Politik Ekologi dalam Tata Kelola Taman Wisata Hutan Alam Lok Pahar, Ruteng, Kabupaten Manggarai Timur

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the political ecology of governance in the Lok Pahar Nature Tourism Park (TWA Lok Pahar), Ruteng, East Manggarai Regency. The research employed a qualitative method, with data collected through interviews, observations, and documentation. The analysis was conducted using the political ecology perspective developed by Bryant and Bailey, which emphasizes power relations, discourse contestation, and political-economic structures in natural resource governance. The findings reveal unequal power relations among the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (KSDA), the local government, and indigenous communities. The state, represented by KSDA, holds a dominant position in managing the conservation area, while indigenous communities regard Lok Pahar as customary land inherited from their ancestors. The study also identifies a contestation between the state's conservation narrative and the indigenous communities' customary rights narrative. The centralized conservation policy structure has limited community access to the area. This condition has encouraged various forms of community resistance, including customary land claims, land utilization, opposition to conservation policies, and advocacy for indigenous rights supported by the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) as a non-state actor advocating for the recognition and protection of indigenous peoples' rights in Lok Pahar.