At the beginning of November (4/11), at Dapur Sunda, South Jakarta. The HuMa association launched the film ‘Portrait of Customary Forest’. The launch was held in front of print and electronic media journalists at a Media Gathering event.

The film ‘Portrait of Customary Forest’ tells the story of the local wisdom of indigenous communities in managing forests sustainably. “This film is part of HuMa’s efforts to combat the stigma against indigenous communities who are often accused of being forest destroyers,” said Executive Director of the HuMa Association, Dahniar Andriani, at the Media Gathering event. “In fact, indigenous communities have local wisdom in managing forests.”

Furthermore, Dahniar added that many natural resources are found in areas managed by indigenous communities. “One of those natural resources is the forest,” she continued, “However, out of the 41 million hectares of forest land, only 1 percent is managed by indigenous communities. This is because development policies do not favor indigenous communities who manage forests sustainably. Despite proving their ability to manage forests sustainably, the government is still reluctant to designate customary forests. Instead, rules are emerging that criminalize indigenous communities who have been managing forests sustainably.”

In addition to launching the film about ‘Portrait of Customary Forest’, the HuMa Association at the Media Gathering event also launched the book ‘Customary Forest in Infographics’. The book is the result of research in 13 customary forest locations. “This book is an extraction of a 274-page research and then we simplified it into a 53-page infographic book,” said Erwin Dwi Kristianto, Head of the Legal Analysis and Data Division at the HuMa Association. “The book also contains a chronology of conflicts in 13 indigenous community locations.”

According to Erwin, knowledge of the chronological sequence of conflicts in the 13 indigenous community locations is crucial for journalists. “With knowledge of the chronology of these conflicts, the coverage produced by journalist friends can be more in-depth and not trapped in the negative stigmas attached to indigenous communities,” he explained.