Burning of peatlands in Indonesia: Photo credit: ICRAF/Rizki Pandu PermanaIndonesia reforms should provide clarity, simplify procedures and conclusively deal with unresolved
property rights whose complex nature continues to stifle progress across the
forest margins of Indonesia.
***
At a recent international conference
on forest tenure and governance, the Indonesian government indicated that the
country’s policy reforms will focus on giving communities more use rights and
control over natural resources in a bid to reduce high carbon emission levels
while promoting the livelihoods of community members.
The hope is that these reforms will
provide clarity, simplify procedures and conclusively deal with unresolved
property rights whose complex nature continues to stifle progress across the
forest margins of Indonesia. One of these landscapes is the forest peatland in
the Central Kalimantan Ex-Mega-Rice Project Area where conflicts have a long
history of shifting policies that have resulted in overlapping land rights, and
a clash between the central and local government on land use in the area.
The potential to reduce carbon emissions
from peatland drainage and conversion in
Indonesia is high with annual emissions of 40 t CO2e per hectare per
year. The government identified the peat domes of the Central Kalimantan
Ex-Mega-Rice Project Area as a priority for international cooperation in
emission reduction with Australian support. It is, however, not yet a priority on
the tenure reform agenda.
The problem
Different regimes have meant
different land use rights and regulations in Central Kalimantan, causing
confusion and conflicts as several parties legally lay claim to the same land. Conflicts
revolve around land rights that were granted through A) the traditional adat systems or rules which the local
communities still hold on to, B) logging concession permits granted under the national
forestry law which did not acknowledge adat rights of local communities, and property
rights allocated during and after the Mega Rice settlement project.
The situation is made worse by a difference
of interpretation between the local and
central government on ownership and land use management where the local
government quotes existing research and policy to justify exploitation of the
area for oil palm and mining concessions. This is against the directives of the
central government that no such concessions should be granted so as to protect
the area’s biodiversity. Negotiations between the two state entities need to be
informed by the area’s potential in environmental conservation and in the
interest of the local community.
With such complexities already
surrounding land right use and management, the expectation of REDD+ income
increased the stakes. Clarity on land
rights as part of a broader carbon rights concept is needed in Central
Kalimantan and other similar landscapes in Indonesia.
Searching for a solution
Scientists at the Worldagroforestry Center
based in Indonesia have conducted a study in Central Kalimantan to investigate
the root causes of conflicts in the area and based on this provided possible
resolutions to ending the problem. “Changing the local course of history
requires changes in the balance of power,” they explain in one of the latest ASB Partnership briefs. Specifically, the brief carries three main points of
consideration.
-
It
calls for negotiated cooperation among stakeholders as opposed to authority by
one single legal entity; the fairness dimension of respect and recognition has
been underestimated in importance
-
It
identifies resolution of property rights as the key step to be taken for successful REDD+ implementation
-
It
concludes that a co-investment paradigm of REDD+ can contribute to resolving
disputes on property rights and seek more transparent use of state authority
and power
Download full ASB Policy brief 21: Hot spots of confusion: contested
policies and competing carbon claims in the peatlands of Central Kalimantan,
Indonesia
