
Fundamental to the challenges facing the reform of the Indonesian land sector is that it lacks a comprehensive land law. All land in Indonesia falls into one of two categories: (i) forest estate (kawasan hutan); and (ii) non-forest estate (Areal Pengunan Lain, APL). As such, land is administered under a dual system through two different government agencies, the Ministry of Forestry (MoFor) and the National Land Agency (Badan Pertanahan Nasional, BPN) responsible for forestry and non-forestry lands, respectively.

The methodologies of land surveying remained largely unchanged over hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Computational methods were enhanced with the use of logarithmic tables introduced by Napier in the 17th century, and supplemented by hand-powered rotational cylinder mechanisms for speed of calculation first introduced by Pascal, also in the 17th century. These were later to be electrified in the 20th century prior to the invention of the…

Various nations have passed legislation that makes it possible for ruralcommunities to register their lands as a single legalentity and act as decentralized land administration and management bodies. However, due to various political, financialand capacity constraints, these laws are often not implemented successfully.

The importance of good land governance to strengthen women’s land rights, facilitate land-related investment, transfer land to better uses, use it as collateral, and allow effective decentralization through collection of property taxes has long been recognized. The challenges posed by recent global developments, especially urbanization, increased and more volatile food prices, and climate change have raised the profile of land and the need for countries to have appropriate land policies.