Policies aiming to improve the conservation and management of tropical forests are often based on the assumption of political and economic stability. Yet some of the most important changes in conditions affecting tropical forests can occur when the political and economic climate changes in an abrupt, unpredicted, and largely uncontrolled manner. This fact is illustrated through preliminary, largely media based documentation of changes underway in Indonesia. It is unclear, as yet, whether the effects of the sudden transformations on the forest sector in this country will be largely positive or negative.