Lessons Learned from the Conflict, Negotiations and Agreement between Senyerang Village and PT Wira Karya Sakti

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

Jakarta, 19 December 2014: A new report reveals unresolved social conflicts over the pulpwood plantation of a major Indonesian company promising ‘No Deforestation’. The report, from Forest Peoples Programme and Indonesian NGO partners, details a flawed conflict resolution process for community lands grabbed for pulpwood plantations by the massive pulp and paper company Asia Pulp and Paper, in Sumatra. APP is owned by the enormous Sinar Mas conglomerate which is incorporated in Jakarta.

“Our field investigation shows how weak APP’s pilot conflict resolution effort in Jambi has been to date. The deal imposed on Senyerang Village (Kelurahan) is a tough one, and is not in line with APP’s policy commitment," said Patrick Anderson, Policy Advisor of Forest Peoples Programme. "The community only gets use rights to plant rubber on one eighth (12.5%) of their customary lands (7,224 hectares), while receiving small payments for the company-grown Acacia on another three eighths (37.5%) of their lands."

Produced by Forest Peoples Programme and Indonesian NGO partners, the study investigates the way Senyerang Village, whose lands were recognised as far back as Dutch colonial times, lost lands to APP’s subsidiary PT Wira Karya Sakti.

Syahrul Khairi, a young leader from Senyerang Village commented: “We are happy that this report has been written, as we want other communities that have lost lands to WKS and APP to be able to learn from our experiences in search of justice. We hope they will be able to obtain recognition of their rights to their customary lands, and fair compensation for use of their lands by others.”

 

Download a copy of the report here.