Tenure Options - Toward the Recognition of Customary and Local Community Rights to Land and Forest

This policy paper is intended for government officials who are responsible for the protection of customary communities’ rights over land and forest, legislators, customary communities, local communities in rural areas and their accompanying institutions. Read the full briefing here.

Summary 

1. The recognition of community land and forest tenure provides many benefits to people living in rural areas and within the forest zone. With secure tenure, communities can use their forest as a source of livelihood without fear of criminalization, protect biodiversity and preserve local wisdom in forest management, receive development facilitation from the government; and resolve social conflicts due to overlapping land claims.
2. There are seven legal options that can be employed to protect the rights of customary communities to land. They include (1) Ownership Rights, (2) Customary Rights, (3) Community or Customary Forests, (4) Social Forestry, (5) Village-Owned Forests, (6) Recognition of Territories, Institutions, and Customary Laws, and (7) Agreements between Communities and Government/Corporations. The legal bases for these options are spread across several sectors, including forestry, land, villages, and regional autonomy.
3. Although more policy options are now available, the speed with which tenure rights are granted to customary communities has not met expectations. From the government target of 12.7 million hectares of Social Forestry for 2014-2019, only around 2.8 million hectares was achieved, just 21% of the target.
4. The disparity between targets and realization were influenced by the kinds of options chosen, each with its own weaknesses and strengths. The tenure policy options can be assessed using five aspects, namely (1) length of the bureaucratic process; (2) rights granted to rightsholders, (3) need for legal status for rightsholders, (4) implementability, and (5) enforceability.
5. The strongest tenurial security for customary communities is provided through customary rights, people’s forest/ customary forest, and recognition of territories, institutions and customary law. This is judged based on the existence of private and public authority for an unlimited period of time from the options above.
6. However, the above tenure options are not necessarily the best options to pursue. This is due to the fact that not all of the recognitions received are immediately effective and respected by other parties. Apart from that, the process is also long, complicated, and fragmented between sectors, and the regulations that are available are incomplete.

• Read the briefing here