A landscape puzzle: building collaborative governance in Kapuas Hulu, Indonesia

The Danau Sentarum Catchment Areas in Kapuas Hulu, Kalimantan, Indonesia, are an archetypal complex social-ecological system with high biodiversity, development pressures, and contrasting human demands. Multiple stakeholders operate according to their own interests, needs, and rules, while being forced into a legal framework that itself is composed of many layers with different configurations. This study investigated how an integrated landscape approach through multistakeholder engagement could enhance landscape governance and identify the requisite processes and stakeholder interactions for change. We explored spaces in the landscape decision-making process and observed stakeholder attempts to negotiate and configure the various components of the landscape puzzle within a coherent management plan. We were particularly interested in understanding the connections and disconnections among stakeholders and the extent to which multistakeholder processes can help to bridge gaps and lead to enhanced collaboration and more effective governance. Although it is too early to say whether the multistakeholder engagement and planning has enhanced governance capacity, participants acknowledged an improved understanding of the role of previously competing or disconnected sectors and actors within the landscape and a sense of enhanced trust.