No rights, no REDD: Communities

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 1 Jul 10;

Indigenous communities have warned the government they will reject the implementation of a planned carbon credit scheme unless the government guarantees their rights to livelihood in the forests.

The Alliance of Archipelagic Indigenous People (AMAN), which claimed to have 1,163 community members, said the international scheme — which is designed to reduce deforestation — could trigger new conflicts if land tenure disputes remained unsettled.

“Our stance is clear — no rights, no REDD. It is what we have told AMAN’s members across the country,” AMAN secretary-general Abdon Nababan told a discussion on climate change Wednesday, referring to the international policy.

REDD stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, which should it be agreed to would come into effect after 2012.

Under REDD, participating forest nations would be compensated by developed nations through a carbon credit scheme for preventing deforestation.

Abdon said many indigenous communities were already protecting their forests and had very small carbon footprints.

“Indigenous people have practiced “small-scale REDD” — so why are they then forced from their land to allow in oil palm plantations?” he said.

“Indigenous people only seek recognition of their land rights from the government, not money from rich nations through REDD,” he said.

Article 18 of the amended 1945 Constitution says the state recognizes and respects units of customary communities as well as their traditional rights.

However, the 1999 Forestry Law says customary forests are state forest that happen to be located in customary areas.

“The Forestry Law has become a source of problems in regard to the land rights of indigenous people,”
he said.

Indonesia has more than 120 million hectares of forests, but clears more than 1 million hectares per year, making it the fastest deforesting country in the world.

Special Envoy to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on climate change, Rachmat Witoelar, said indigenous communities were important stakeholders in forest protection. “But we must be careful with the issue since many of the groups could claim they are indigenous people; I myself have no clear understanding who indigenous people really are,” he told the discussions.

Rachmat said Indonesia’s plan to cut 26 percent of emissions could be reached if all stakeholders were committed to protecting the country’s forests.

Senior adviser for international forest carbon policy at the Nature Conservancy Wahjudi Wardojo also said local communities played a crucial role in preventing deforestation.

“But, the approach cannot be generalized because even neighboring villages have different customary laws,” he said.