Out of the Lion’s Den, Into the Crocodile’s Jaws?: Lessons from policy developments on customary forest in Bulukumba

Recent changes to Forestry Law No. 41/1999 givegreater rights to Indonesian customary groups overtheir traditional forests. The Constitutional Courtdeclared customary forest a form of privately ownedor “rights-based forest[1]” (hutan hak) (Decree MK 35/PUU-X/2012), granting customary groups ownershiprights over their traditional forest areas. Although thelegal guidance for recognizing customary forest is stillin the making, it is understood that a preliminary stepto recognize customary forest and release it from stateforest is through a local government regulation (PERDA)that recognizes customary groups and delineates theirtraditional forests (Safitri and Uliyah, 2014). Unlikedecrees, such a regulation requires legitimation by thelocal parliament (DPRD).
Few local governments have done so. One of themost advanced is Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, whereThe Agroforestry and Forestry in Sulawesi: LinkingKnowledge with Action Project (AgFor) was involvedin promoting a multi-stakeholder collaborative processat district level to recognize the rights of the Kajangpeople to manage their customary forest. This processwas particularly helpful as it allowed the conveningof relevant stakeholders who play an important role insustaining an effective process of policy formulation.We begin by describing the legal background enablingcustomary forest recognition and finally detail theKajang case. This brief serves as a lesson-drawingtool for policymakers and civil society actors seekingto undertake MK35 or other forest-related PERDAthroughout Indonesia.