Knowledge Programme

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INTRODUCTION

State domination of natural resources has existed in Indonesia for more than 30 years. With the political reform process that began in 1998, this control over resources has begun to recede, but the risk remains that traditional natural resource management (NRM) practices will be lost if there are not active efforts to preserve and share this knowledge. Lack of direct community involvement in developing NRM plans and a general devaluation of indigenous culture and knowledge are key roots of this problem.

Founded in 1995, the Community Based Forest System Management Empowerment Program ( Program Pemberdayaan Sistem Hutan Kerakyatan - PPSHK) provides support to traditional NRM practices, and advocates for their application to solve current policy challenges that the government working alone cannot or does not address. Through past partnership between PPSHK and ILC, a number of positive results were seen among indigenous peoples' communities. These included: increased self-confidence, new knowledge and understanding, stronger solidarity, and social and economic empowerment.

The feeling of self-confidence increased among villagers, as evidenced by their assertiveness in reclaiming rights over land that had been seized by the state forestry company PT Inhutani in Engkarangan and Terongin villages (Sintang district) and by the private company PT Finantara Intiga in Kampung Kelompo (Sanggau district). These companies had received HTIs (h utan tanaman industri or industry plantation), small-scale forest-use concessions that can be given out by district governments (as opposed to full concessions that may be given out only by the national government).

The reclaiming actions in Engkarangan and Terongin were undertaken by planting on ex-HTI land where rubber and other tree crops had been cultivated. In Kelompo, the villagers cut down accasia mangium trees, replacing them with rubber trees and other tree crops. There, the company had began operation in 1996. Through participatory training and meetings with the government and district parliament, the communities have begun to demand that their rights to manage the lands within their traditional territories ( adat territory) be recognized legally.

Solidarity and common understanding among community members had been lost earlier, as a result of several government projects that created a high degree of dependency among the people. Villagers became disempowered, less creative and were inclined to accept their conditions as part of their fate.

Since PPSHK began playing a facilitator role, a study exchange network among communities has been born, there is now a rubber farmers' group that is marketing its products, and a credit union exists that manages money. A feeling of mutual trust among community members, and between communities, has been born through discussions, workshops and practical experiences. This empowerment work undertaken by PPSHK has helped the communities to become more empowered, critical, creative and independent.

There is now a desire from other communities in the sub-district to involve villagers from Engkarangan and Terongin to help generate a broader movement, and to facilitate organizing among other villagers. As a start, 15 villagers are preparing to become facilitators for credit union activities, cooperative marketing and organic farming.

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BENEFICIARIES

This project intends to benefit poor men and women in forest land areas throughout West Kalimantan . For their daily lives, residents of these communities rely on access to land and other natural resources that has been customarily held and managed by their communities for generations.

The program activities described below will directly involve residents of indigenous peoples' communities in the documentation process. This will allow for the results of the work to be brought back to them and for them to use it to take action for their own development.

While residents of the Engkarangan and Terongin villages in Sintang district will be the primary participants in this work, PPSHK's network throughout West Kalimantan (which includes more than 270 villages) will allow for communities in other parts of the province to also learn from and take action based on the work of this project.

The program will also provide a platform for promoting natural resource management by indigenous peoples to such audiences as the government, legislature, private sector and other stakeholders, including other organizations that work with indigenous peoples' communities.

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The three main project objectives are:

1. Documentation of the natural resource management process, particularly community expertise in rehabilitating critical land and making the land productive for the purpose of improving the livelihood of the people of West Kalimantan .

2. Promotion of natural resource management that is based on innovative local knowledge, and is just and sustainable, to influence the development of policy that also is just and sustainable.

3. To generate support for sound natural resource management at the local, national and international levels.

Activities to realize these objectives will be conducted over a 12-month timeframe:

• Quarterly bulletin

PPSHK will work with forest communities to publish a bulletin every three months with content on daily life in indigenous peoples' communities. Villagers will be involved directly in selecting and writing content for these bulletins. This bulletin is hoped to become a source of information exchange and sharing experiences among indigenous peoples' communities, and between these communities and other stakeholders.

• Film documentation of environmental management

A film will be produced with content on the economic and environmental management practices of indigenous peoples' communities. This film will be used in promoting the recognition of and respect for indigenous peoples' traditional management tools, both among themselves and other stakeholders.

• Print documentation of community experience with land rehabilitation

PPSHK will publish a book on community experiences in land rehabilitation, and developing a credit union and local cooperatives. This book will also reflect on PPSHK's own experiences in facilitating and accompanying communities to undertake these activities. It will be used in efforts to promote and share experiences on the joint learning process.

• Public information campaign

Posters will be printed and used to convey the messages of sustainable forest management to the broader public.

The anticipated timeline of activities is as follows:

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INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABILITY

Among other indicators, evaluating the sustainability of this work may consider:

• The level and kinds of participation by men and women from Engkarangan, Terongin and other villages in contributing their stories to the quarterly bulletin

• How ideas from the bulletin, the film and the book are used by poor men and women in their daily lives

• How points raised in the bulletin, the film and the book are discussed or used by government, legislatures, and other civil-society groups

• The level and kinds of attention that the poster campaign receives, and what kinds of follow-up action it generates

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ASSUMPTIONS

Recent actions by indigenous peoples' communities, in partnership with PPSHK and other civil-society organizations, have improved their access to forest land resources in West Kalimantan . Work to document traditional land rights through participatory community-based mapping is being linked with advocacy efforts targeting local and provincial governments, to increase the security of tenure by indigenous peoples.

Indonesia 's current national policy framework for access to land, forests and other natural resources, however, does not provide guarantees to indigenous peoples or other small-scale farmers and producers that their land and resource rights will be respected. PPSHK is part of a broad, nationwide movement to reform these laws and policies so that peoples' resource rights are strong and well respected.

The objectives for this program reflect the assumption that the activities by PPSHK and village partners can contribute to change at the policy level, so that indigenous peoples' rights are more secure in the future. At the same time, the program assumes that recent political reform is creating new opportunities for indigenous peoples to access and manage their own lands, so that they can also benefit from their partnership with PPSHK and ILC in the short- and medium-term.

In addition to being a partner of ILC, PPSHK is affiliated with other national and regional networks through which the knowledge generated through this work can be shared and exchanged. These networks will be important channels for disseminating the film and printed documents that PPSHK produces, and using them to influence broader policy toward forest land access.

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