Most scholars argue that the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources (PSNR) has been used by developing countries as a legal basis to exploit their natural resources, including forests, for the sake of economic development. Land conversion and forest burning are the primary causes of forest degradation and deforestation in Indonesia. Thus, the biodiversity of Indonesian tropical forests is decreasing tremendously. This article aims to comprehensively analyze the experiences of the Indonesian government to balance the principle of PSNR and sustainable forest management (SFM). The paper argues that the implementation of the PSNR principle in SFM faces many challenges, such as deforestation, forest degradation, and the failures in implementing laws, as well as weak law enforcement. Therefore, to balance the PSNR principle with SFM, the Indonesian government needs to undertake various efforts, such as strengthening law enforcement, carrying out social forest management, and exercising mandatory forest certification. Moreover, all these efforts need to be further improved.

I. Introduction
II. Genesis of the PSNR Principle in International Law
III. The Legal Framework of SMF at the InternationalLevel
IV. The Implementation of the PSNR Principle in SFMin Indonesia
    A. Deforestation and Forest Degradation
    B. The Failures in Implementing Laws and Regulations to EmbodySFM
    C. Weak Law Enforcement
V. The Challenges Facing the Indonesian Governmentin Implementing SFM
VI. The Analysis of the Efforts to Balance PSNR andSFM in Indonesia
    A. Strengthening Law Enforcement
    B. The Implementation of Community-Based Forest Management
    C. The Application of Forest Certification
VII. Conclusion

• Sri Wartini(Associate Professor of International Law at Faculty of Law of Universitas Islam Indonesia)