Peer Review Mechanism and Indicative Map of ICCAs in Indonesia: Important Steps to Strengthen National Advocacy

By Cristina Eghenter (WWF Indonesia, WGII member) and Cindy Julianty, program officer at the WGII Secretariat. The Working Group on ICCAs Indonesia (WGII) is a member of the ICCA consortium.

To ensure full accountability and a fair process, WGII is committed to strengthening the registration and verification process at the national level, as a gateway to international registration (Wdpa and/or ICCA Registry) and ensuring that communities give free, prior, and informed consent. To this end, WGII also held a meeting in December 2019 to discuss how to build a more accountable peer review system to assist ICCA registration at the international level and provide a data repository collectively owned by ICCA custodians. Two main issues were identified for further action by WGII: first, the need to build skills and capacity for verification across Indonesia. This is an important step before data can be shared with the government or submitted to Wdpa and/or the ICCA registry. Currently, only BRWA (Badan Pendaftaran Wilayah Adat – Ancestral Domain Registration Agency) can verify. Second, to strengthen the free, prior, and informed consent process beyond the ICCA level to include the potential use of data and registration at the international level. Currently, at least six community members need to sign before an ICCA is registered online at the national level.

The indicative map of ICCAs will be published on a new website (www.iccas.or.id), which will be integrated into the portal www.tanahkita.id. This integration is intended to facilitate navigation and further highlight the ICCA situation in the region, linking it with other ownership rights issues.

If you want to learn more about this process, you can watch a webinar given by Cindy Julianty and Kasmita Widodo about their experiences and "lessons" during the recently concluded mapping and documentation of ICCAs in Indonesia.

Photo: © WGII.

January 21, 2020

Reposted from: https://www.iccaconsortium.org/index.php/2020/01/21/peer-review-mechanism-and-indicative-map-of-iccas-in-indonesia-important-steps-to-strengthen-national-advocacy/