From Protection to Negotiation: Socio-Ecological Dynamics of Paddy Farmland Loss in Peri-Urban Bandung, Indonesia

Despite formal designation as protected agricultural land, paddy farmland in peri-urban regions continues to decline under rapid urbanization, raising questions about how human–environment interactions reshape protected landscapes over time. This study examines socio-ecological changes in protected paddy farmland in Bandung Regency, Indonesia, between 2010 and 2024. Using a mixed-methods approach, it combines longitudinal administrative land-use data with semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions involving government officials, farmers, developers, and community actors. Quantitative analysis reveals pronounced spatial unevenness and temporal acceleration in farmland conversion despite formal protection. Of the 16,915.76 hectares designated as protected, a cumulative net loss of 3,809 hectares occurred, with substantial inter-district variation in conversion intensity and Policy Compliance Index values, including negative outcomes in several districts. Rather than stabilizing following designation, conversion rates increased over time. Qualitative findings show that farmland protection is enacted through discretionary interpretation and everyday negotiation among actors facing development pressures, livelihood insecurity, and institutional constraints. Protection is thus experienced not as a fixed ecological boundary but as a socially mediated and situational process. The results suggest that peri-urban farmland loss reflects negotiated socio-ecological transformation rather than simple regulatory failure. By linking longitudinal land-use change with lived governance practices, this study contributes to human ecology by demonstrating how formal protection regimes are reshaped through everyday human–environment interactions, producing spatially uneven and accelerating landscape change.