Abstract
Abstract Judging from the Long-term Forest Management Plan of the Singingi Protection Forest Management Unit, the current condition of the forests in Riau Province is very concerning. The results of satellite image analysis in 2004 indicated that forest cover in Riau was 3,210,563.139 Hectares, or approximately 35.74% of the total land area in Riau Province. This percentage of forest cover was further reduced in 2013. It is estimated that the remaining natural forest in Riau Province currently covers approximately 1.7 million hectares, or about 19% of the total land area in the province. This forest destruction is caused by numerous illegal logging activities carried out by both companies and communities surrounding the forest, as well as the conversion of forest land into plantation land, particularly for oil palm, and weak law enforcement and management of forest areas. After the issuance of Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. 83/2016, permit applications related to social forestry increased drastically in 2018. To date, there are 83 Social Forestry Decrees in Riau Province based on data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Essentially, Social Forestry was established to alleviate poverty, mitigate deforestation, and resolve forest land conflicts by offering local communities the opportunity to manage their own forests and develop sustainable livelihoods within and around them. However, in practice, social forestry remains unable to achieve its existing goals because the function between what is expected between the implementation of social forestry cannot run according to expectations because it is dominated by company interests. Several aspects of social forestry implementation require further study, one of especially Riau Province.