The National Forestry Council’s Community Chamber (DKN) had a perspective in 2010 that likened grilling to be far from the fire. Why is that so? The indigenous peoples and local communities represented by this Community Chamber see that climate change has brought impacts in their respective villages, yet local efforts to address climate change are still very minimal. At the same time, a lot of energy is actually focused on mitigation.

Without disregarding the importance of mitigation, some arguments even state that mitigation is part of efforts to adapt to climate change. HuMa shares the same view as DKN’s Community Chamber, that attention to climate change adaptation needs to be enhanced. It seems that the views align. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) has prepared tools to assess the vulnerability level of a region to climate change, which can also identify the potential of a region, using villages as the unit of analysis. These tools are called the Climate Change Vulnerability Index Data Inventory System (SIDIK). The identification is carried out using three indicators: (1) exposure level, (2) sensitivity, and (3) adaptive capacity.

In a meeting held by the KLHK’s Climate Change Adaptation Directorate on August 7, 2015, indigenous territories are considered areas worthy of more attention regarding climate change adaptation. This is not only because the areas they inhabit are ecosystems managed with traditional knowledge, but also because indigenous communities have high vulnerability due to their dependence on nature for survival, so changes in nature will have significant impacts. Climate change, which is increasingly evident in its impacts, in some cases also causes traditional knowledge to deviate from reality. For example, Jusupta Tarigan, the Director of NTFP, stated that the people of Lake Sentarum used to predict the weather based on the moon’s position. However, this method is no longer accurate in its development.

Therefore, during that meeting, HuMa and the Climate Change Adaptation Directorate agreed to collaborate in identifying the climate vulnerability levels in 15 indigenous territories, accompanied by HuMa’s partners, namely JKMA Aceh, KKI Warsi, Qbar Association, Akar Bengkulu, RMI, LBBT, Padi, AMAN South Sulawesi, Wallacea Association, Bantaya Association, and Red and White Foundation Palu. We see this effort as a step closer to the fire.