When 140 local leaders came
together in November 2014 on the final day of a mapping workshop to clarify,
validate and recognize the tribal boundaries they had mapped, it marked a
memorable moment for the people of Moi Kelim – Sorong, in West Papua Province,
Indonesia. Beyond validating the maps of where and how the Moi Kelim use the
lands, the workshop reflected the commitment of the communities, together with
Sorong district government, to push for their legal recognition and to provide
an example to other tribes that it is possible to do the same. After a long and sometimes
difficult process of community mapping, the Moi Kelim have found that their
customary area totals around 430,000 ha, reaches from Makbon to Salawati, and
covers the city of Sorong and the Sorong District. It is home to 372 Moi Kelim
clans/family names, and now they are on a path to gaining legal rights to that
land and to participate in its management processes.
The government at provinces and
National level acknowledge the important of mapping for community based forests
and land management. Indonesia’s National REDD+ strategy and Action Plan
identified the need to clarify local land tenure and forest rights as essential
to the success of REDD+ and to ensuring it benefits local Indonesians.
Customary maps are tools to identify who owns the land and rights on the land
and to help appropriately distribute the benefits from REDD+. In addition to
supporting REDD+ efforts, these maps have proven to be useful tools for broader
land and resources planning, dispute resolution, as well as explaining
community rights to the younger generation.
Under Samdhana institute supports twenty-four
communities now have customary boundary maps and together with other mappings
works in Papua, there are about two million hectares of customary areas have
been mapped in Papua. Some communities are using these maps as tools to push
full forest management. One notable success is in the highlands of Wamena where
the local government took a lead role in the mapping process and now has integrated
the customary boundary maps into its long term forests management plan.
To ensure the maps are not used to
encourage investment from big plantations or forest industry activities that
might seek to further deplete or degrade the forests, the Samdhana Institute
and local government have identified the need to support broader, local-level
economic development. In Kaimana District, West Papua Province, they have
piloted the first village forests in Papua. This community-based license
program will allow community groups to continue to legally and sustainably
manage their own forests. The districts and partners will develop forest
measurement databases which will support the development of detailed forest
management business plans and small-scale forest products trading.
Using the map of their customary
territory as a basis, the community has engaged in monitoring and managing
their forest and land resources, and they are now seeking legal recognition of
their area from the national government. The village forest licenses in Kaimana
are also providing a chance for the Indonesian government to see the importance
of customary right recognition in Papua and how it can be integrated into other
forest and investment plans.
