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Solving land problems for sake of indigenous peoples

Land issues can never be separated from indigenous peoples

Zuzy Anna (The Jakarta Post)
Bandung
Tue, September 18, 2018

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Solving land problems for sake of indigenous peoples

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and issues can never be separated from indigenous peoples. Various pressures and the deprivation of customary land rights have continued to occur along with the development of forest areas for practical economic purposes, both by the government and the private sector.

Current large-scale development often comes at the cost of indigenous peoples and their territories because their economic activities are considered to have no value. Territories and indigenous peoples have fallen victim to discriminatory policies and practices. With large-scale development, indigenous peoples and their land face threats, including climate change and population increases.

Researcher Claudia Sobrevilla mentioned in a study published in 2008 that indigenous peoples’ traditional territories cover 22 percent of the earth’s land surface. They live in areas that are home to 80 percent of earth’s biodiversity. Furthermore, they inhabit areas with the greatest forest biodiversity, such as the Amazon, Africa and Asia, where 20 percent of the areas are legally owned by indigenous peoples and their communities. Their territories function as their place of living and sources of food, water and medicine.

Several studies indicate that the world’s indigenous peoples have managed, enriched and utilized natural resources in a sustainable manner. Thus, indigenous peoples have become among the spearheads in environmental management and provide a wealth of local wisdom and traditions.

Indigenous peoples, including those in Indonesia, often experience marginalization in the decision-making process of large-scale development due to the poor assessment of resources, environmental services, and even local culture and wisdom.

Unique ways of preserving the practical systems of sustainable natural resource management are transferred from generation to generation. However, obstacles remain in establishing a legal basis for indigenous peoples’ institutions in Indonesia through the drafting of a law and bylaws on the recognition and protection of these peoples, especially through customary land rights.

This is due to unequal perceptions regarding the recognition and protection of the indigenous peoples, including a lack of a databases concerning the true economic value of their “landscapes” — their natural resources and environmental services, culture, traditional wisdom and economic options.

So far, feasibility studies by investors on development in indigenous peoples’ territories have prioritized financial analysis, which has not taken into account non-market value, including that of environmental damage. Meanwhile, natural resources and environmental services in indigenous territories — issues that the people have extensive knowledge on — hold a vital role in their lives. Thus, the assessment of customary territories should include non-market value.

The Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) conducted a study this year on the landscape of the Moi Kelim community in the Malaumkarta indigenous village, Sorong, West Papua. The research study shows the value of direct benefits derived from natural resources, including agriculture, forest plantations and fisheries.

The value of indirect benefits was estimated based off various ecological functions of the local forest, mangroves, coral reefs and sea grass beds. The calculation of household benefits from the production and consumption of agriculture, fisheries and forest products shows a monthly estimate of Rp 3.4 million (US$228.48) per capita. When compared to the gross domestic product of Sorong regency minus oil and gas, which amounts to Rp 2.8 million per capita per month, the direct economic value of the Moi Kelim landscape is still higher. Likewise, when compared to West Papua’s minimum wage in 2018 of Rp 2.67 million per month, the direct economic value of natural resources for the Moi Kelim indigenous peoples is still higher.

The valuable input from this study may be important material for stakeholders in the upcoming Global Land Forum (GLF) to produce better land governance agreements. The GLF, to be held in Bandung from Sept. 24 to 26, aims to lay the foundations of land governance, focusing more on community-based management in the global context.

This forum is pivotal, considering Indonesia’s chaotic land management. The governance of state and private land tenure, among other issues, has led to dead and unproductive land, the seizure of indigenous peoples’ land, the conversion of agricultural land and various other persistent land problems. This forum is expected to provide better solutions to such endless, massive problems on the national and global scales.

Strategies to solve land problems through agrarian reform continue to be developed, including through territorial mapping initiatives, the recognition of customary rights and customary forest rights, the protection of land right defenders who are criminalized and community forestry schemes.

The important thing is not to merely defend indigenous peoples, but to maintain a sustainable scheme of consumption and production as part of the Sustainable Development Goals — the blueprint for achieving a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030.

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The author is the executive director of the Center for Sustainable Development Goals Studies at Padjadjaran University (Unpad), Bandung.

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