Verdict in Indonesia: Government must return ancestral lands

The indigenous peoples of Indonesia and its advocacy group, AMAN, have scored a great success: the Constitutional Court ruled that the government must recognize the land rights of forest dwellers. It may no longer class their customary forests as “state forest areas” and lease them to loggers or plantation operators.

It was a long battle for the alliance of indigenous peoples in Indonesia (AMAN). On May 16, 2013, the Indonesian state news agency quoted Justice Muhammad Alim’s ruling as follows: “Members of customary societies have the right to clear forests belonging to them and use the land to fulfill their personal and family needs. The rights of indigenous communities will not be eradicated, as long as they are protected under Article 18b of the Constitution.”

The Constitutional Court’s landmark ruling is an important step toward recognizing the rights of Indonesia’s 40 million indigenous inhabitants, who have used the forests sustainably for generations.

The ruling bars the government from opening the land to exploitation by designating indigenous land as “state forest” and granting lucrative concessions to influential companies.

The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry has recognized that the rainforest dwellers have practiced sound conservation for millennia using knowledge handed down from generation to generation. Sumarto, a spokesman for the Ministry of Forestry, told the Jakarta Globe that “the Ministry of Forestry considers indigenous peoples living in a certain area as being part of the forest itself. They cannot be separated. Custom-based societies are on the front lines of forest management.”

The environmental organization Walhi is now urging regional governments to draft bylaws to specify which areas belong to indigenous societies. This is the best possible option for protecting Indonesia’s rainforests. Walhi activist Zenzi Suhadi: “In many cases, the customary forests of the indigenous communities are better managed than protected forests owned by the government.”

Rainforest Rescue has supported its Indonesian partner organizations for years in the struggle for indigenous land rights and preservation of tropical forests.

source:

http://www.rainforest-rescue.org/achievements/5126/verdict-in-indonesia-government-must-return-ancestral-lands

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/constitutional-court-annuls-government-ownership-of-customary-forests/

http://www.redd-monitor.org/2013/05/17/indonesias-constitutional-court-returns-customary-forests-to-indigenous-peoples/#more-13950

Photo: Operations Process the Blind and Deaf Orangutan Due Brunt of 104 Bullets

By Aji Wihardandi, November 11, 2012 12:20 am ()

The results of X-ray examination of the body Aan, the white dots are the number of bullets in his body.
 Photo: BKSDA Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan

These photos released of the operation that have been undertaken by orangutan named Aan, who was shot by a resident in the area Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan last dated October 10, 2012. After undergoing surgical removal of the bullet.

Doctors successfully issued a 32-round, from 104 bullet that lodged in the body Aan. Operations performed by dr. Zulfiqri, a veterinarian at the Orangutan Foundation in conjunction with surgeons from the Hospital Imanuddin, Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan for 3 hours to remove the bullet 32.

Course of its operation by a team of doctors to remove the bullet from the body Aan.
 Photo: BKSDA Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan

Examination of doctor and medical team against Aan condition before surgery.
Photo: BKSDA Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan

This is an X-ray head Aan before surgery, the dots are the bullets lodged in the head of Aan.
Please count yourself ... Photo: BKSDA Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan.

After the operation, although the Orangutan Foundation wants to release back into the habitat of orangutans is back, but it seems unlikely Aan could return to their natural habitat. It is feared would make an easy target Aan hunter because his condition is no longer perfect.

As reported previously, Aan fired upon by the citizens as it enters the oil palm plantation owned by residents. No less than 104 bullets lodged in the body and head Aan, and resulted in this orangutan is now blind and deaf.

Aan eye after surgery remove the bullet. Photo: BKSDA Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan.

source : Photo: Operations Process the Blind and Deaf Orangutan Due Brunt of 104 Bullets

Sumber :http://www.mongabay.co.id/2012/11/11/foto-proses-operasi-orangutan-yang-buta-dan-tuli-akibat-terjangan-104-peluru/#ixzz2G83T1gbr

Heart of Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the world’s third-largest island and, until the 1950s, had largely escaped the environmental ravages seen on neighbouring isles. It is home to many globally significant species, including orang-utans, pygmy elephants, Sumatran rhinos and clouded leopards. More than 600 bird species and an astonishing 15,000 types of plant are also found here.

Large parts of the island’s interior are still relatively unknown and undoubtedly harbour as yet unidentified species. Between 1994 and 2004, new species were discovered at the rate of three per month. The 16 million people on the island are equally diverse with over 200 languages still in use.

Half a million indigenous people still depend on Borneo’s forest for edible and medicinal plants, fish, meat, construction materials and water. The headwaters of the island’s major rivers rise in Borneo’s central highlands and are critical to ensuring reliable clean water supplies to a large number of human settlements, and to the thriving industries that have developed in coastal urban centres.

Threats

Over the past few decades much of Borneo’s lowland forest cover has been fragmented and cleared for timber and to create plantations for the production of palm oil and paper pulp.

National and international demand for agricultural commodities and wood products mean land continues to be cleared at a frightening rate. Forest destruction is compounded by road and infrastructure development.

Borneo is extremely rich in mineral deposits. Mining, especially for coal and gold, has expanded rapidly in recent years, with clear signals that this will increase.

Between 1980 and 2000, it is estimated that more timber was harvested from Borneo than was exported from the Amazon and Congo basins combined. As a result, Borneo now has only 50% of its original forest left.

Land clearance has another, globally important, impact. An estimated 85% of Indonesia’s carbon emissions come from deforestation and degradation. This is a higher proportion than any other country in the world and makes it a major contributor to global warming. 

Solutions

Work is under way to safeguard a huge area of the island known as the Heart of Borneo.

In 2007, with support from WWF, the island's three governments – Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia – committed to protect, manage and restore 220,000 sq km of forests (slightly less than the size of the UK).

This historic agreement will enable the protection and sustainable use of the forests and protect water catchment areas, as well as conserving the plants and animals within the Heart of Borneo.

WWF’s Heart of Borneo initiative also aims to ensure that key UK buyers of timber and palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia commit to using only sustainably-produced goods.

We also want to see the rate of deforestation of high conservation areas drop to zero.

We are working with local communities to help diversify their income sources, thereby reducing the pressure they put on the forest.

We are working with key sectors – timber, oil palm, mining and financial investment – to minimise the impact of their activities.

We support orang-utan, rhino and elephant conservation within the Heart of Borneo.