April, 2026
Increase Indigenous Land Rights
Challenge
Indigenous peoples in Mendawak do not yet have formal management rights over the forest areas they have managed for generations. This makes them vulnerable to external pressures, increases the risk of losing access to forest areas to corporate companies, and limits their ability to manage their forests in accordance with local customs and traditional knowledge. This is a particular issue in the parts of Mendawak that fall within Sanggau district, including the village of Bagan Asam, as this is where most Dayak populations in Mendawak are concentrated.
The best mechanism to increase indigenous people’s rights over their forest areas is via the government’s social forestry (perhutanan sosial) policy, specifically the Customary Forest (Hutan Adat) scheme. A Hutan Adat permit formally transfers ownership of forest areas from the Indonesian state to indigenous people. However, the scheme is incredibly bureaucratic and challenging. Government funding for the review process has also been cut, so the responsibility for funding the whole process is now with the applicants. It is prohibitively expensive.
Solution
Hutan Adat designation is the ultimate goal of the social forestry process. However, there are several steps that one must pass on the way to Hutan Adat. These are easier than obtaining Hutan Adat and actually have significant weight to enhance land rights.
The first mandatory step towards Hutan Adat is the recognition of an indigenous community as indigenous according to the Indonesian government’s definition. This results in the issuance of Customary Law Communities (Masyarakat Hukum Adat) designation to that community. Linked to this is the formal recognition of customary territories as official Customary Territories (Wilayah Adat). Wilayah Adat status recognises traditional ownership and control over the territory. Hutan Adat is the final stage, being applied to specific forest areas and transferring ownership, but Wilayah Adat and the formal recognition it represents from the district government can increase the voice of indigenous people in land-use negotiations.
Progress
In Bagan Asam, Sangga Bumi Lestari is supporting indigenous people to obtain Masyarakat Hukum Adat and Wilayah Adat, prioritising training so villagers can attend meetings and answer questions from the district government with only minimal oversight from Sangga Bumi Lestari. We are also linking villagers with other indigenous villages in Sanggau that are also seeking increased land rights. This will provide beneficial support and the pooling of resources.
Following the verification and validation conducted by the Customary Law Community Proposal Committee (PPMHA), it has been agreed that an Masyarakat Hukum Adat Decree will soon be issued for 17 villages in three sub-districts of the Dayak Tobak customary area. This includes Bagan Asam.
