Jalan Panjang Masyarakat untuk Konservasi dan Ruang Hidup

Published in 2016 by Working Group ICCAs Indonesia (WGII), this foundational volume presents fifteen stories of indigenous and community conserved areas from across the Indonesian archipelago. Each story is a narrative account of how a particular community — Malind people in Merauke, Kewang sea guardians in Haruku, Kajang people in South Sulawesi, Kasepuhan communities in Banten — has historically governed its territory through customary law and continues to do so in the face of 21st-century pressures.

The book documents the diversity of ICCA governance forms across Indonesia, from forest-based adat law systems to maritime kewang institutions to lake protection communities in Kalimantan. A key theme is the tension between state conservation policies and community-based governance: many of the communities featured have seen their territories overlapped by national parks, concessions, or plantation licences, without their prior informed consent. The stories are a testimony to resistance, adaptation, and legal struggle.

As one of the pioneering ICCA documentation projects in Indonesia, this book laid the groundwork for subsequent policy advocacy that led to formal recognition of community conservation rights. It was later translated into English as The Long Struggle of Indonesia's Indigenous Peoples for Conservation and Living Space (2021), and stands as a landmark reference in the field of community conservation in the Indonesian context.