Mapping the Customary Right in Papua – Indonesia

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.

Building on the momentum, IUCN, the Samdhana Institute and other partners in Papua and West Papua Provinces will continue to develop maps for new customary areas to secure intergenerational tenure rights. The two provinces will also work to get land-use maps formally recognized and used by national and sub-national governments as central tools in REDD+ implementation. In the Baliem Valley, Papua Province, the maps will be legalized and used to develop customary boundary management plans based on cultural zones, as well as in the design of agro-forestry and reforestation activities in degraded areas.