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University of Oxford
School of Geography and the Environment

 School of Geography and the Environment

IGS: Current and Recent Graduate Research

Mari Mulyani

The interplay between the REDD+ mechanism and forest-related institutions in Indonesia

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Academic Profile

Mari Mulyani is a DPhil candidate at the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford. Mari is part of the Conservation Governance Lab, an interdisciplinary research group working to generate richer conceptualisations of how conservation actors build, extend and legitimate their influence. Prior to Oxford, Mari graduated 'cum laude' from Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia in 1995 in International Relations, and in 2009 from the University of Indonesia with a Masters Degree in the Environmental Sciences also 'cum laude' (she was also the highest-achieving GPA student since the Department was founded twenty seven years earlier and the first in the history of the Department to graduate 'cum laude' in three semesters from a four semester programme).

Currently Mari is co-authoring the book Global Climate Change with Professor Sutamihardja (former Vice Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1997-2007), a textbook in Bahasa Indonesia.

She is also a member of the Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Conservation and Technological Natures: Materials, Cities, Politics research clusters, and the Forest Governance group within the School.

Awards

In 1991 Mari was one of sixteen students selected by the Government of Indonesia to represent the country in a scholarship youth exchange programme, funded by the Australian Government. In 1994 she was one of forty students selected by the Government to represent Indonesia in Japan under the Leadership for the Twenty First Century programme. In this latter programme Mari was elected as the National Leader for Indonesia, subsequently becoming elected to represent the entire South East Asia region to deliver a final speech on their behalf.

Work Experience

During her years at Gadjah Mada University Mari worked as a reporter and anchor with a local radio station, this experience subsequently proving invaluable when she was retained by BBC World to work with their senior journalists covering the Aceh Tsunami disaster in 2004. Since graduating in 1995 she has held executive responsibility with two companies in Indonesia, the first a leading conglomerate from the private sector and the second (where she maintains the role of non executive Director) a German company with extensive international operations.

Social Responsibility

Mari has been actively involved in promoting the principles of social responsibility, whether in the value that can benefit corporations or within the community at large. Her many activities include establishing a school and scholarship programme for children disenfranchised from the Government of Indonesia's school system. For the last seven years she has also been active in Indonesia's spiritual enlightenment movement, including as a television host, and in the production of a television series - 'The Enlightenment Forum with Richard Claproth PhD'.

Current Research: DPhil Research

The Interplay between REDD+ Mechanism and Forest-Related Institutions in Indonesia

The alignment of international forest policy with Climate Change has created an impetus for a new international policy framework. In response, a mechanism known as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) for application in developing countries is receiving massive attention from the international community from a political, policy, and investment perspective. REDD+ embraces an assembly of market logics, devices, and practices and is establishing itself as a new form of forest governmentality.

A key target of the REDD+ mechanism is Indonesia. This is because Indonesia has ten percent of the world's remaining tropical rainforest and with a high deforestation rate (-/+ 1 million ha/year), REDD+ is of great strategic interest and potentially of major economic value to Indonesia. However, exploiting this value is undermined by the extreme complexity that exists within forest governance institutions. The majority of Indonesia's forests are classified as 'state forest' and forest governance has historically been weak. This condition has been exacerbated by the Government's policy of decentralisation in late 1998, which resulted in chaotic regional autonomy characterized by an intense power struggle amongst different levels of government. Moreover, as a key public and private sector resource forests play a central role in the conduct of several institutions from the national, provincial, and district to the village levels. Understanding the interplay between the REDD+ mechanism with these institutions is critical to the success of its future implementation.

This research focuses its attention on: (1) how REDD+'s interaction with existing national and sub-national institutions, including the imbedded informal institutions such as 'Clientelist', modifies or transforms existing institutions, and whether it prompts the assembly of new institutions, and (2) whether these modified institutions bring benefits and if so what and to whom.

Publications

Conference Papers, Articles and Public Letters
  • Sutamihardja and Mulyani, M. (2010) Biodiversity and the threat of climate change. International meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. Bali, Indonesia.
  • Mulyani, M. (2010) Flashing blue lights are a symptom of Indonesia's arrested development. Jakarta Globe, July 2010. Jakarta, Indonesia.
  • Mulyani, M. (2009) Flashing blue lights and privilege in the republic. Maximillian Magazine, Jakarta, Indonesia. (Addresses the abuse of privilege in an emerging democracy).
  • Mulyani, M. (2007) The Garuda Indonesia. Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Indonesia. (Addresses social responsibility and abuse of power in the Republic.)
  • Mulyani, M. (2006) The new colonialist. Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Indonesia. (Addresses social responsibility and class in the post-colonial era).
  • Mulyani, M. (2004) Hue and cry. Cover Magazine, Australia and Hong Kong. (Addresses social responsibility and the consumer in a supply-led industry, article 1).
  • Mulyani, M. (2004) Retrospective reflections and forward thinking. Cover Magazine, Australia and Hong Kong. (Addresses social responsibility and the consumer in a supply-led industry, article 2).