Contesting national and international forest regimes: Case of timber legality certification for community forests in Central Java, Indonesia

• We contest the national and international forest regime for community forests.
• The existence of double forest governance regimes is creating conflicts.
• Implementation of international forest regime on timber certification is costly.
• In Indonesia the international forest regime has low legality and weak legitimacy.
• The international forest regime is not effective for community forests.

The Government of Indonesia (GoI) and the European Union (EU) have signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT-VPA), which aims to prevent illegal timber products from entering the EU. This agreement recognizes a certification for timber products exported from Indonesia based on FLEGT-VPA standards and implemented through the timber legality verification system, Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu (SVLK). While the implementation of SVLK complies with the FLEGT-VPA, it has not dissolved pre-existing national systems for forest management and timber trade. Implementing SVLK standards amid multiple forest regimes causes redundancy of administrative procedures in forest management and timber trade in Indonesia. This redundancy, in turn, leads to decrease in cost efficiency, weak legitimation, and low effectiveness of the system, especially in community forests.