2 May 2025
Project Update: Respecting Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Rights Affected by Agricultural Production in Indonesia
Overview
The project “Respecting Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Rights Affected by Agricultural Production in Indonesia” aims to support collective action on some of the root causes of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and Local Communities (LCs) land rights issues in Indonesia, including actions aiming towards the resolution and remediation of ongoing land conflicts as well as developing systems to address future conflicts. The work recognises and builds on existing work on respecting land rights in Indonesia (e.g. report on Role of the Private Sector in Supporting Land Conflict Resolution in Indonesia by The Forest Institute).
The project is being implemented by Proforest, the Cipta Rukun Upaya (previously known as Conflict Resolution Unit/CRU), Earthworm Foundation, and the Dala Institute (just for Phase 1) and funded by Mondelēz, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever. In 2024, the project focused on land rights analysis at the national level, and from 2025 the project will conduct a deep dive into Aceh province as a pilot region to test learnings, build capacity, and understand capacity to scale.
Background context
Indonesia is a major producer of forestry and agricultural raw materials such as palm oil and is a major sourcing region for thousands of companies in the agricultural commodities sector. Many of these companies have commitments to help respect human rights and protect the environment in their operations and supply chains. These commitments include the respect of IPs and LCs rights, including their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) to any activity that may affect their lands and their rights. Although there has been progress in terms of recognising customary land rights of IPs and LCs over the last decade there remain major issues around the agricultural and forestry sector, with many ongoing and emerging land conflicts around agricultural and forestry production. These continuing land and resource conflicts are a major challenge for companies, both upstream and downstream, in meeting their commitments as well as complying with existing and upcoming regulations.
The project
The long-term objective of this project is to identify key solutions for reducing conflicts between companies and IPs and LCs, as well as establishing systems to prevent future conflicts, including through the respect of customary land rights, which can be scaled up in Aceh and other jurisdictions in Indonesia.
The project began in May 2024 with the implementation of phase 1 which focused on conducting national level interviews with key stakeholders (civil society, government, companies, etc.) on Indigenous People and Local Communities land rights issues in Indonesia. This was led by the Dala Institute who have developed a report outlining key findings and recommendations that set out opportunities and actions for companies and other stakeholders to improve the respect of Indigenous People and Local Communities land rights in Indonesia.
Phase 2 began in 2025 and is focusing on combining engagement and dialogues with local stakeholders aiming to identify and help build bottom-up solutions for certain land rights issues in the Aceh province, as well as helping to train local stakeholders on land rights and conflict mediation. The project is being implemented through the existing Aceh Landscape Initiative (covering 4 districts in Aceh: Singkil, Subulussalam, Selatan and Tenggara) led by Earthworm Foundation. The project will start by mapping existing land conflicts in the jurisdiction and developing indicative maps of conflict-prone areas and conducting awareness raising sessions for different stakeholder groups (IPs and LCs, companies and producers, government, CSOs). This will be followed by holding multi-stakeholder dialogues in the jurisdiction to identify key challenges, solutions and opportunities for collaboration around land rights, including the development of a roadmap for action. In parallel, the CRU will be training expert resource conflict mediators to support land conflict mediation in Aceh and delivering a course for company field staff on land and resource conflict prevention and resolution. The project will build on as well as adjust the learnings identified in stakeholder interviews in Phase 1.
Proforest will also be organising two landscape exchange workshops (one virtual, one in-person) bringing together the landscape implementers, community leaders and members and other key stakeholders of different landscape initiatives throughout Indonesia to share experiences and learnings on addressing IP and LC rights issues at local level.
For more information, email justin.dupre-harbord@proforest.net