Jakarta, 19 October 2015 – The struggle for the recognition of customary forests continues unabatedly by HuMa and its partners. In a meeting held at Hotel Peninsula on Monday (5/10), there were three customary forest areas managed traditionally by the Lipu Wana Posangke Indigenous Law Community, the Karang Customary Community, and the Serampas Clan, directly requested for their recognition by community representatives.

These three areas are the priority for the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) in recognizing customary forests, along with several other areas, because they are considered to best meet the requirements, both normatively and socially, thus can be promptly designated according to Minister of Environment Regulation No. 32 of 2015 concerning Forest Rights.

The event began with a welcome speech by the Chairperson of the HuMa Management Board, Chalid Muhammad, and was officially opened by the Director General of Social Forestry and Environmental Partnership of KLHK, Mr. Hadi Daryanto.

“Customary forests are intact and guarded against behaviors that undermine regulations and norms within the community. Therefore, we hope that customary laws will regulate these matters. The positive laws we create are sometimes not respected,” emphasized Hadi Daryanto. In the same occasion, he also expressed KLHK’s commitment to facilitate the recognition of customary forests within the year. To achieve this, he promised to provide a memorandum to the Director General of Spatial Planning and Environmental Management of KLHK, currently led by Mr. San Afri Awang, to finalize the boundary delineation in the 3 customary forest locations advocated by HuMa.

The next day, on October 6, 2015, community representatives, HuMa, and partners visited KLHK for an audience with policymakers, in addition to the DG of Social Forestry, the Director General of Spatial Planning and Environmental Management, and the Minister of Environment. During the meeting, HuMa provided information on the request for recognition of customary forests by 3 indigenous communities, including details of the participatory mapping conducted by community support partners.

Mr. San Afri Awang, as the Director General of Spatial Planning and Environmental Management, stated that customary forests are a mandate of the Constitutional Court, and he intends to fulfill this mandate by expediting the recognition of customary forests, including the delineation of areas under the authority of his directorate general. Specifically, he expressed his commitment to further discuss the three mentioned areas. “Exercises like this are important, as they provide us with learning materials,” he added.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, expressed the same commitment to realize the recognition of customary forests that are ready this year. Furthermore, she also voiced her support for the recognition of Wana Posangke, Marga Serampas, and Karang Customary forests, highlighting that these locations managed by indigenous communities who depend sustainably on the forests have not experienced forest fires.

“This news is certainly good news for indigenous law community members who have long been awaiting certainty in fulfilling their constitutional rights over their forests,” said Sisilia Nurmala Dewi, Head of Advocacy and Campaign Division of HuMa, “We continue to nurture their hopes, but ultimately, everything relies on the execution of the government’s well-intentioned actions, which so far unfortunately have been more of empty political commitments.”

Furthermore, Sisil revealed that HuMa and its partners hope that the process of recognizing customary forests progresses more concretely and without doubt from the government. “The recognition of customary forests is the right of indigenous communities, and fulfilling their rights as citizens is a legal obligation, not something transactional,” she stated, “If complex economic policies can be simplified