Tablasupa Village Traditional Area
In 2024, the world's carbon emissions have reached a record high. As much as 37,4 billion tons of carbon, or an increase of 0,8% from the previous year, were released into the atmosphere from the use of fossil fuels. This condition is further exacerbated by the addition of the fact that millions of hectares of forest cover have been lost due to massive development, extractive agribusiness, mining, and other activities that lead to the exploitation of nature. The world seems to be preparing to face a major disaster due to human activities that have reduced nature to nothing more than basic industrial materials.
Of all the parties involved, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are considered to play the most important role in carbon absorption and storage efforts. In the research World Resources Institute (WRI) in 2023 found that forests directly managed or owned by Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon are able to absorb 340 million tons of carbon dioxide that is spread into the atmosphere each year. This finding is in contrast to areas outside forest cover or that have experienced deforestation and have been converted into industrial or mining areas that are completely unable to absorb and store carbon. The WRI research complements collaborative research between Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), World Hole Research Center (WHRC), and WRI on the contribution of Indigenous Peoples' and Local Communities' collective lands to carbon storage in 2018. WRI's research (2023) provides evidence from Latin American landscapes. Meanwhile, RRI's research (2018) states that Indigenous Peoples' and Local Communities' collective lands in the world are able to store approximately 293.061 million metric tons of aboveground carbon. These data support the fact of the role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in mitigating the climate crisis, and also show the importance of various efforts to recognize and protect land controlled and managed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities around the world because it is more equitable and sustainable.
Cendrawasih Monitoring House to Protect Biodiversity
In Indonesia itself, in 2024, the Nusantara Fund has supported direct funding to 250 Indigenous Peoples, People's Organizations, and Local Communities for efforts to restore the earth by increasing carbon stocks. Various related programs include regional mapping, protection and recognition of land or territory rights, and rehabilitation and restoration of land and forests. Throughout 2024, from 157 initiatives supported and 93 initiatives currently being implemented, the Nusantara Fund has successfully supported mapping of 293.782 hectares of land in 20 provinces, 178.249 hectares of land have been proposed for recognition in 12 provinces, and rehabilitation and restoration efforts of 32.257 hectares of land covering 24 provinces. Thus, the Nusantara Fund has supported ecosystem protection that contributes to increasing carbon stocks in Customary Areas, Priority Locations for Agrarian Reform, and People's Managed Areas by 505.878 hectares from mapping, recognition, and restoration and land rehabilitation efforts. This number will increase again from the 93 ongoing initiatives.
For example, in the Aru Islands, Maluku in eastern Indonesia, the Indigenous People conducted mapping to gain recognition of the Nata Rebi and Ngai Guli Customary Areas covering an area of 51 thousand hectares. Not only did they conduct mapping but the Indigenous People also rehabilitated and restored the “Djamona Raa” Customary Forest as a habitat for Birds of Paradise outside Papua by planting long-term trees such as cloves and nutmeg, as well as fruit trees. In Sukabumi, the Surya Kencana Sukabumi Farmers Brotherhood made efforts to claim rights to priority land for agrarian reform from the former HGU Tea Plantation covering an area of 560 hectares. They planted vegetables for sale and also planted perennials such as various types of avocado trees, oranges, water apples, getas apples, coffee, lemons, jackfruit, bananas. And they also maintained the trees that had been planted by the Plantation such as silver oak, Jabon, mani'i trees. From this example we can see the good intentions of the community at the grassroots level to maintain fair natural sustainability and directly increase carbon storage increasingly widely.
However, the achievements achieved by 250 Indigenous Peoples, People's Organizations, and Local Communities are not comparable to the damage figures or land area figures proposed in the planning of extractive investment projects in this country. Of course, the plan threatens the existence and rights of Indigenous Peoples, People's Organizations, and Local Communities. The absence of legal certainty that protects and recognizes the rights of Indigenous Peoples, People's Organizations, and Local Communities will not only erase the identity and rights to land and the role of communities at the grassroots level. But it will also slow down efforts to overcome the climate crisis. This will certainly be a major blow to all parties involved in the work. Data from the Customary Territory Registration Agency (BRWA) as of March 2025 stated that only 332.505 hectares had been designated as customary forests out of the 24.593.240 hectares that had the potential to be submitted. Meanwhile, data from the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) in 2024 only 5.400 hectares will be redistributed to the community, from the target of 9 million hectares of agrarian reform targeted by the Joko Widodo Government (2015 - 2024). This achievement is too small to support the recognition of collective land rights of the community or efforts to mitigate the climate crisis.
Support from the government in the form of recognition of land rights for Indigenous Peoples, People's Organizations, and Local Communities is urgently needed. Also support from Civil Society Organizations and Philanthropy for all efforts to recognize and protect collective community land. This support needs to be recognized as an effort to restore the basic rights of the true owners of noble lands, namely the people who have not been recognized so far, in addition to being a big leap for climate change mitigation. It may sound excessive for groups who are still skeptical of the role of grassroots communities in the social conditions of the world. However, anyway Thus the real situation. That while modern humans are busy reaping personal and elite group profits through natural exploitation activities, they still have to struggle with primary needs through traditional activities to care for the universe for future generations.