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Jakarta. Forest groups on Wednesday welcomed an Indonesian commitment to protect the rights of indigenous people who have long complained that their land is being stolen in the name of conservation schemes.
With
billions of dollars in foreign aid and carbon offsets potentially on the table,
tribal groups have accused internationally backed efforts to tackle deforestation
of pushing them off their ancestral land.
Presidential
adviser Kuntoro Mangkusubroto told a forestry conference on Lombok island this
week that Indonesia would address the issue by implementing a decade-old land
law recognizing the rights of forest communities.
It will
also develop a land tenure map identifying the location and size of forests and
how they are used, as well as defining the legal status of the country’s vast
forested areas.
“Indonesia
is committed to longer-term forest and land tenure reform,” he said.
“All should
be implemented based on the principle to recognize, to respect and to protect
customary rights,” he added.
Forest
groups hope the government will fulfill its obligations to inform and consult
with indigenous groups whose lives could be dramatically altered by UN-backed measures
to prevent deforestation.
“We are
very pleased with Indonesia’s commitment,” said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, a board
member of Rights and Resources Initiative, a global coalition of forest
research groups.
“It’s not a
matter of recognizing who the indigenous people are and their rights, but
developing a legal framework to recognise their ownership over forests. We are
very hopeful that changes will come about.”
Indigenous
Peoples Alliance Secretary-General Abdon Nababan said forest people were in danger
of being forced off their land and denied their customary livelihoods in the
name of conservation.
“The basic
point is that if you want to protect the forests, you must protect the people
who protect the forests,” he told AFP.
The
alliance last month demanded a halt to conservation schemes worth billions of
dollars on Borneo island, saying they could be a form of “cultural genocide” if
not handled properly.
Indonesia
is often cited as the world’s third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, due
mainly to rampant deforestation by the palm oil, mining and paper industries.
Deforestation
is estimated to account for almost 20 percent of global greenhouse gas
emissions.
Agence France-Presse
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