Resources

The Maninjau Resolution28th January 2016Wilmar’s broken promises: we want action not just pledgesThe world’s largest palm oil trading company, Wilmar International Ltd. (F34.SI / WLIL.SI), promised ‘Zero Exploitation’ throughout its supply chain alongside its commitment to ‘Zero Deforestation’. As human rights workers and NGOs that support the rights of the indigenous peoples and local communities in Indonesia and internationally, we NGOs who assembled here near Lake Maninjau in West Sumatra on 26-28 January 2016, declare the following.

Resolusi Maninjau28 Januari 2016Wilmar, “Kami butuh tindakan bukan ikrar” Perusahaan perdagangan minyak sawit terbesar dunia, Wilmar International Ltd. (F34.SI / WLIL.SI), berikrar untuk menjalankan kebijakan ‘Nol Eksploitasi’ atau ‘Zero Exploitation’ di seluruh rantai pasoknya seiring dengan komitmennya untuk ‘Nol Deforestasi’. Sebagai NGO dan pegiat Hak Asasi Manusia (HAM) yang mendukung hak-hak masyarakat adat dan komunitas lokal -baik di Indonesia maupun di dunia, kami, sejumlah NGO dan masyarakat yang berkumpul di lereng bukit tepi Danau Maninjau, Sumatra Barat, 26-28 Januari 2016, menyampaikan pernyataan-pernyataan berikut:

In an article published in the Jakarta Post, senior officials of the Indonesian REDD+ Agency (the government body charged with reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) argue that recognising the collective land rights of forest peoples is key to curbing climate change and promoting sustainable use of natural resources.

Communities seeking redress for their lands, grabbed for pulpwood plantations in Sumatra, are let down by resolution process, reveals new report.

 

Following sustained efforts to persuade the international rainforest conservation project to respect forest peoples' rights, local NGO Scale Up and Forest Peoples Programme have written a joint letter to the project managers (PT REKI) requesting effective follow up on their commitment to have mediated dialogues with the affected communities. The project, an Ecological Restoration permit issued in an old logging concession, overlaps the lands of forest peoples locally known as Batin Sembilan.

In 2011, the World Bank Group (WBG) adopted a Framework and Strategy for investment in the palm oil sector. The new approach was adopted on the instructions of former World Bank President Robert Zoellick, after a damning audit by International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) semi-independent Compliance Advisory Ombudsman (CAO) had shown that IFC staff were financing the palm oil giant, Wilmar, without due diligence and contrary to the IFC’s Performance Standards. Wilmar is the world’s largest palm oil trader, supplying no less than 45% of globally traded palm oil. The audit, carried out in response to a series of detailed complaints[1] from Forest Peoples Programme and partners, vindicated many of our concerns that Wilmar was expanding its operations in Indonesia in violation of legal requirements, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standards and IFC norms and procedures. Almost immediately after the audit was triggered, IFC divested itself of its numerous other palm oil investments in Southeast Asia.

Tahun 2011, Kelompok Bank Dunia [World Bank Group] mengesahkan satu Kerangka Kerja dan Strategi untuk investasi dalam sektor minyak sawit. Pendekatan baru ini disyahkan atas instruksi mantan Presiden Bank Dunia Robert Zoellick, setelah audit yang memalukan oleh badan semi independen Compliance Advisory Ombudsman (CAO) International Finance Corporation (IFC) yang menunjukan bahwa staf IFC mendanai raksasa minyak sawit, Wilmar, tanpa uji tuntas dan bertentangan Standar Kinerja IFC.

RE: Civil society inputs to the public consultation on the thematic report on indigenous peoples and business and human rights.Click here to read the submission. 

Financial institutions have been warned today to avoid investments in pulp and paper mills associated with deforestation and human rights abuses in Indonesia.

Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) is coming under intensifying scrutiny over its renewed promises to bring its giant mills and supply chains into compliance with best practice norms for sustainability and its new promises that it will respect the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples. Recently, Marcus Colchester, as Co-Chair of the High Conservation Values Resource Network and Director of FPP, and Patrick Anderson, FPP's Policy Advisor in Indonesia, met with APP's Head of Sustainability, Aida Greenbury, and her team of advisers and consultants, to clarify the company's commitments.

Dear Friends,Balancing human beings’ need for decent livelihoods against the imperative of securing our environment is, arguably, the biggest challenge facing our planet. This struggle between ‘development’ and ‘conservation’ is being played out in global policy negotiations, with the decisions of so-called policy-makers being imposed on the ground. But not everything is or should be ‘top down’. Enduring solutions also spring from the grassroots, from the ‘bottom up’.

A summary of ADR studies in Riau, West Sumatra, Jambi and South Sumatra, Indonesia, by Ahmad Zazali, Executive Director, Scale UpAn ongoing and heated debate is underway over the neglect of public access rights over forest resources in current modes of forest tenure in Indonesia. The role of local communities and their access to natural resources often overlap with the rights accorded to government/state enterprises and the private sector. The exploitation of forest resources has driven large companies to ignore the interests of these communities who live within and depend on forests for their livelihoods. This situation in turn has triggered the emergence of intra- and inter-community social conflict, conflict between communities and the government, as well as conflict between communities and companies. Since the reform and the implementation of decentralisation policies, natural resource conflicts have become increasingly prevalent in Indonesia. The National Land Agency (BPN) reports that at least 7,491 natural resource conflicts have been dealt with by BPN and the Indonesian police. The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) recorded 359 forest-related conflicts from January 1997 to June 2003. The highest frequency of conflicts occurred in 2000 with 153 recorded cases, or 43% of the total number of cases recorded over those 6 years. Conflicts in ​​Industrial Plantation Forests (HTI) were the highest at 39%, with conservation areas (including protected forests and national parks) representing 34% of conflict cases, and forest concessions (HPH) representing 27%.

Read Scale Up's bulletin (Edition III from 2011) on conflict and collaborative management of natural resources in English or Bahasa Indonesia.

Buletin Scale Up (Edisi III 2011) bisa dibaca dalam bahasa Inggris atau bahasa Indonesia.

Available in Bahasa Indonesia only: Click here to read the Roadmap in Bahasa Indonesia

Klik di sini untuk membaca Roadmap dalam Bahasa Indonesia

In October 2011, Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) conducted a survey of our local partners asking them to pinpoint key experiences and emerging lessons learned in relation to REDD+ and rights issues over the last three years. Partners who contributed include the Centre for Environment and Development (CED) and Association Okani (Cameroon), CEDEN (DRC), Foundation for the Promotion of Traditional Knowledge (Panama), Amerindian Peoples Association (Guyana), Association of Village Leaders in Suriname, Association of Saamaka Authorities (Suriname), AIDESEP (Peru), Federation for the Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples (Paraguay) and Scale-up, Pusaka and FPP field staff (Indonesia). Observations and lessons are also drawn from workshops with local partners, field studies and issues stemming from indigenous peoples’ representatives in dialogues with national and international REDD+ policy-makers. Key observations and lessons are summarised below.

Read Scale Up's bulletin (Edition II from 2011) on natural resources conflict and sustainable livelihoods in English or Bahasa Indonesia.

Buletin Scale Up (Edisi I 2011) bisa dibaca dalam bahasa Inggris atau bahasa Indonesia.