Integrating Land Rights in Conservation: An Opportunity or Challenge for Indonesia?

In Hawaii US, September 3rd Yunus Yumte representing Samdhana Institute and consortium of Indigenous Community Conservation Areas (ICCA) Indonesia speaking in the forum of IPs Rights and Conservation sponsored by the IUCN Commisison on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP). Given and updates of currents opportunities and challenges that Indonesia have in addressing the integration management of conservation areas that bring right of IPs as the foundation. Putting the overall contexts Yunus highlight some keys issues, progress and ways forward that Indonesia and all co-partners should do to realize this. 

Indonesia is the island country in tropics that have high potency of natural resources includes biodiversity. For conservation purposes the government has legally pointed 526 conservation areas that extent in almost 26 million all over archipelago with the largest are in Papua with Lorenz National Park that cover 2,2 million ha and extend from alpine zone into coastal in the island of Papua. Within it the strong values and claim of right by IPs or local community has living for centuries in this conservation are. As Indigenous People Alliance of Archipelago (AMAN) indicated that about 2/3 of classified forests areas are overlap with customary right of IPs. They has also calculated that in total there are about 84 million ha are claim as the customary ownership by the community. All these facts and date were presented by Yunus in this IUCN WCC 2016 session. 

Major challenges that conservation development in Indonesia face are to brings in local IPs rights, local wisdom and their values to be counted and integrated as the pole in sites implementation. Question raised by Yunus "do we want to have the freeze conservation approaches based on government regulation to be implemented or make it more locally adapted and socially integrated with the ways community has acknowledging conservation approaches?". Because talking about conservation in official context are more often be refused by the community in forests areas. Some of them the past experience are simply expressing 3 problems: (1) limitation of community access to the forests resources they are depending on, (2) long process administrative arrangement when they request for any public facilitties inside forests areas and (3) in few cases, decriminalization are always shadowing them for access to limited amount specific legally forbidden forests products. Addition to that Yunus shared the examples of how land use and locally classified forests function that living in Indonesis IPs specifically commmunity in Balliem Valley of Papua (see picture bellow). Recently the ICCA Indonesia recorded 14 initiative of conservation management approaches by Indonesia People includes Territorial Management in Menua Sungai Utik, West Borneo of Dayak Iban (local tribes in West Kalimantan). The Dayak Iban community has maps and delineate their territories together with its detail land uses plan and function recognized by the community.

Make about challenges question are positively answer there are several opportunities emerging in Indonesia both at policy level and action on the ground. As presented the emerging and positive momentum in Indonesia as follow: 

• Constitutional Court Decision No 35 and 45 of 2012 About Adat/Customary Forests. Which clearly emphasized that customary forests are not the state forests and should be managed follow local wisdom and norms that living with the community. 
• Environmental Law no 32 of 2009 on Strategic Environmental Assessment. Emphasizing the important of holistic social and cultural studies that potentially impacted by the implementation of any specific regulation, program and policy - include forest function designation. The law also secure the role of community and their access to the resources within their rights. 
• Ministry of Forestry and Environment Regulation No 76 2015 on Zonation Criteria in Conservation Areas. This new established regulation has enable community to integrates the local wisdom and local zoning into the the current stated zones by having tradition zone that collaboratively assessed and delineated. This also provides an option co-management of conservation areas. 
• Ministry of Land and Spatial Plan Regulation No 10 of 2016 on Communal Rights. And Ministry of Internal Affair Regulation No 52 of 2014 on Procedures for verification of Customary Rights. 
• Forests Management Unit (KPH) for Conservation Areas and its management authority. Undestanding the difference of local specific forests problem, the government is developing the decentralize forest management that bringing authority of forests management at district and sites level. Establishment of KPH is seeing could bridge the gaps in currents missing action on the ground by have the forests management institution on the ground.

Reflects to the challenges and emerging opportunities, Yunus aware that there are big home works that needs to be done in clearly translating the legal windows above and packaging it on the applicable contexts. Despite is positive impacts, constitutional court ruling no 35/2012 together with others regulation are not yet working well on the ground. To keep these progressive there are several way forward that ICCAs Indonesia is recommended: 

• Clean and clear land tenure arrangements for local and indigenous/adat peoples in managing the conservation areas. Expanding and applying proper customary boundary mapping, social study and legal designation referring to the existing regulation are the actions that community in collaboration with other keys actor should do. 
• Integrate official conservation goals with the customary community development strategies using indigenous knowledge. 
• Engage local institutions in management of the diverse community based conservation goals. FMU, social forestry scheme and other locally forests management format that provided by Indonesia government are the potential space to take the forward action. 
• Regulate rights and responsibilities of the actors (local communities, local government and central government ministries) in managing natural resources towards conservation goals. Having a co-management protocols and join implementation program that integrated each ointegrather are crucial to reduce the conflict of access and claim right.
• Bringing more young people involve in locally conservation management activities. Understanding the problem of sustainability of value and conservation codes, bringing more young people to learn, deeply valuing and absorb the conservation mainstream are crucial to maintain the sustainability of integrated conservation management agenda. 

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Mapping Customary Right; for Forests and Land management in Baliem Valley

Timber is the main valuable resource for the community in Baliem Valley, beside for housing and public construction it is also needed for wall in the farm land and fuel-wood for daily livelihood needs. High extraction by the community which mostly illegal even though in their customary territories has implicates to the high degradation in the valley, scarcity of commercial woods and social conflict because of forestry law enforcement. So making the timber would sustainably available for the community and development needs under clear rights protection and legal management scheme, the collaboration of Forestry Department of Jayawijaya District, Yayasan Bina Adat Walesi/YBAW (Local NGO Based in Wamena), Lorentz National Park Management Body and Lembaga Study Pembangunan Kampung/LSPK (local NGO based in Jayapura) are facilitating customary community rights recognition, institutional strengthening and land uses planning. The worked was started in 2010 and now has mapped the boundary of 19 customary community groups and 3 which are now having the land uses and forests development plan.

 Small plots of timber in covers coffee plots in Baliem Valley. Photo: Yunus Yumte

The project was designed to bridge the gaps in the government and the communities about the expected sustainable management of Baliem Valley. For the forestry department and Lorenz National Park Management Units a key problem was the fundamental difference in the way that the national Forestry Department and communities view forest governance: for the forestry department nationally, the lack of proof that communities can manage forests sustainably is reason not to acknowledge customary ownership, whilst for the communities, the question of forest ownership is non-negotiable and is separate from the objectives of quality of the management of forest resources. YBAW also analyzed that the problems of timber management is strongly relates to the economic and social position of the traditional communities of the Baliem. They believe that communities are increasingly marginalized within the economic and political life of the valley, and that the key to asserting influence over the development process is recognition of their land and resource rights and, by association, the traditional leadership and decision making institutions.

Livelihood and landscape assessment conducted by IUCN, Samdhana and Partners in 2008 – 2010 identified the steps forward to dealing with the landscape degradation, community rights and economic development problems. Customary boundary mapping, customary community land uses and forests management plan and legal recognition of rights and its management scheme are the sets of activities been recommended and implementing until now. YBAW with their social expertise been working on social customary boundary mapping, while LSPK then continue it with in-depth social-land-forests data collection until institutional development. Both are backed up with the technical and legal supports from Forestry Department. As a pilot in Witawaya (1 customary group has mapped) a reforestation program been initiated to test the effective implementation of modified customary community groups institution in managing the land forests resources.

Sketching the customary boundary in Social Mapping. Photo: Yunus Yumte

19 customary boundary maps produced. They cover 192,000 ha of forests, land and water body in Belliem Valley or about 65% of total districts areas. The maps had stimulated the discussion at government level to revise the administrative boundary that currently full of conflict. For forestry they helps to appropriately recognize the owner and keys stakeholder they will involving in the forestry program. LSPK with their works in 3 groups of 19 has produced a full sets of basic social-land uses and forests data bases. They have also helps these 3 community in establishing a modified customary institution for effectively manage their resources and socio-communal relation. The recently started reforestation program in Witawaya has plant 5000 seeds of casuarina and will be spread to each community member. A legal draft and academic script of customary right protection and recognition were developed and now ready for further discussion and improvement before it goes for final approval by the parliament.

Government particularly forestry department of Jayawijaya district believes that current collaboration among government, CSO/NGO in Baliem Valley and customary community groups are a great foundation and momentum to move forward with their legal plan on timber plantation. The new established FMU in Baliem will then found easy ways to develop a plan and partnership arrangement with the community. Timber scarcity will then easily to be solved with the customary community reforestation.

Understanding the right, culture, tradition of community and their interaction to natural resource is the best start to create low conflict, legal and sustainable approaches on natural resources management. Because illegal logging is beyond cutting the tree without legal permission. During the projects implementation in Baliem valley we learned that: 

• Community are mostly needs suitable friends to escape from their social-economic and environment problem. With limited capacity and minimum access to any positive information that could inspire them, a friend they expected should able to fill the gaps they had. Having someone or organization that understand local context with enough capacity to works with community was the project main attention when started. But then we found that most of the partner are also need to develop their capacity to handle all the technical-social and environmental issues they will working with community. So building a training of trainer program are one keys recommendation we should take in the next steps of projects

• Government are mostly don’t brave enough to take a deeply action to solve the community problem but they do have an intent to do that and would provide a financial support when they see the impacts of the issues been pushing at community. So investing resources and human capacity in several pilot sites should be a priority to build field based evidence in which clarification of customary rights, legal recognition, complete land uses plan and strong customary institution will lead to the legal, benefit and sustainable management of natural resources – include timber

• Holistic livelihood and landscape development approaches should be applied to bridge the gaps between community and government in the Balliem valley. The ongoing partnership among government-CSO/NGO and community that the project has successfully built should be maintained to the further works. But it is necessary for them to seat and talk about a long term target they will achieve in Baliem Valley though this collaboration.

Technical mapping preparation; develop gps tracking plan for boundary mapping. Photo: Martin Hardiono

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6 Customary Community Groups In Baliem Valley Finalized and Agreed on Their Boundary Maps

YBAW Director (Right) gave the customary boundary maps the chief of Omarekma Customary Groups.
Photo: Martin Hardino

After a long process of customary boundary mapping facilitated by Yayasan Bina Adat Walesi (YBAW) with supported by Samdhana Institute and Forestry Department of Jayawijaya District, 6 customary community groups received and agreed upon their boundary maps. In front of the head of Planning Agency and representative of a parliament member the elders from Wusilimo, Hubulama, Musalfak, Omarekma, Asudogima and Muliama confirm and request for legal recognition over their land rights. They were then asked for the government to put the pole as a sign of ownership over the land.

In his opening remarks, Mr. John Way (the Head of Dorestry Department Jayawijaya District) said that the main objective of the customary boundary mapping is to solve the land right conflict and document the rights that currently lives in the mind of the elders. The maps will also helps the government to appropriately identifying and planning the program in each region based on specific community needs and inline with the land uses wisdom they have for centuries. For forestry program they were often found a problem with right either on different actor claiming one piece of land until the zoning conflict between the way how community acknowledge the function of land uses and the legal delineation the government made. Most of the rehabilitation program for instance are often ended without a continuity guaranty from the community because it comes note based on their needs and not in the rights places. So he expected that during mapping community can then thinking on what would they do with their customary land and how it connects to the currents forests and land use development needs.

While the Head of Planning Agency in his speech expressed the efforts that YBAW, Forestry Department and Communities did. Government is positively welcoming the maps and expects to see how the maps could then help them to re-governing the border of sub-districts. Particularly because the history of confederation war in the valley are remain influence the development - they're often find this now in the sub-districts that administratively covers two different groups with a war history in the past. He is also requested all the leader to take an advance steps to control the land trading that increasing in the valley. Community should able to keeps their land and trying to find a best and benefits option to manage it.

As addition YBAW presented the progress and plan they will do to finalize the rests customary boundary maps in Baliem Valley. There are about 27 groups of customary confederation in Balliem valley and 15 of them have mapped their boundary while 6 of which are now be agreed. YBAW with supports from Samdhana Institute and Forestry Department is planning to finalize all the groups boundary maps then push them for legal recognition, land uses planning and administratively re-justifying the sub-district and district boundary based on customary rights.  

The elders reviewed the maps for clarification and final approval in the Forestry office. Photo: Martin Hardiono

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