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Papuan indigenous leader files lawsuit against clandestine palm oil permit
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Greenpeace Indonesia activists protest against the destruction of forests in Papua at the Environment and Forestry Ministry building in Jakarta on April 8, 2021. (Antara/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)
A
n indigenous leader in Papua has filed a lawsuit against a palm oil company arguing that his community was not informed of the issuance of a permit that could allow the firm to seize portions of the community’s land.
The lawsuit was filed by Hendrikus “Franky” Woro, the leader of the Woro clan of the Awyu customary group in Yare village, Fofi district, Boven Digoel regency, at the Jayapura State Administrative Court (PTUN) on March 13. It seeks the revocation of a permit issued by the Papua provincial administration to PT Indo Asiana Lestari (IAL).
“We are customary owners of this land, but we were not properly informed about the company’s planned activities. We were also not consulted in any environmental impact analysis [AMDAL],” Franky said in a statement.
He noted that the Papua provincial administration had withheld the information about the permits it had granted to PT IAL, even though the concessions included land belonging to the Woro clan.
In the 2021 Greenpeace report License to Clear: The Dark Side of Permitting in West Papua, the group found that in 2017 PT IAL obtained a preliminary location permit for palm oil plantations covering an area of 39,190 hectares in Boven Digoel.
Franky said the court should revoke PT IAL’s environmental permit, as it was issued using an improper AMDAL and ignored the rights of indigenous landowners.
Greenpeace Indonesia’s Sekar Banjaran Aji, part of the legal team for the lawsuit, said the lawsuit was one of the first in which an indigenous community had filed a climate-related lawsuit regarding the forestry and land use sector.
