[Jakarta, February 5, 2024] The Indigenous Territory Registration Agency (BRWA) collaborated with the Working Group ICCAs Indonesia (WGII) and the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Indonesia (FISIP UI), to hold the Berandao webinar with the theme "Exploring the implementation of recognition and protection of local wisdom in natural resource management and the advancement of cultural rights in Indonesia."

Image: Berandao webinar: "Exploring the implementation of recognition and protection of local wisdom in natural resource management and the advancement of cultural rights in Indonesia." held at the Department of Anthropology, FISIP UI.

Aria Sakti Handoko from BRWA, serving as the discussion moderator, opened the webinar by affirming that local wisdom is one of the elements shaping Indonesia's identity as a culturally rich nation. Local wisdom is currently seen as part of the solution to various environmental crises, including biodiversity loss and climate change. At least two ministries have issued regulations concerning local wisdom, namely the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (Kementerian LHK) and the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kementerian Dikbud Ristek).

Representing the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kementerian Dikbud Ristek), Sjamsul Hadi, Director of Belief in One Almighty God and Indigenous Communities, explained that in the cultural context, local wisdom falls under the domain regulated by Ministerial Regulation No. 106 of 2013 concerning Intangible Cultural Heritage. This policy refers to the UNESCO 2003 convention on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

Image: Process of recording and determining cultural heritage by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Source: https://warisanbudaya.kemdikbud.go.id/)

Sjamsul Hadi also explained that his directorate has several priority programs related to the documentation of local wisdom as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Almost every year, the Ministry of Education and Culture has designated Intangible Cultural Heritage, which can be viewed on the website https://warisanbudaya.kemdikbud.go.id/.
 

"One of them is the Wana Budaya program in 29 customary forests in Jambi, where we, along with Kementerian LHK, encourage the sustainability of local wisdom practices within designated customary forests. Together with the community, we identify the potential biodiversity wealth and its management by the community. This helps in drafting a clear roadmap post-designation of customary forests." He added, "We also collaborate with Bu Devi (PEREMPUAN AMAN) to promote the potential of indigenous women as front liners in preserving inheritance systems."

Yuli Prasetyo from the Directorate of PKTHA-PSKL, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, observed that customary forests in Jambi are well-managed by the community, perhaps even better than forests managed by companies. "Certainly, the spirit of protection is there because of local wisdom. So, there are things they want to preserve related to genetic resources, water resources, and so on."

"The process of community adaptation to nature certainly produces local wisdom, local knowledge, traditional technology, etc. That is what we regulate in Ministerial Regulation 34," explained Yuli Prasetyo.

He outlined that the purpose of Ministerial Regulation No. 34 of 2017 concerning the Recognition and Protection of Local Wisdom in the Management of Natural Resources and the Environment is legal protection for custodians and accessors of local wisdom. It also ensures fair benefit-sharing for custodians regarding the utilization of their local wisdom by others.

"The accessors are external parties who utilize traditional knowledge held by indigenous communities or local communities. So, it regulates how the benefit-sharing, especially related to the pharmaceutical industry, culinary, and so on, where indigenous communities have always been left out (without benefits). Traditional Knowledge has also been regulated through Government Regulation No. 56 of 2022 concerning Communal Intellectual Property."

Gender-Segregated Documentation of Local Wisdom as Intangible Cultural Heritage

Present at the webinar, Devi Anggraini, Chairperson of PEREMPUAN AMAN, provided an overview that women are the subjects preserving local wisdom and traditional knowledge, but the challenge is often their existence is overlooked.

"Although there has been documentation, it is not specifically segregated by gender. There is still no segregated data on how many women still practice traditional knowledge, what kind of traditional knowledge, and so on," responded Devi Anggraini.

"When talking about valuation, for example, the conversation is about the success of how many products (herbal medicines produced by communities) are exported. The subject (indigenous women producing these herbal medicines) then disappears, indigenous women never appear. Therefore, PEREMPUAN AMAN works hard to bring forth the existence and voices of indigenous women in these processes," Devi Anggraeni mentioned this as one of the challenges for indigenous women.

Policies Regarding Local Wisdom Are Not Connected to Tenurial Assurance

Cindy Julianty, Program Manager from Working Group ICCAs Indonesia, highlighted the issue of highly sectoral national policies where matters regarding local wisdom are not directly linked to tenurial affairs. "There are Ministerial Regulations concerning local wisdom, then Ministerial Regulations concerning communal wealth, and other instruments (policies) concerning Intangible Cultural Heritage, all of these policies do not solve tenurial issues. If access to local wisdom is managed, but the security of the area is not, then it's the same. And as we know, the recognition of indigenous communities in Indonesia has its own policy and it's a very complicated procedure."

#AN

Editor's Note:

The Berandao webinar was initiated by BRWA along with WGII, which serves as a platform for dialogue and discussion on issues surrounding indigenous communities and local communities, as well as various issues encompassing them. The term Berandao is inspired by the Dayak Iban indigenous community. In their culture, Berandao is a customary assembly to discuss, make decisions, and uphold customary justice through local traditions and customs.