Collaborative Forest Management (CBFM) or Pengelolaan Hutan Berbasis Masyarakat (PHBM) scheme in the form of LMDH is the granting of state authority to the community in the context of natural resource management. The discourse of the Social Forestry program that was recently promoted in Java proves that the recentralization of environmental policies goes hand in hand with the trend of community-based forest management.

The return of state control over forest tenure in the form of certification through Social Forestry has different responses at the level of the village elite. This paper will discuss transactional politics conducted by the government of Colo and Ternadi Village as a form of response to the IPHPS Program. The Colo Village government experienced segregation triggered by differences in interests in the use of forest areas. On the other hand, Ternadi Village has resistance to the discourse of the IPHPS program in terms of sharing power from the village level to community institutions to utilize PERHUTANI forest land.

The study was conducted in Colo and Ternadi villages, Dawe District, Kudus Regency, Central Java. This study uses a qualitative approach with participant observation methodology and in-depth interviews as well as PRA (participatory Rural Appraisal) applied social research methodology. The results of this study show that the elite response at the village level to the policies of the central government creates certain variants that are present to accommodate the interests of the community in natural resource management and forest area utilization.

Keywords: Transactional Politics, IPHPS, Tenurial, Natural Resources, Forest Areas, Recentralization