CATTLE, COCKATOOS, CHAMELEONS, AND NINJA TURTLES: SEEKING SUSTAINABILITY IN FOREST MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION IN NUSA TENGGARA, INDONESIA

INTRODUCTION During the past three decades, Indonesia’s forest lands have been mapped, classified, and utilized to meet increasing demands for commercial exploitation, watershed protection, recreation, and biodiversity conservation. Throughout the archipelago, previously isolated forest areas have been opened up through rapid development of roads and the extension of government administrative units. Shifting demographic and economic trends have hastened the pace of change and the interest in these forest areas, intensifying resource management conflicts. Rural communities living in and around these protected areas have been gradually marginalized from decision-making processes and disenfranchised from important forest resources.