. (2024). Livelihood impacts of community-based forest landscape restoration in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Pakistan. European Journal of Forest Research, 143(6), 1773–1786. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-024-01726-5
Vadlamannati, K. C., Janz, N., & Berntsen, Ø. I. (2018). Human rights shaming and FDI: Effects of the UN Human Rights Commission and Council. World Development, 104, 222–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.11.014
Van der Wal, Z., Mussagulova, A., & Chen, C. (2021). Path-dependent public servants: Comparing the influence of traditions on administrative behavior in developing Asia. Public Administration Review, 81(2), 308–320. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13218
Waluyo, S. D., Rustanto, A. E., Winanti, Y. K., Onn, C. W., Sufian, M., & Mesina, J. R. (2025). Digital transformation in teacher performance assessment: Development and implementation of E-PKG system for enhancing vocational education quality and industry alignment. Journal of Educational Technology and Learning Creativity, 3(2), 348–366. https://doi.org/10.37251/jetlc.v3i2.2490
Wurtzebach, Z., Schultz, C., Waltz, A. E. M., Esch, B. E., & Wasserman, T. N. (2019). Adaptive governance and the administrative state: Knowledge management for forest planning in the western United States. Regional Environmental Change, 19(8), 2651–2666. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-019-01569-6
Yuza, A., Manaf, H. A., & Zainal, Z. (2023). Deforestation policy governance in Indonesia. CosmoGov: Jurnal Ilmu Pemerintahan, 9(1), 36–49. https://doi.org/10.24198/cosmogov.v9i1.44778
Zhang, D., Wang, H., Wang, X., & Lü, Z. (2020). Accuracy assessment of the Global Forest Watch tree cover 2000 in China. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 87, Article 102033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2019.102033
Zhang, Y., Ling, F., Wang, X., Foody, G. M., Boyd, D. S., Li, X., Du, Y., & Atkinson, P. M. (2021). Tracking small-scale tropical forest disturbances: Fusing the Landsat and Sentinel-2 data record. Remote Sensing of Environment, 261, Article 112470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112470
Copyright (c) 2025 Simson Ginting
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with JPI: Jurnal Pustaka Indonesia journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the JPI: Jurnal Pustaka Indonesia journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or edit it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) before and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
1.png)
_(3).png){kind=small}
