By Fahmi Al’amri

(Tuesday, October 28, 2014), Qbar Association together with HuMa held a discussion on the implementation of SRAP REDD+ in West Sumatra with the theme “Ensuring Tenurial Aspects in SRAP West Sumatra Related to Climate Change,” which took place for two days (October 28-29, 2014) in Padang City, West Sumatra. The results of this discussion are planned to be presented to the Regional Government of West Sumatra along with the REDD+ Working Group and the Social Forestry Working Group.

Speaking about REDD+, it cannot be separated from the tenurial aspect, as REDD+ will always involve tenure, and REDD+ will succeed when the areas included in the REDD+ scheme have clear status because if not, instead of success, new conflicts will arise. Therefore, the aspect of tenure rights must be reflected in the SRAP REDD+. This is proof that the projects within REDD+ will not restrict or diminish rights values, especially concerning the rights to access forest management areas by the community.

The Provincial Government of West Sumatra through the Department of Forestry of West Sumatra has been and continues to promote the expansion of Community Forest Management (PHBM) in the form of the Nagari Forest Development scheme, Community Forest, and People’s Plantation Forest. Looking at the management schemes offered, all still place a dominant role for the state. Meanwhile, the Customary Forest scheme that prioritizes the role of customary law communities as tenurial rights owners of the forest has not been integrated and encouraged by the West Sumatra Regional Government. This is what HuMa and Qbar have observed, that the nomenclature of Customary Forests needs to be included in the SRAP REDD+ of West Sumatra.

From the discussions conducted, it appears that the Customary Forest scheme has not been effectively promoted to the community. So far, the management models they are familiar with are only focused on two models, namely the Community Forest Management (HKM) scheme and the Village/Nagari Forest scheme, while the Customary Forest scheme itself has not gained traction within the community. HuMa and Qbar see the need to promote the Customary Forest scheme, as this is also a form of implementing the decision of the Constitutional Court No.35/PUU-x/2012 regarding the separation of customary forests from state forests. At the very least, the community should be introduced to the Customary Forest scheme first, and the choice of forest management model desired by the community will still be determined by the community, as they will be the ones using the management scheme.

West Sumatra has its uniqueness where the Minangkabau land is divided based on nagaris, and each nagari has its own characteristics, including forest management schemes. Sometimes, forest management varies, some use HKM as the management unit and some prefer the Nagari Forest scheme. For the Customary Forest scheme, besides the lack of campaign to promote this management model, there also seem to be several issues concerning the Customary Forest management system, especially regarding the pattern of territorial control under customary leaders. During the discussion, the community honestly expressed that with the customary forest management system, customary leaders are suspected to have greater authority, which could lead to horizontal conflicts between the community and customary leaders regarding forest governance. From the workshop yesterday, it was also agreed that to prevent new conflicts arising from the Customary Forest scheme, the authority of customary leaders needs to be reevaluated so that power is not centralized in customary leaders as decision-makers. One option suggested was to dismantle this social function and reorganize it more fairly. For example, customary leaders become “supervisors” and not the sole decision-makers, so that they still play a significant role in forest management.

Returning to the nomenclature of Customary Forests in the SRAP REDD+ of West Sumatra, the detailed explanation of the Customary Forest management scheme has not been provided in the SRAP REDD+. From this workshop, an attempt was made to map out the models of managing customary forests, including: Customary forests must be based on local wisdom in each nagari. Because forest management in each nagari has different diversities, a universal management scheme cannot be applied across all nagaris. In addition, the Customary Forest scheme must also uphold general principles, namely being ecological-based, non-exploitative, and able to improve the welfare of the community.

Due to the lack of awareness of the Customary Forest management scheme, campaigns are needed to promote the Customary Forest scheme. Therefore, socialization to all parties must be conducted, and there is also a need to urge the Regional Government to appreciate the local wisdom of the community. Besides “sounding” {{PLACE