Fidelis E Satriastanti & Dimas Siregar, Jakarta Globe 24 Mar 10;
Mangasal Lumbangaol was taken aback as he read a huge green banner at the Forestry Ministry compound in South Jakarta on Monday. “Support the Planting of One Million Trees,” the government agency’s signature campaign.
“It’s so very weird. Here, people are talking about planting one million trees, but back in my village they cut down trees. I just don’t see the point,” said the 60-year-old man, a resident of Sipitu Huta in North Sumatra.
Mangasal and seven other residents from the province met with officials from the National Forestry Council of Indonesia for the first time in the capital. They brought complaints about PT Toba Pulp Lestari, formerly known as PT Inti Indorayon Utama, a pulp and paper company that they claim had razed forests under residents’ care without their consent in 2009. The company claims that it had obtained permits to manage the woodlands from the Forestry Ministry.
“So many conflicts involve indigenous people due to diminished recognition of their rights,” said Abdon Nababan, secretary general of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN). “There’s not enough protection for indigenous people in the 1999 falls far short of international standards” in granting rights to indigenous peoples, he said. “The absence of recognition and protection gives rise to conflicts. Such prolonged disputes have social and economic costs.”
Abdon said he was unimpressed with a Forestry Ministry plan to review three key regulations — which also deal with indigenous people’s rights — because proposed changes fall short of a recognition of a basic right for residents to know about a given forestry project.
The three regulations under consideration include rules governing the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation scheme, which would allow rich countries to pay developing nations to refrain from harvesting trees.
Teguh Surya, head of advocacy at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said the government had failed to acknowledge the complicated issues surrounding land disagreements with indigenous peoples. “The idea of REDD is just irrelevant because the government did not include all stakeholders, such as indigenous people, when they drafted the regulations. They were not given any room to participate in this process,” he said.
He said in preparing to participate in the REDD mechanism, the government should concentrate on human rights issues and protection for indigenous people. He said the scheme was being misused as a way to make money instead of reduce emissions.
Land conflicts between indigenous people, the government and companies are frequent in Sumatra.
Late last year, a Riau tribal leader decided to return a prestigious environmental award, the Kalpataru, because bulldozers had invaded and destroyed 1,800 hectares of tribal forest land. The bulldozer was “a betrayal for my people and the environment,” said Patih Laman, the chief of Talang Mamak tribe.
