Providing Rural Youth in Aceh with 102511 an Alternative to Forest Crime: Lessons from the Community Rangers Program The Indonesian province of Aceh has undergone a These findings have a number of implications for dramatic transformation since the devastating earthquake conservation and reintegration programming in Aceh and and tsunami of December 2004. The signing of a peace other regions facing fragility, conflict, and environmental agreement between the Government of Indonesia and the pressures. While the CRP was well designed to generate Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in August 2005, brought an benefits for participating youth, better impacts on end to three-decades of civil war. The return to peace and environmental behaviour may have been achieved by the massive inflow of reconstruction assistance contributed seeking broader community participation in livelihood to rapid economic growth and development. However, the activities. The CRP’s unintended spillover effects on high demand for timber for the booming construction sector illegal mining activity are a reminder that community- strained efforts to protect the environment in a province level interventions can only be successful if they are that still hosts one of the largest and most bio diverse implemented in conjunction with broader institutional forest ecosystems in the world.1 Following the cessation of reform, and provide community members with viable hostilities, many former combatants and rural youth turned alternatives to environmentally-harmful income-generating to illegal logging as an attractive source of income. activities. Finally, the CRP experience provides possible insights about the benefits of combining material and The Community Rangers Program (CRP), implemented by nonmaterial incentives to encourage youth to desist from Fauna and Flora International (FFI) with a grant from the participating in illegal activity. World Bank-managed Consolidating Peaceful Development in Aceh Trust Fund, provided unemployed rural youth with an opportunity to train and work as environmental stewards. The CRP combined the following two objectives: (1) to This policy brief addresses the following questions: improve the economic welfare and social inclusion2 of participating youth, therefore creating a viable alternative to illegal logging; and (2) to enhance environmental awareness • How successful was the CRP at improving and protection at the community-level in Aceh. This policy the economic welfare and social inclusion brief presents the results of a randomized evaluation of the of participants? CRP’s social and environmental outcomes.3 The study found • How successful was the CRP at changing that the program succeeded in improving the economic the attitudes and behaviour of beneficiary conditions of participant youth. It had little effect on their communities towards the environment, social inclusion. This is because, contrary to program and at achieving measurable assumptions, most participants were well integrated environmental outcomes? in their communities to begin with. The CRP’s effects • What can be learned from the CRP that on environmental outcomes were mixed. The program might be useful for conservation or social achieved a positive effect on community attitudes towards inclusion programming in other similar conservation issues and contributed to a modest decrease contexts? in illegal logging. Yet, the study also found solid evidence that the program was associated with an increase in illegal mining. 1 The Ulu Masen and Leuser forest ecosystems cover almost 3 million hectares, an area equivalent to that of the Netherlands. The Gunung Leuser National Park was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. 2 In the context of this project and its evaluation, social inclusion refers to the acceptance of participants in their community and their constructive engagement in the community’s social life. 3 Laura Paler, Cyrus Samii, Matthew Liesiecki, and Adrian Morel (2015) “Social and Environmental Impact of the Community Rangers Program in Aceh”, World Bank. 1 INTRODUCTION Aceh exemplifies the dilemmas involved with finding a path to rapid economic development that is also sensitive to environmental conservation. Before 2005, decades of violent conflict had spared the province from the alarming deforestation rates observable elsewhere in Indonesia. In the wake of the peace accord, the province experienced demands for a fast recovery of the economy and restored freedom of movement. This resulted in widespread illegal logging. The deforestation rate was estimated at 18,400 hectares per year between 2005 and 2009, despite an official ban on commercial logging from 2007 onwards.4 There is strong anecdotal evidence that after 2005, ex- combatants and unemployed youth participated in the illegal logging. Logging was a relatively low-risk activity that generated a higher income than low-wage agricultural or construction labour. As the initial boost in economic growth driven by reconstruction efforts began to subside, Female community rangers in Pidie. the attractiveness of illegal logging increased even more. By 2009, the construction sector, which had provided employment opportunities to large swathes of the population, was already stagnant or contracting. In a post-conflict context, the absence of opportunities for sustainable employment can contribute to grievances as expectations of improved economic welfare go unmet. International experience shows that such grievances, when shared by youth and ex-combatants, can lead to increased crime and violence.5 Given that 50% of Aceh’s population is under the age of 25, and a large cohort are young ex- combatants lacking marketable skills and education, policy makers in Aceh were faced with a potentially dangerous demographic and economic situation. They were also faced with difficult trade-offs between competing priorities: protecting Aceh’s natural resources while at the same time shoring up economic growth and maintaining peace. The CRP was designed to support Aceh’s goal to create sustainable economic opportunities for youth in Aceh, while also addressing environmental and conservation concerns (see Box 1 below). It pursued these objectives through a set of reinforcing activities: training at-risk youth - defined as unemployed or underemployed youth between 18 and 35 - to work as forest rangers, and tasking them with undertaking activities designed to promote both environmental protection and to improve participants’ standing and integration within their communities. These activities included participating in forest patrols, community outreach, and the management of environmentally sustainable livelihood projects. The Pela Beungga Rangers set up motion-activated cameras to monitor tigers Government of Aceh (2010). 4 Urdal, Henrik (2004). “The Devil in the Demographics: The Effects of Youth Bulges on Domestic Armed Conflict, 1950-2000.” Conflict Prevention and Recovery 5 Working Paper No. 14. Washington, DC: World Bank. 2 Box 1: The Community Rangers Program The CRP was implemented by NGO Fauna Flora course of the project, the Ranger teams patrolled International (FFI) via a grant from Consolidating Peaceful over 8,000 kilometres and reported 1,116 incidents, Development in Aceh (CPDA), a trust fund managed by a performance unmatched by any law enforcement the World Bank and financed by Australia’s Department of agency. Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Netherlands. The project • Human-wildlife conflict mitigation: Rangers expanded on similar activities piloted by FFI under the provided an important service to host communities Aceh Forest and Environment Project (AFEP) from 2007 to by protecting their cultures and livestock from wildlife 2010. The CRP was implemented from September 2011 to attacks. Ranger teams successfully responded to 118 December 2014. incidents of human-elephant conflict and nine more incidents involving tigers. The project targeted “at-risk youth” - defined as • Livelihood sub-grant projects: Each of the 14 unemployed or underemployed youth between 18 and Ranger teams received a grant of US$ 23,000 to 35 – from 14 village tracts spread across six districts along start a collective livelihood sub-project (agroforestry the edge of the Ulu Masen forest. 280 participants (20 per or livestock rearing). The livelihood grants were the village tract) were randomly selected from a long-list of primary material compensation for the participants, eligible volunteers established by host communities. 90% aside from a per diem received for conducting patrols. of selected youth had been injured, displaced or affected FFI linked sub-projects with technical support from by the conflict in other ways, 15% of them were former district governments and universities, and used combatants, and 12% admitted having been involved in them to train community members on sustainable illegal logging in the past. agriculture techniques, and carry out livestock vaccination campaigns (approximately 700 trained; The CRP was comprised of the following components: 4,000 heads of livestock vaccinated). • Training: Participants received training on navigation, • Community outreach and awareness: Rangers search and rescue, forest crime monitoring, human- led outreach and awareness raising campaigns wildlife conflict mitigation, reporting and survival on environmental issues, such as the relationship techniques. In addition, Rangers received on-the- between watershed forest protection, water quality, job training in relation to the implementation of and human health (approximately 5,500 beneficiaries). the livelihood sub-grants, including preparation of business plans, accounting and financial management A Task Monitoring Team composed of representatives basics. of the Governor of Aceh and relevant line agencies was • Patrols: Rangers undertook routine forest monitoring established to monitor progress and outcomes, and assess patrols and filed reports on forest offenses to district- the suitability of the CRP model for scale-up. level police and forestry departments. During the FFI-CPDA Quarterly report No. 7 – 2013 Map of CRP Patrol Areas Figure 2. Community Ranger team patrol locations In the mountains of Mane, Rangers use tamed elephants to patrol the forest FFI continued its work in socializing the CRP and building an institutional relationship between 3 the provincial the CR teams and law enforcement agencies (police, BKSDA and Dishubun from and district levels). With the project entering its final phase, this relationship building and METHODOLOGY The CRP was designed to accommodate a rigorous striking given that the CRP effects on objective measures randomized evaluation that sought to estimate the causal of economic welfare were less conclusive. There is some effects of the project on both environmental and social evidence that being a Ranger increased the participants outcomes. To assess effects on environmental outcomes, actual income by 20%. 14 of 28 forest-edge village clusters in the Ulu Masen forest area in Aceh were randomly selected to participate in the The discrepancy between the effects on subjective and CRP. Outcomes were assessed in four villages per cluster objective measures can be explained by the project’s using household surveys, village head surveys, satellite approach to financial compensation. The primary material data measuring actual deforestation rates, and ground- benefits for Rangers were profits from collectively-managed sourced environmental assessments. To assess effects on livelihood sub-projects. Supervision missions found that the socioeconomic situation of at-risk youth, 258 youth were these projects were often well-managed and showed randomly selected as participants from a larger pool of 388 good prospects for profitability and sustainability, but the eligible candidates within the 14 treatment communities. most promising ones were slow-maturing activities (such This implied a treatment group of 258 youth and a control as rubber or jabon plantations) that would generate a group of 130 youth. The study surveyed youth in treatment substantial income only months or years after the end line and control communities, as well as households, and data collection concluded. The findings reflect confidence village heads, to measure the effects of serving as a Ranger in these future benefits. Consistent with this explanation, on economic welfare and social acceptance. Additional the program also had positive effects on life satisfaction and observational data collected in 56 matched villages in the expectations of life satisfaction in the future. Leuser National Park addressed potential spillover concerns. Social inclusion was not an issue for participant youth. One of the initial assumptions of the project was that the FINDINGS: SOCIOECONOMIC target group was marginalized and therefore at risk of being drawn into illegal activities. The project was designed, in OUTCOMES part, to improve the social inclusion of at-risk youth by providing them with an economically and socially productive The study found strong evidence that the CRP was beneficial role in their community. While serving as a Ranger increased with respect to improving the economic conditions of participation in farmers and women groups, the study found participant youth, but little evidence of effects on social little evidence of effects on other measures of community inclusion. Key results are displayed in Figure 1. participation and social acceptance. This is, however, largely because the project’s assumptions turned out to The CRP improved the participants’ perceptions of be incorrect. The data shows that participants were already their own economic wellbeing and outlook. The study well integrated in their communities when the project found clear evidence of a substantial treatment effect on all began, and did not suffer from social stigma associated with subjective measures of economic welfare. Being a Ranger unemployment or former involvement in the armed conflict increased perceptions among participants that they were or forest crime. doing better relative to other youth. Participants were also more likely to report that they were living comfortably at Self-reported involvement in illegal logging decreased. their present income. They were more likely to feel their The study found that the CRP caused an eight percent economic condition had improved over the past two years, reduction in self-reported engagement in illegal logging, and more confident that it would continue to improve in the and significantly diminished the belief that illegal logging is future. These positive results on perceived wellbeing are acceptable under certain circumstances. Figure 1. Socio-economic effects on participant youth Outcome Data Source Indicator Youth Survey Index of objective economic welfare Economic (higher means better) Youth Survey Index of subjective economic welfare Youth Survey Index of human capital attainment Youth Survey Index of family rootedness Rootedness (higher means better) Youth Survey Index of positive family relations Youth Survey Index of positive peer relations 1 Youth Survey Index of positive peer relations 2 Youth Survey Index of life satisfaction Outlook and Esteem (higher means better) Youth Survey Index of self esteem 1 Youth Survey Index of self esteem 2 Youth Survey Index of life satisfaction Community Integration (higher means better) Youth Survey Index of self esteem 1 Youth Survey Index of self esteem 2 Youth Survey Index of tensions with villagers Anti-social Behavior (negative means better) Youth Survey Index of fighting in viilage Youth Survey Index of negative interaction with police -1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0 0.4 0.8 1.2 Program effects in standard deviation units 4 FINDINGS: ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES The effects of the CRP on the beliefs and opinions of sustainably and responsibly extract forest resources, and target communities towards the environment, and actual endowed communities with a sense that they could take environmental outcomes, were mixed. Key results are on forest management responsibilities themselves. displayed in Figure 2. Illegal logging decreased, but gold mining increased. The CRP increased a belief in the value and benefits The CRP contributed to a modest reduction in logging of conservation among target communities. The activities, including both youth participation in logging, study found evidence that the program caused an as well as more general evidence on logging activities in increase in the belief that conservation is a good use treatment communities. Surprisingly, the study also found of forestland, and that communities could benefit from strong evidence from all data sources that the program it. It also increased confidence in the benefits of forest caused an increase in gold mining (corresponding to a 15- management mechanisms such as Reducing Emissions 20 percentage point increase in the number of households from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). engaged in mining, from a base rate of about 10 percent). This could be due to a substitution effect – by deterring Yet, the program was associated with mixed attitudes logging, the CRP shifted people into illegal mining instead. towards the balance between conservation and It could also be due to an opportunities effect, where CRP development goals, and the government’s role in patrols revealed new locations for mining. It should be forest management. The CRP was associated with an noted that gold mining has been widespread and rapidly increase in village heads’ perceptions that it is sometimes expanding in Aceh during the CRP’s implementation acceptable to engage in logging (not displayed in Figure period, and can be a source of substantial complementary 2, but still a significant effect). It reduced confidence income for rural households. Switching from logging to among household heads in the government’s capacity mining has been a general trend in the region. Given to prevent logging, and reduced support to government that the Rangers’ training focused on the prevention control of forestland use. It should be noted that these of illegal logging and not mining, it is possible that the results reflect realism and pragmatism rather than hostility CRP’s emphasis on sensitization rather than sanctions towards conservation goals. It is possible that the CRP encouraged perpetrators to adopt the view that illegal contributed to convincing villagers that there are ways to mining is a relatively benign offense. Figure 2. Environmental effects Outcome Data Source Indicator Youth Survey Index of attitudes & activities undertaken Logging (lower means less logging) Village Head Survey Index of activities observed Environmental Assessment Index of activities observed Household Survey Index of activities observed Village Head Survey Index of activities observed Mining (higher means more mining) Environmental Assessment Index of activities observed Household Survey Index of activities observed Village Head Survey Index of perceived benefits of conservation Attitudes Toward Conservation (higher means more pro conserv.) Household Survey Index of perceived benefits of conservation Village Head Survey Index of perceived will and ability of gov’t Confidence in Government Household Survey Index of perceived will and ability of gov’t Action Against Logging (higher means more confidence) -1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0 0.4 0.8 1.2 Program effects in standard deviation units 5 LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The CRP was well designed when it came to generating within their own communities, and that social exclusion is a benefits for participating youth. Rangers reported that their key factor leading them to engage in illegal activity. The CRP experience was overwhelmingly positive, and 95% stated evaluation aligns with the findings of other studies related to that they were willing to continue their work beyond the end post-conflict interventions in Aceh,7 to show that while youth of the program. The CRP was less successful in achieving and young ex-combatants might be suffering from a lack of convincing environmental impacts. While it had some opportunities to develop skills and generate income, they are positive effects on perceptions and attitudes, and resulted in typically well integrated and accepted within their community. a decrease in illegal logging, these gains were partially offset The CRP was successful at delivering socioeconomic impacts by an increase in gold mining. not because it improved the relationship of participants with their communities, but because it addressed two barriers to The study’s findings point to a number of lessons for other their economic integration: a lack of skills and a lack of access conservation and social inclusion interventions: to capital. If you want community-level change, provide community- Combining material and nonmaterial incentives might level incentives. Bringing about behavioural change be an efficient way to encourage youth to desist from requires substantial alteration of either norms or incentives. illegal activity. The CRP was conducted in a context of The benefits of the livelihood grants were concentrated growing interest in development interventions designed almost entirely among the Rangers, and the CRP did not to improve youth’s economic wellbeing and job prospects, offer other positive inducements for the broader community. particularly in post-conflict environments. An ongoing The mixed record of the program on environmental impacts debate in this literature is over the importance of material could be indicative of the limits of an approach that engaged versus nonmaterial incentives (such as status, peers, norms) communities primarily on normative terms without matching in encouraging individuals to desist from illegal activity.8 material incentives. A revised version of the CRP should In that regard, the CRP is interesting as it led to significant seek broader direct community participation in livelihood improvements in the participants’ perceptions of economic activities, with Rangers playing a role similar to agricultural wellbeing and life satisfaction, and a decrease in their extension agents who can facilitate the transition to involvement in illegal logging, despite the fact that the environmentally friendly techniques.6 material incentives provided by the program were largely delayed. The study’s results on measures such as self-esteem Community-level interventions are most useful, and and social status were inconclusive. This suggests that the successful, when implemented in conjunction with expectation of future material benefits might have been credible institutional reform. The CRP’s contribution to a sufficient to generate the positive results. However, anecdotal broader shift from illegal logging to illegal mining in Aceh evidence from supervision missions points to the importance highlights the importance of better anticipating the potential of the sense of pride and duty developed by the Rangers for adverse effects of closing off specific environmentally-harmful playing a positive role within the community, and contributing activities without providing communities with viable income- to the greater good. This sense was particularly strong among generating alternatives. The study also points to the fact that former combatants, who often confessed having found a new only modest impacts can be expected from community-level cause to champion in the protecting of Aceh’s forests. interventions unless broader institutional issues related to natural resources management are also addressed. In Aceh, most of the environmental damage of gold mining is caused by large operations run by private companies with the support of local authorities. In this context, it is hardly surprising that rural villagers view small-scale illegal mining as comparatively harmless, and do not demonstrate much confidence in the government’s capacity to enforce conservation regulations. Unemployed youth in post-conflict areas do not necessarily suffer from social exclusion. It is often assumed, especially in post-conflict contexts, that youth and in particular young former combatants are marginalized Illegal gold mining operation in Pidie 6 In designing a program with community-wide benefits, one would have to be careful to ensure that incentives were meaningful when dispersed community- wide. Conditioning on conversion to more conservation-friendly practices may also be necessary, otherwise it is not clear that common pool problems would be overcome. Under such arrangements, enforcement mechanisms would also be important. 7 For example, see Barron, Humphreys, Paler, Weinstein (2009) “Community-Based Reintegration in Aceh: Assessing the Impacts of BRA-KDP”, Indonesian Social Development Paper No 12, World Bank. 8 See also J. Heckman and T. Kautz. 2013. “Fostering and Measuring Skills: Interventions that Improve Character and Cognition” NBER working paper; and Chris Blattman, J. Jamison and M. Sheridan. 2014. “Reducing youth poverty and violence: Experimental evidence from unconditional cash transfers and behaviour change with high-risk men” (Working Paper).