Deforestation as a catalyst for natural disaster and community suffering: A cycle in the socioecological system

Globally, especially in Indonesia, anthropogenic activities in and near forest regions have accelerated degradation of forests (Cattau et al. 2016; Eddy et al. 2021). Ecological functions that should have been maintained to preserve natural resources, the environment and human safety are ultimately destroyed by those who care more about the wood industry than their responsibility for preserving natural resources and promoting sustainable development (Golar et al. 2021; Safe’I et al. 2022). The greed of businesspeople and big investors has created people’s powerlessness in forest areas. People are forced to become victims of business-people who cover companies licensed to use forest products (Gerber and Haller 2021; Nandi and Sarkar 2021). Communities living around forests and along watersheds have lost their agricultural businesses due to various natural disasters (Ali et al. 2020), ranging from extreme climate change to floods and landslides (Dalagnol et al. 2022). Natural disasters occur one after another; in addition to floods, landslides and whirlwinds have devastated agricultural land, infrastructure, transportation infrastructure and lost settlements (Basir-Cyio 2021; Kiely et al. 2021).

Flash flooding is caused by surface water runoff. Unbalanced infiltration capacity and soil percolation in forested regions are responsible for the accumulation of huge water discharges (Chen J. et al. 2021; Hasyim et al. 2021). Climate change is one of the most threatening and risky factors that impact human life, especially those living around forest areas today (Dyderski et al. 2018; Golar et al. 2022; Qu et al. 2018). In the last 5 years, human involvement (anthropogenic) in accelerating forest destruction has been very prominent in Indonesia (Feng et al. 2021). The high rate of forest destruction and land degradation in the area is one factor that triggers extreme weather accompanied by high rainfall outside the rainy season and drought outside the dry season, in which the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (Badan Metereologi dan Geofisika [BMKG]) in Indonesia feels difficult to predict (Santika et al. 2020).

Weather parameters that have been an indicator so far have experienced deviations due to extraordinary extreme conditions. Therefore, flash floods, whirlwinds and heavy rains with strong winds are not in line with disaster mitigation known to the public. Floods inundate agricultural land, which may be the only livelihood of farming communities (Hovis et al. 2021). Floods can submerge settlements up to 3 m deep for weeks and disrupt the use of houses as a gathering place for family members. The suffering felt by the affected communities is difficult to describe, but can only be felt, not only because of the loss of property and agricultural land but also due to the loss of enthusiasm for life after dealing with the reality that torments them in only a relatively short time (Clayton and Karazsia 2020); they had slowly built simple houses from agricultural produce over decades, but all were destroyed in just a few hours. The poverty they feel is not only from the physical–material aspect, but also from the psychosocial dimension, which leads to confusion and despair, and therefore, positive reasoning sometimes does not exist, except for only one: having to survive by any means, including logging into the forest (Baldassini et al. 2020; Golar et al. 2020) and stealing wood to fulfil basic family needs (Parhusip et al. 2020).

People who were previously victims of natural disasters as part of the socioecological cycle are now motivated to assist in accelerated forest destruction due to this condition (Giatti et al. 2021). The loss of their agricultural land, the difficulties of obtaining alternate forms of income and the absence of government support have shifted the community’s focus from preserving forest resources to operating a licensed wood business (Mustalahti et al. 2020). The socioeconomic powerlessness of the community is exploited by timber businesspeople and owners of licensed companies to jointly commit unlawful acts using uncontrolled logging, which can be categorisedas criminal acts (Boakye 2020).

Under normal circumstances, people living around forest areas of various ethnicities have positioned themselves as the guardians of forest safety (Anugrahsari et al. 2020; Pham et al. 2020) and to supervise licensed wood businesses when logging outside the area permitted by the government (Hos et al. 2021). Over time, forest damage continues to increase, which is indicated by the decreasing land cover (Silva Junior et al. 2018); the community’s motivation has changed as a silent partner for wood businesspeople (Resosudarmo et al. 2019).

Almost all forests in Indonesia have been damaged, which has caused the loss of ecological functions to become production and business functions (Maryudi 2015). Those involved in forest destruction in Indonesia, directly or indirectly, are businesspeople who seem to be protected by regulations. The government has a significant role because it issues policies that favour businesspeople compared to the safety and sustainability of natural resources, especially those in forest areas (Race et al. 2019; Yovi and Nurrochmat 2018). The negative impact currently happening is the result of these two main factors. Socially, the impact significantly weakens the spirit of community life. Economically, the community loses its source of livelihood, which causes structural poverty (Miyamoto 2020) and triggers the birth of motivations for criminal acts of forest encroachment and wood theft (Rohayu and Absori 2019).

Globally, 15%–30% of logging is estimated to be illegal (Nellemann 2012), while wood theft in developing countries accounts for over 50% of all logging (Kleinschmit et al. 2016). Even in Indonesia, more than 70% of logging is considered illegal, as is the case in other developing countries such as Bolivia, Cambodia, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Laos, Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Peru and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kleinschmit et al. 2016; Nellemann 2012). Incidents of wood theft occur in developing countries such as Indonesia and in developed countries such as USA and European countries. However, it is realised that research on wood theft is very rarely carried out in Indonesia.

The crime rate of forest destruction and wood theft increases, indicated by forest cover changes. Changes in forest cover area towards forest destruction, especially in the Lore Lindu National Park (LLNP) area from 2010 to 2020, reached 6.90% or 15,369.20 ha. This change in the area indicates a significant threat of forest destruction occurring in LLNP. Legal action is inversely proportional to the rate of forest encroachment, wood theft, and illegal mining. Very few perpetrators of theft of wood reach the judicial process because most are resolved out of court (Iqbal 2018).

This approach contributes to criminal acts of forest encroachment and wood theft. The scale of wood theft varies depending on the perpetrator (Szulecka et al. 2016). Communities that are victims of natural disasters are generally only able to reach the outskirts of the forest. However, capital owners and wood businesspeople with sophisticated and heavy equipment can reach the forest’s heart in the conservation area (Crockatt 2012; Loury et al. 2021).

Wood theft in forest areas is driven by three factors: (i) perceived personal pressure, (ii) opportunities and (iii) rationalisation that the action is natural. This view is called the theft triangle (Mackevičius and Giriūnas 2013), which is described in terms of 10–80–10, which means that 10% of people will never commit theft, 80% will steal depending on the circumstances and 10% are actively involved in theft. In Indonesia, especially in the Central Sulawesi province, it is generally in the 80% category, meaning they will enter the forest and steal wood if the situation compels them. Natural disasters have changed people’s motivation from protecting forest resources to being part of the wood business (Baldassini et al. 2020; Golar et al. 2020; Velo and Zafitsara 2020).

The scope of research related to forestry is usually limited to empowering communities living around forest areas, watersheds and other zones with access to forest areas. Whereas forest encroachment cannot be separated from wood theft as a series of criminal acts. The licensed wood business is the leading actor in forest destruction because the government is complicated to supervise the activities performed by wood businesspeople. This links wood businesses at the upstream level in collaboration with forest-squatting communities affected by natural disasters and wood businesses working downstream to exporters (Hughes 2018).

The interaction between society and ecology is a system that is built as a socioecological system (SES). The components built into SES consist of external subsystems, including extreme weather that can catalyse natural disasters such as heavy rains, flash floods and whirlwinds. These external factors are estimated to interact with internal factors such as the age of the community, health conditions and the number of dependent families living around the forest area and along the watershed. LLNP as a conservation area is part of an ecological system that includes the Palu and Jeneberang watersheds, whose rivers cross the provinces of Central and West Sulawesi.

Based on the background above, this research was undertaken in locations of Central and West Sulawesi to look at the external and internal factors in SES that influence the opportunities for disaster-affected communities to turn into forest encroachers who collaborated with large investors to commit criminal acts from the legal aspect, both in non-conservation and conservation areas of LLNP.

This research implemented two approaches to obtain comprehensive data and information in the designated study area, including Palu and Jeneberang watersheds (Fig. 1). The first approach was a survey involving Forest Management Unit (FMU), active young foresters (students and alumni of the Faculty of Forestry of Tadulako University) and forest-concerned non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The data collected from related parties were the information they already had, which was reconciled with geographical data to estimate the level of encroachment and wood theft by juxtaposing the land cover map (Fig. 1), which decreased over time. Secondly, data were collected by conducting interviews (face to face and by cellphone) with people living around the forest areas and along the Palu and Jeneberang watersheds.

Figure 1.

In addition, government officials, who understood the ins and outs of forest management and the types of actions that could be categorised as criminals, such as forest encroachment and wood theft, were interviewed (Frimadani et al. 2020; Guisan et al. 2013). The names of companies owned by businesspeople were also collected from agencies relevant to the issuance of licences or legal letters in the use of forest products, especially the companies operating in Donggala, Sigi and Poso regencies.

The distributed questionnaires (in physical and electronic forms) were validated according to scientific principles from the methodological and statistical aspects. The number of questions in the questionnaire was 25, which contained five questions per category. The categorisations were (i) the income of the affected people who lived around the forest areas and along the Palu and Jeneberang watersheds, before and after being affected by various types of disasters; (ii) alternative work chosen after being affected by the disaster; (iii) concern for government officials; (iv) experience in logging and wood theft and (v) perception and consideration of risks in encroaching on the forest related to unlawful acts. The research sites were the regencies of Sigi, Donggala, Poso and parts of the West Sulawesi region, especially the Pasangkayu Regency.

The survey activities were preceded by Focus Group Discussion (FGD) activities from the parties on a representative basis to obtain input and primary data that supported the objectives of this research. This started in June 2021; then, in July 2021, all research teams carried out their duties according to the divisions set by the head of the research team. This whole series of activities ended in September 2021 and was followed by the data sorting phase, information reconciliation and the final FGD in October 2021.

Destruction of forests due to encroachment and illegal logging not only impacts the environment, but also destroys human values (Sahide et al. 2016; Wardani 2021). Destruction of protected forests and loss of ecological functions as catchment areas will lead to natural disasters of floods and landslides (Pham et al. 2020). Surface runoff water is difficult to control in forest areas when the rainfall volume is above normal (Newbold et al. 2015; Rascón-Ramos et al. 2021), where the infiltration and percolation capacity of the soil is not balanced with the volume of surface runoff (Appels et al. 2011; Boisson et al. 2014).

The acceleration of land cover decline due to forest encroachment and wood theft by businesspeople who have companies licensed from the government leads to initiation of natural disasters such as floods and landslides (Cronkleton et al. 2017; Kelly et al. 2012). Disasters due to forest destruction will occur continuously because restoration efforts cannot keep up with the rate of forest destruction due to forest encroachment (Farooq et al. 2020; Washaya et al. 2018). People’s suffering due to natural disasters causes their motivation to change in living their daily lives (Benevolenza and DeRigne 2019; Maki et al. 2019), even though initially, they were very much concerned about forest safety. Changes in a person’s intentions and motivations, both personally and communally, depend on the situation they face (Castelló et al. 2017; Righetti and Impett 2017).

Several community groups never intended to become forest encroachers and wood thieves. However, with economic pressure, psychosocially, they eventually turned into forest encroachers (Vasile 2019). Encroaching forests for any reason is against the law because it damages natural resources and the environment (Chaudhary et al. 2016; Chirenje et al. 2013). The state generally forgives criminal acts with a humanitarian dimension for their actions (Hauser et al. 2021). The government also has a role in forest destruction which causes various natural disasters (Rosselló et al. 2020), including floods and landslides that have eliminated people’s livelihoods leading to economic poverty (Tasri et al. 2022) and have damaged infrastructure and other public facilities (Chen Z. et al. 2021).

The perpetrators of theft of wood by the community have never entered the judiciary due to the lack of coordination between agencies and the weak human resources of law enforcement agencies in handling criminals of illegal forest harvesting (Alusiola et al. 2021; Arsyad et al. 2020; Hos et al. 2021). Government-licensed companies are the main players in the level of forest destruction that is getting out of control from year to year (McEwan et al. 2020; Resosudarmo et al. 2019).

Data released by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia shows that land cover has decreased as a cause of various natural disasters (Fisher et al. 2017; Maryudi et al. 2022; Rahayu et al. 2020). In 2019–2020, the frequency of flash floods and landslides was 17 times with details, in 2019 as many as five times and in 2020 as many as 12 times. The impact is wide scale flodding in agricultural areas and community settlements around the forest areas and along the Palu and Jeneberang watersheds. Forest damage is a catalyst for natural disasters (Velo and Zafitsara 2020), whose impact can extend to various aspects and dimensions of people’s lives (Martínez-Espinosa et al. 2020).

Businesspeople whose companies are licensed have a great responsibility in protecting the balance of nature, so that forest sustainability is maintained. People are part of SES due to coercion and economic pressure (Melnykovych et al. 2018). The process of accelerating deforestation is motivated by circumstances that make people take illegal methods (Baldassini et al. 2020; Miyamoto 2020). They made a warning addressed to the local government, which in terminology is called ‘Forbidden to Prohibit’. This means that the local government should not prohibit people from encroaching, because the goal is not to destroy the forest, but to utilise the forest to sustain life.

The situation is interpreted as a triangle category ‘10–80–10’, which means that there is 10% of the people who care about forest safety, 80% carry out forest encroachment and timber theft because they are forced, and another 10% because indeed from the beginning there was an intention and motivation to encroach (Conrad and Grove 2020). Functionally, LLNP is a conservation area that protects the world’s biodiversity (Blicharska et al. 2020; Corlett 2020; Fredericksen 2021). Forest encroachment and wood theft are long-term threats. Conservation areas are shown by the increasing intensity of law violations (Kumeh et al. 2022). The forest cover continues to decline, esspecialy in the upstream region, that as a catchment area. There is under threat of destruction accompanied by loss of ecological function, because it turns into an economic function (Endreny et al. 2019). The weakness of the government and the inability of the forest police to deal with large-capital timber businesspeople are due to the lack of concern for forest safety. Law enforcement does not work, criminals are not deterred from committing violations, so the rules issued by the government are not effective in their application in the field (Fatem et al. 2018; Van der Muur 2018).