Dayak Bahau Communities Secure Recognition of More Than 108,000 Hectares of Ancestral Territory in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

The Dayak Bahau communities of Long Isun and Long Pahangai I have welcomed their formal recognition as Indigenous Peoples (Masyarakat Hukum Adat, MHA) under Indonesian law, covering 80,429 and 27,835 hectares of ancestral territory respectively in Mahakam Ulu District, East Kalimantan.

The recognition decree (SK MHA) was officially handed over on 8 June 2026 at the Mahakam Ulu Local Government Office, marking a major victory in the communities’ decades-long struggle to secure legal recognition of ancestral lands they have managed and protected for generations. For the Dayak Bahau, the recognition affirms their rights over territories that are not only a source of livelihood, but also the foundation of their cultural identity and traditional way of life.

The recognised territories are based on customary boundaries established in 1966 and maintained by the communities ever since. The boundaries were formally verified by the Mahakam Ulu Customary Law Community Committee on 10 November 2025, following a recognition process that confirmed the historical and cultural ties of both communities to their ancestral lands.

For Long Isun, the recognition comes after years of conflict over overlapping land claims with PT Kemakmuran Berkah Timber (KBT), a subsidiary of the Roda Mas Group, whose logging concession overlaps portions of the community’s customary territory. In February 2018, mediation facilitated by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry resulted in an agreement that concession areas within Long Isun’s territory would remain under status quo and be processed for designation as customary forest once Indigenous Peoples recognition had been secured.

“I was simply trying to protect the forest from being depleted by irresponsible parties, yet I was arrested and criminalized for defending nature and the rights of our community,” said Tekwan, a Long Isun youth leader who was detained for 107 days without formal charges after opposing KBT’s concession, before eventually being released on bail.

For the people of Long Isun, MHA recognition represents the culmination of years of collective struggle. Recognition is viewed as reaffirming the importance of protecting indigenous peoples’ rights as a foundation for forest conservation and the resolution of land tenure conflicts.

“From the outset, the Dayak Bahau understood that forest protection cannot be effective without formal recognition as Indigenous Peoples,” said Martha Doq, Director of Perkumpulan Nurani Perempuan. 

The Dayak Bahau, together with supporting organisations, expressed appreciation to the Mahakam Ulu District Government and all parties involved in accelerating the recognition process. They hope that this recognition will strengthen the protection of customary territories while helping to prevent similar conflicts in the future.

“We have protected these forests long before corporate concessions existed. This recognition is an important step toward enabling indigenous communities to safeguard their territories independently,” said Long Isun Customary Leader Bonaventura Bayau.

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