Locals want more say on forests
Locals want more say on forests
JAKARTA (JP): The government promised yesterday to involve more indigenous people in the management of the country's forests.
Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo admitted that indigenous people should play a larger role in making the country's program of sustainable development a success.
"We believe sustainable forest management will be more successful if the natives' involvement is intensified," Djamaludin said when opening on Saturday the Asia Region Public Hearing on forests and sustainable development.
The two-day hearing is co-organized by the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation and the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development (WCFSD).
The 1945 Constitution guarantees public participation in the utilization and management of Indonesia's natural resources.
"Therefore, the government has promulgated regulations to enable the private sector to participate in the management of natural resources," he said.
The government's promise was applauded by the 300 or so participants that came from private businesses, non-governmental organizations, indigenous communities and the Indonesian government.
"The knowledge of forest management should not only be monopolized by academicians. It should also be disseminated to the indigenous people," said Sandra Moniaga, an environmentalist from West Kalimantan.
Similar support also came from Intan, another environmental activist. "Indigenous people should be trained in forestry management," she said. "These people know their areas better than the government."
Debate
The hearing was colored with heated debate on alleged human rights violations and the unlawful acquisitions of communal land as reported by two Irian Jaya natives, Josepha and Bartolomeus Magal.
"We have long demanded our land back, which has been unlawfully acquired for a mining project by PT Freeport Indonesia," Josepha, who speaks only in her Amungme dialect, said through an interpreter.
"What did we get for our demand? I and some other native people were tortured and kept for weeks in a container," she said.
"We have lost a lot of our natural resources. We have lost our land inherited by our ancestors," Bartolomeus added.
Their plea for assistance generated sympathy from the other participants, with Hemmo Muntingh, a commissioner from the Netherlands, and Yoichi Kuroda from Japan saying they were touched by the two accounts.
Surna T. Djajadiningrat, an assistant to the state minister of the environment, also stated his sympathy with the Amungme case. He advised the tribal people to arm themselves with more data.
However, he asked the participants not to get emotional, saying that the topics being discussed cover the whole of Asia, not only Indonesia.
Production, trade and environment will be discussed at the next session.
The public hearings are part of a week-long workshop, which will include an on-site visit to forests in East Kalimantan. (imn)