Jakarta, 22/05/2013, coinciding with International Day of Biological Diversity, the Working Group ICCAs Indonesia (WGII) together with members invite the public and policy makers to take concrete action in overcoming the biodiversity crisis that can threaten life on earth, now and in the future. Today's Biological Diversity Day, which carries the theme "From Agreement to Action: Build Back Biodiversity", invites all components of society and government to implement the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) agreed at COP-15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which was held in December 2022.
WGII believes that the commitments outlined in the KM-GBF bring positive change by mandating member countries (including Indonesia) to set ambitious targets to prevent and restore biodiversity loss in a transformative way "A Whole Society Approach to Conservation", namely by including and making the community as conservation actor”, and inclusive, namely by paying attention to the principles of human rights, equality, and participation from both women's groups, youth groups, as well as indigenous peoples and local communities. However, this commitment is certainly not enough to just be promises and planning but needs to be poured into the implementation of supporting policies.
Kasmita Widodo, WGII Coordinator said that "The government needs to take firm concrete actions to correct deficiencies that have so far existed in conservation implementation as agreed in the KM-GBF. Biodiversity management needs to pay attention to the rights of indigenous peoples, recognize conservation practices carried out by indigenous peoples and local communities, and involve them in making decisions related to biodiversity. Conservation cannot be separated from society, because in fact conservation is a culture and a source of life for indigenous peoples and local communities."
"Conservation Policy through Law No. 5 of 1990 is also no longer able to answer the needs and changes in the conservation paradigm that are driven globally as well as the empirical dynamics of the crisis in biodiversity, climate, and even pandemics. The current implementation of conservation has also proven to be ineffective. Agrarian conflicts cover almost all the empirical realities of establishing conservation areas in Indonesia, both in the form of conflicts between communities and area managers, as well as conflicts between humans and animals. This is caused by the absence of several important principles in conservation such as inclusiveness, collaboration, FPIC, and local wisdom," said Ode Rakhman, Walhi's External Deputy.
Based on HuMa data for 2018, there were 86 forestry conflicts, 27 of which were in National Parks, and 13 cases ended in violence. Komnas HAM noted that there were 40 cases of people with forest areas and some of them were Conservation Areas. Based on WGII data, from more than 30 million hectares of territory designated by the government as Conservation Areas, there are around 5,756 villages with an area of more than 20 million hectares, and 4.1 million hectares of which are customary areas, although only 922.8 thousand hectares received recognition through local law products.
"The government should learn from indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) how to ensure the sustainability of biodiversity. WGII noted that there are more than 467,700 hectares of areas protected by IPLC which are carried out through local wisdom practices, with a potential area of up to 4.2 million hectares. This practice, which is also known as Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs), is spread across various types of landscapes and ecosystems, both in land areas, as well as coastal and marine areas, such as tana' ulen, leweung tipipan, lubukban, awig-awig, sasi, etc. And for this, the contribution of indigenous peoples and local communities to biodiversity conservation should also be recognized and counted," added Kasmita Widodo.
KM-GBF has also made a positive mark on the indigenous peoples movement by including elements of indigenous peoples and local communities into 7 of the 23 targets set, which relate to sustainable use, protection of traditional knowledge, participation, fair benefit sharing, and FPIC (Free, Prior, informed consent).
Furthermore Cindy Julianty, Program Manager of WGII said "We have a target in 2030 to be able to protect 30% of land and sea (30 by 30), and we have to learn and recognize other tools that can be used to achieve this target. Protected Areas (Determination of Conservation Areas) are not the only way to achieve conservation targets. We must start acknowledging and realizing the contributions of other actors such as indigenous peoples and local communities. No more customary territories are designated as Conservation Areas! Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are actors and the last bastion of real conservation.”
Thus, WGII encourages the government to be able to respond and accelerate the implementation of KM-GBF with appropriate policy updates such as the KSDAHE Bill and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) into 2 (two) opportunities that need to be guarded together to rebuild biodiversity and realizing a more just, sustainable, and inclusive future for Indonesia.
Further information
Coverage of the KSDAHE Bill's RDPU can be accessed on: Youtube Channel Commission IV DPR RI (Indonesian)
The Serial Policy Brief manuscript can be accessed on the website: http://iccas.or.id (Indonesian)
Contact person:
Lasti Fardila (0813-8860-1039)