Does Tree Planting Change Minds? Assessing the Use of Community Participation in Reforestation to Address Illegal Logging in West Kalimantan:

Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan, Indonesia has been persistently threatened by illegal logging for the past several decades. Subsequent fires have led to the encroachment of noxious grasses such as Imperata cylindrica, which have arrested succession to secondary forest within and around the park. Since 2009, local NGO Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) has reforested 20 hectares of degraded Imperata grassland within the park, with the goal of restoring forest area and decreasing the incidence of illegal logging inside the park by providing jobs and income to local people. In February 2013, a survey was conducted to assess the social impacts of the reforestation program, and to test the hypothesis that participation in reforestation can reduce instances of illegal logging through two pathways: (1) economic improvement for participants; (2) altering perceptions towards illegal logging. Structured interviews were conducted with 50 local residents, one-third of which identified as former illegal loggers...