I

ndonesian delegates to international conferences lack the skills to defense indigenous people's rights and promote their role in climate change mitigation, activists say.

They are antagonistic to indigenous groups challenging the official stance on climate change, activists added.

"We frequently get asked why indigenous rights issues are not raised in international forums," Mina Susana Setra, an activist from the Alliance of Archipelagic Indigenous People (AMAN), said at a seminar Thursday.

"The fact is only a few of our negotiators understand the real problems faced by indigenous people."

The two-day seminar titled "After the Copenhagen Conference" was organized by the Ford Foundation and the Samdhana Institute.

Setra said officials from the Philippines always took the lead in climate change talks concerning the fate of indigenous people.

"We often hear our negotiators mention dignity outside the conference room, but we do not see them raise the issue in climate change forums," she said.

Sandra Moniaga, an activist from the Association for Community and Ecologically based Law Reform (HUMA), also criticized Indonesia's poor negotiating skills in defending indigenous rights.

"Not only do our negotiators have poor skills, our government has no leadership skills in taking the lead in talks about rights of indigenous people, although Indonesia is rich in forests and local wisdom," she said.

At last year's climate change talks in Copenhagen, Indonesia sent 200 officials, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's entourage.

The negotiators were selected by the National Council on Climate Change (DNPI), the country's vanguard group to international climate change forums.

DNPI secretary-general Agus Purnomo denied criticisms that Indonesian climate change delegates were poor negotiators.

"We never prohibit people from voicing critical opinions on any government policy. We are always open to constructive criticism, including from activists," he told The Jakarta Post.

There are 1,163 tribal communities across Indonesia, AMAN says.

Of the country's 230 million inhabitants, between 50 million and 70 million are customary communities who depend on forests for their livelihoods.

Activists have long complained about the government's lack of support for communal rights by allowing the natural resources of customary land and forests to be exploited.

In terms of climate change, indigenous people have repeatedly asked the government to involve them in discussions on policy making in both the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change.

The role of indigenous people is crucial in protecting forests to prevent carbon leakage once the deforestation and forest degradation scheme to reduce emissions (REDD) takes place.