Press Release

HuMa Association

Future National Leaders Must Have Strong Leadership in Achieving Sustainable Development Based on Rights

Jakarta, March 6, 2014. “The parties and presidential candidates worthy of being chosen are those who have strong leadership in realizing sustainable development based on rights. Indonesia can no longer rely on uncontrolled exploitative economic models that have the potential to plunge the country into vulnerabilities related to food, water, and energy, as well as ongoing natural disasters. National leaders must also be able to develop a sustainable economic model, based on rights and making the people the main actors,” stated Andiko, Executive Director of HuMa (Association for Community and Ecological-Based Law Reform) in a Press Conference entitled “Welcoming the 2014 Election: Low Carbon Development Based on Rights as Indonesia’s Future”.

This Press Conference was held on Thursday, March 6, 2014 at Dapur Sunda, Setiabudi Building, South Jakarta. The speakers included Chalid Muhammad from the Green Institute of Indonesia and Andiko from HuMa.

In the future, the political map of inter-country relations in the world will be determined by how sovereign a country is in governing itself. Indonesia has the potential to become a major player in the future world political order on the condition that it has full sovereignty, including sovereignty over water, food, energy, as well as the biodiversity of its rainforests, “said Chalid Muhammad.

Efforts related to climate change mitigation and adaptation are currently just a small part of the efforts to restore environmental sustainability, correct past natural resource management mistakes, and lay the foundation for creating a more sustainable and people-based economic development.

REDD+, a global initiative that has become the primary instrument for climate change mitigation in Indonesia’s forestry sector, has evolved into a scheme involving tens of trillions of rupiah. This scheme must be continuously monitored to prevent it from falling into the logic of global projects that only benefit a few elites and consultants while land-based projects it brings often restrict or change the lives of tens of millions of people depending on forests, often without their full consent (FPIC).

HuMa believes that REDD+ is only worth maintaining if it can bring about fundamental changes in terms of natural resource management policies and practices to further protect the environment and human rights, especially the tenure rights of indigenous and local communities. Several important forestry-related laws must be revised promptly to fulfill the tenure rights of indigenous and local communities, including the Forestry Law, the Law on Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction (P3H), and the Conservation Law. Another crucial process is the legal recognition of customary law community rights in Indonesia through the Customary Law Recognition and Protection Law (PPHMHA), which is still pending in the House of Representatives.

The implementation of REDD+ must also support various conducive legal developments for the fulfillment of indigenous and local community rights, such as the 2012 Constitutional Court Decision No. 35 regarding the recognition of customary forest status in the Forestry Law and the implementation of customary villages in the Village Law. It should also support the resolution of hundreds of existing forest conflicts[1] in an integrated manner by establishing strong forest conflict resolution institutions.

Unfortunately, various recent policies and regulations have not reflected this spirit. In addition to the exploitative Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI) that could potentially trigger more conflicts, the current Peatland Regulation draft remains problematic.

“The current Peatland Regulation draft does not project the target reduction of Indonesia’s Greenhouse Gas emissions as committed by the Indonesian government since 2009. This draft is even weaker compared to the Moratorium Presidential Instruction which emphasized comprehensive protection of peatlands,” said Teguh Surya, Greenpeace’s forest political campaigner.

“If we use the logic of the 2009 Environmental Management and Protection Law, the government should first establish regulations for the implementation of environmental planning instruments upstream, such as the Environmental Planning Regulation, Environmental Inventory Regulation, Eco-region Zoning Regulation, etc., instead of directly focusing on utilization regulations,” said Yustisia Rahman from the Indonesian Center