Given their invaluable resources, Indonesian forests have been the subject of a tug of war for ages. A range of forest-related discourses have managed to justify certain interests.

It is common for certain stakeholders to use a variety of techniques and forms of knowledge to develop discourses to advance their interests while obstructing the aspirations of others.

The discourses are diverse: Forests as a source of economic growth and development; forests as sites of conservation and biodiversity protection; and forests playing their part in sustainable development. These paradigms can be easily found in both state and public documents.