N

orwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg called for more efforts in saving rainforests during a visit to the nomadic indigenous Suku Anak Dalam community in Jambi.

Solberg, who is cochair of the UN Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Group, visited the indigenous community, also known as Orang Rimba, in Sekampul village, Bathin Ulu III district, Bungo regency, Jambi, on Wednesday. She was accompanied by Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya.

During the one-hour visit, Solberg held a dialog with members of the Orang Rimba community.

'€œI'€™m very sad to hear that the Orang Rimba community has no land to settle down,'€ she said.

Solberg said that it was very important to save the rainforest.

'€œThe Orang Rimba must have the forest, but more importantly, they must live well in the forest,'€ she said.

She heard that people of the Orang Rimba community had no land to develop and their lives became harder and harder every day.

Four groups of Orang Rimba dwell in Sekampul village, which is included in the PT Malaka Agro Perkasa (MAP) concession area. The groups are Rombong Salim, Bujang Tampui, Badai and Bujang Putih. They consist of 36 families with 137 members.

One of the groups'€™ leaders, Bepak Badai, said group members'€™ lives had gradually become harder as living in a concession area was no easy matter.

'€œWe don'€™t have land to cultivate and no animals of prey to eat,'€ said Badai.

Several years ago, prior to the presence of the company and transmigrants, the area was a thick forest, in which the Orang Rimba could easily gather tubers, rattan and resin to sell.

'€œNow, the jungle has disappeared,'€ he said.

Members of the tribe are also more selective in the matter of eating animals as many of them have embraced Islam.

'€œWe can no longer eat wild boars and turtles because eating the animals is forbidden in Islam,'€ said Badai.

Therefore, he has requested the government provide them with land for cultivation as they only need 2 hectares of land per family.

'€œWith that much land, we can grow oil palm, rubber or resin,'€ said Badai.

Group member Induk Subuh said the government had built 60 houses for the group, but had yet to provide land for farming.

'€œIt is useless as we also need land to survive,'€ said Subuh.

The homes had also not been built properly as many were about to collapse, only a few months after being built, she lamented.

Siti said the government, under the leadership of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, had made strenuous efforts to improve the wellbeing of marginalized groups, such as the Orang Rimba, because it was the right of every citizen to live a better life.

'€œWe are making a plan to help the Orang Rimba community,'€ she said.

The Orang Rimba community would be provided with land in the form of a community planting forest that they could cultivate.

'€œWe are currently drawing up the land scheme. We'€™ll see what'€™s suitable for the Orang Rimba community,'€ she said.

Indonesian Conservation Community (KKI Warsi) executive director Diki Kurniawan said in the long term, his group would push for a regulation and a concrete guarantee from as many stakeholders as possible for the Orang Rimba community '€” in line with the government'€™s commitment to protect traditional communities.

'€œIt could be in the form of cooperation that is clear and mutually beneficial for the Orang Rimba community,'€ said Diki.

He added his group was not against investment, but it should not be contrary to the rights of the traditional community to live in accordance with their local wisdom.