Ekologi Politik Kawasan Konservasi Batu Bara Mangrove Park di Kecamatan Lima Puluh Pesisir, Kabupaten Batu Bara

Abstract

Indonesia's coastal regions are facing alarming ecological pressures due to climate change and human activities. In response, coastal conservation efforts there are increasing, many of which claim community empowerment as an important goal. Researchers began to study the ways in which conservation practices in Indonesia can impact communities living in and around conservation areas. However, much of this important research has focused only on land areas and has ignored efforts in coastal areas. This research began to fill the gap by using a political ecology-based approach to examine the political and environmental factors that affect the problems of degradation and conservation in the Batu Bara Mangrove Park conservation area. This study uses a qualitative method, by combining fieldwork and literature review. The results of the study show that the management project of the Batu Bara Mangrove Park conservation area is an arena for power attraction between local communities, governments and corporations. KTCM plays the role of a formal manager, but its representation is exclusive. The local government of Kabupaten Batu Bara appears as a facilitator as well as a determinant of policy direction. Meanwhile, PT Inalum through the TJSL scheme directs conservation according to the logic of the project and the interests of institutional image. Local community participation is limited, functional, and selective. Local communities in the management structure have greater access, while non-managing local communities are excluded. This conservation project shows a positive impact on environmental rehabilitation as well as the social and economic development of coastal communities. However, it also has a negative impact in the form of inequality of access and distribution of benefits. Although these conservation areas recognize the importance of community empowerment, the reality is that this has not been fully realized, thus weakening the effectiveness of the conservation project itself.