7.2 Allocation and Access: Analyzing Institutional Performance
161
frequency, or reliability of access are comparable across the board. Rural areas and
outer islands, in many cases, only have electricity access for a limited number of
hours each day, besides still using traditional biomass for other needs such as cooking
(Bhatia and Angelou 2015). Moreover, this has been achieved mostly by expanding
the fossil fuel-based grid, as local and decentralized electricity production remains
limited despite Indonesia’s spread-out geography (IRENA 2017). As seen, biodiesel
has been used primarily in transportation; thus, it has aimed mostly at motorists who
already had access to energy. Those are either (mostly urban) drivers in Indonesia
or export markets such as Europe. Plans to use jatropha oil in stationary engines for
energy self-sufficient villages broadly failed due to low yields and lack of procurement for processing, except for a few NGO-supported cases (Caroko et al. 2011).
Electricity production from palm oil-biodiesel has recently come to the agenda and
would represent another market for this sector, but this is yet to gain scale. At any
rate, it would still be the only structural change in Indonesia’s energy access coming
from biofuels.
In the end, there is no consensus on the extent to which oil palm expansion is
positive or negative to rural communities—at least in the short run. Although such
communities lose autonomy, control over the land, and at times access to other natural
resources such as clean water, they earn a much-needed income (Rist et al. 2010;
Feintrenie et al. 2010a, b). This trade-off might be seen as a “Faustian bargain,”
as rural communities have their environment degraded by chemical input-intensive
oil palm monocultures—due to biodiversity loss (Fitzherbert et al. 2008; Koh and
Wilcove 2008; Koh et al. 2011), soil depletion (Stichnothe and Schuchardt 2011;
UNEP 2011), and freshwater contamination (Marti, 2008; McCarthy and Zen 2010;
Stichnothe and Schuchardt 2011)—and become wholly dependent on that (one)
industry. Still, smallholders contend that without oil palm their living standards would
be much lower, with less financial resources and reduced access to transportation,
infrastructure and education, among others (Feintrenie 2010a; Rist et al. 2010). The
present situation has mostly been a take-it-or-leave-it deal for rural communities,
who often find in oil palm plantations the only development opportunity available.
7.3 Agency in Biofuel Governance in Indonesia
7.3.1 Main Coalitions and Their Policy Beliefs
By affecting Indonesia’s land-use policy, biofuels have entered a major ongoing
conflict between conservation and plantation-expansion interests. There is a
balance—in engagement if not in effectiveness—among state, business, and civil
society agents, including foreign environmental NGOs. Such NGOs appear to play
a more important agency role in Indonesia than in India or Brazil, possibly because
agricultural issues here are closely linked to tropical deforestation, a topic of global
concern. (Why international NGOs have been more influential in Indonesia than in
161
frequency, or reliability of access are comparable across the board. Rural areas and
outer islands, in many cases, only have electricity access for a limited number of
hours each day, besides still using traditional biomass for other needs such as cooking
(Bhatia and Angelou 2015). Moreover, this has been achieved mostly by expanding
the fossil fuel-based grid, as local and decentralized electricity production remains
limited despite Indonesia’s spread-out geography (IRENA 2017). As seen, biodiesel
has been used primarily in transportation; thus, it has aimed mostly at motorists who
already had access to energy. Those are either (mostly urban) drivers in Indonesia
or export markets such as Europe. Plans to use jatropha oil in stationary engines for
energy self-sufficient villages broadly failed due to low yields and lack of procurement for processing, except for a few NGO-supported cases (Caroko et al. 2011).
Electricity production from palm oil-biodiesel has recently come to the agenda and
would represent another market for this sector, but this is yet to gain scale. At any
rate, it would still be the only structural change in Indonesia’s energy access coming
from biofuels.
In the end, there is no consensus on the extent to which oil palm expansion is
positive or negative to rural communities—at least in the short run. Although such
communities lose autonomy, control over the land, and at times access to other natural
resources such as clean water, they earn a much-needed income (Rist et al. 2010;
Feintrenie et al. 2010a, b). This trade-off might be seen as a “Faustian bargain,”
as rural communities have their environment degraded by chemical input-intensive
oil palm monocultures—due to biodiversity loss (Fitzherbert et al. 2008; Koh and
Wilcove 2008; Koh et al. 2011), soil depletion (Stichnothe and Schuchardt 2011;
UNEP 2011), and freshwater contamination (Marti, 2008; McCarthy and Zen 2010;
Stichnothe and Schuchardt 2011)—and become wholly dependent on that (one)
industry. Still, smallholders contend that without oil palm their living standards would
be much lower, with less financial resources and reduced access to transportation,
infrastructure and education, among others (Feintrenie 2010a; Rist et al. 2010). The
present situation has mostly been a take-it-or-leave-it deal for rural communities,
who often find in oil palm plantations the only development opportunity available.
7.3 Agency in Biofuel Governance in Indonesia
7.3.1 Main Coalitions and Their Policy Beliefs
By affecting Indonesia’s land-use policy, biofuels have entered a major ongoing
conflict between conservation and plantation-expansion interests. There is a
balance—in engagement if not in effectiveness—among state, business, and civil
society agents, including foreign environmental NGOs. Such NGOs appear to play
a more important agency role in Indonesia than in India or Brazil, possibly because
agricultural issues here are closely linked to tropical deforestation, a topic of global
concern. (Why international NGOs have been more influential in Indonesia than in