Original Research Article1 July 2026
Welcome to Forest and Society
Forest and Society is an international journal published by Forestry Faculty of Hasanuddin University that promotes research making clear conceptual and methodological contributions particularly research engaging with people, land, and forest, including topics such as The Commons, Commoning, and Collective Action; Landscape Governance; Political Ecology and Environmental Justice; International Forest Regime; Agrarian Transformation; Social Movement and Resistance; Technopolitics, Knowledge Production, and Environmental Communication; Rights, Gender, and Indigeneity; Mobility, Labor, and Demographics; Climate Change and Carbon Forestry; Frontiers and Extractive Industries; and Nature Conservation and Protected Areas.
While our geographical focus is on Southeast Asia, we actively encourage submissions that offer comparative analyses across regions. The journal bridges theoretical and applied research, supporting capacity-building initiatives to improve regional research quality. We welcome proposals for Special Issues on specific themes.
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- Journal Article10 July 2025
Adaptive Water Management Strategies for Subsistence Rice Farming Under Projected Rainfall Variability in Drought-Risk Khon Kaen, Thailand
This study offers new insights into adaptive water management for drought-prone subsistence rice farming in Ban Thum Sub-district, Khon Kaen Province, Thailand. By triangulating climate science, agronomy, and farmers’ socio-economic conditions, we assess drought risk and identify feasible adaptation strategies. The analysis integrates 30 years of observed climate data (1994–2023), mid-century projections (2024–2053) under SSP 245 and SSP 585, as well as semi-structured interviews with farmers. Stage-specific effective rainfall, crop evapotranspiration, and supplemental water requirements were calculated. Although total rainfall is projected to rise slightly, severe and moderate droughts are expected to remain frequent, particularly during the heading and ripening stages. In drought years, sustaining yields of 200–300 kg rai⁻¹ will require an additional 200–1,300 m³ rai⁻¹ of water. Groundwater wells and large farm ponds are technically effective but financially inaccessible to most smallholders; smaller ponds represent a more affordable alternative. The findings underscore the importance of targeted adaptation, including enhanced on-farm storage, optimized irrigation scheduling, and supportive policies such as low-interest loans and infrastructure subsidies. By linking climate projections to local capacities, this study provides a practical roadmap for strengthening rice-farming resilience and safeguarding food security in one of Thailand’s most climate-vulnerable regions. - Original Research Article1 January 2026
Elephant Economics and Agrarian Transitions: Conditions for Benefiting From Elephant Tourism Market in an Upland Karen (Paganyaw) Village
In rural, upland northern Thailand, Indigenous Karen (Paganyaw) communities have long practiced diversified subsistence cultivation and forest-based livelihoods. Yet state conservation policies and tourism-led development are reshaping these agrarian systems and livelihoods. This paper explores how one Karen (Paganyaw) community in Chiang Mai province reconfigures its livelihood strategies amid the decline of swidden cultivation and the rise of elephant tourism as a new rural economy. Beyond subsistence cultivation, villagers are seeking to diversify their households and personal income by participating in this new economic sector. We argue that the transition out of small-scale agriculture into tourism is not a neutral market choice but responds to the same political-economic pressures that have historically displaced swidden systems. Drawing on 32 qualitative interviews, this ethnographic research examines diverse forms of Indigenous involvement in the elephant tourism supply chain crucially determined by non-capitalist social relations and kinship networks. By identifying the socio-economic conditions – land and capital ownership, and familial and social networks – that result in socially-differentiated and stratified allocation of benefits from elephant tourism, it disenchants the notion of a monolithic ‘community’ yet reveals one empirical case of how Indigenous peoples navigate shifting economies and sustain meaning in their livelihood. - Journal Article3 January 2025
The Illegal Online Trade of Indonesian Protected Pitcher Plants
Indonesia is a global hotspot of pitcher plant diversity with 80 Nepenthes species recorded to date - 59 protected under Indonesian law - and more species likely to be discovered and described in the future. Under Indonesian law, these protected Nepenthes can only be traded if they originate from artificially propagated sources, and trade necessitates specific permits and government-issued certification. The present study aimed to evaluate the trade of Nepenthes species protected by Indonesian law in Indonesian-language online markets. The trade data was searched in March 2024 in the top five most visited e-commerce in Indonesia, i.e., Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada, Blibli, and Bukalapak. We discovered that 37 Nepenthes species (29 endemic to Indonesia; 14 species globally threatened) under protection in Indonesia were sold online, with 501 advertisements from 296 sellers. The majority (89.2%) of these sellers operated from Java Island. Our research documented the sale of 2,552 Nepenthes plants, totaling IDR 56,660,000 (USD $3,480). Additionally, sellers reported having 536,757 plants in stock, potentially worth over IDR 92 billion (USD $5,664,000). None of the sellers had permits for the Nepenthes they sold, indicating that they sold them illegally. Therefore, despite being designated as protected species in name, they lack effective protection in practice. The number of traded Nepenthes recorded in our study was higher than that reported by CITES (157 plants) over a 49-year period. Among the traded species, N. clipeata and N. sumatrana are two Critically Endangered species in the top 10 most advertised. These findings could aid the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry in identifying key players and regions involved in the trade, as well as assist conservationists and policymakers in determining which species need strong protection measures. - Journal Article1 July 2020
An annotated bird checklist for Gam island, Raja Ampat, including field notes on species monitoring and conservation
Species checklists are a fundamental component of biodiversity research. They foster understanding of species distributions and habitat preferences, thus reducing gaps of knowledge in geographical occurrences of species. Especially in light of the limited availability of data on species distributions for Tanah Papua, an increasing scientific focus on the region is crucial to foster and refine the knowledge of species occurrences and to inform potential conservation planning. Despite a strong focus on conservation of Raja Ampat´s marine areas, surprisingly few studies have focused on the terrestrial biodiversity of the archipelago. As a consequence, detailed species checklists are largely missing. Here, we provide a preliminary bird species checklist for the island of Gam and its surrounding islands, located in the central Raja Ampat archipelago. During nine sampling periods between 2013 and 2019, we recorded 132 bird species in six distinct habitat types. Of the detected species, six are considered threatened by IUCN Red List criteria. We further recorded three new species for Gam Island, thereby expanding their known extent of occurrence. - Journal Article10 July 2025
The Role of Ecosystem Services in Holistic Conservation within Protected Areas: A Case Study of the Song Thanh National Park, Vietnam
Vietnam has made a strong commitment to biodiversity conservation, as evidenced by its extensive network of protected areas. However, environmental issues persist in protected areas. Often, the resulting violence complicates the situation, making it more challenging to analyze and manage. We studied the perceptions of people in the buffer zone of the Song Thanh National Park, Quang Nam province, regarding the current status of ecosystem services (ES), the importance of ecosystem services, their changes over time, and people's participation in protecting ecosystem services. We employed a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative data. We conducted semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and household surveys. We found that local communities were aware of the current status of ecosystem services they used and the importance of prominent selected services, such as swidden agriculture and water resources, in their lives. The study also showed how people perceived the improvement of regulatory services since the establishment of the national park, while the extraction of forest ecosystem services led to legal violations. People's dependence on the provisioning services provided by protected areas often leads to environmental conflicts in their management. This study provides strong evidence that conservation is essential; however, an ES approach is needed to manage protected areas effectively to meet conservation objectives. - Journal Article1 January 2022
Between Hopes and Threats: New Migratory Birds Records on the Sawala Mandapa Education and Training Forest, Indonesia
Java Island is one of the tropical areas for bird migration, especially the Asian-Australian flyway of migratory birds. The SMETF is one of the protected forest areas that migratory birds can visit in Java. This research aims to identify migratory birds in SMETF. Transect and point count methods are used to observe migratory bird movements and their activities. In the research area, four migratory birds were identified: Ficedula zanthopygia, Agropsar sturninus, Pernis ptilorhynchus o., and Accipiter soloensis. The first and second species showed many activities for four months from October 2020 to January 2021, and this is an indication that both are using the research site as a wintering habitat. The activities of the Pernis ptilorhynchus o., Accipiter soloensis were dominated by flying “flock” over the forest. Only the Pernis ptilorhynchus was observed carrying out hunting activities, indicating that this bird uses the area as a stopover area. This research also identified illegal hunting techniques, such as ngaleugeut and mikat, as severe threats to migratory birds in the SMETF.