Official government regulations outline the legal and scientific framework for conservation management that is used and applied in all protected areas in Indonesia. These regulations are stipulated in documents like the Government Regulations on Conservation and Protected Areas (Regulation No. 68/1998) and the Special Directive on the Management of National Parks (attachment to Decree No. 129/Kpts/DJ-VI/1996), or the 1995 Directive for Determining the Zonation of a National Park (Pedoman Penetapan Zonasi Taman Nasional). Implementation is the responsibility of the Ministry of Forestry through the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation.
None of these documents explicitly deals with the rights of adat communities in conservation areas. The zonation system, however, comprises a ‘traditional use zone’ (zona pemanfaatan tradisional), where traditional activities and limited uses of plants and animals by local residents who are dependent on forest products are allowed (see also Regulation No. 68/1998 Concerning Wildlife Reserves and Environmental Conservation Zones). No animals protected by national law may be hunted, and only non-timber forest products may be harvested. One of the defining criteria for ‘traditional’ activities allowed in a National Park is the mandatory use of traditional tools like fishing rod and net, bow and arrow, or blowpipe and spear. Also, extraction or collection of forest resources should exclusively be for subsistence purposes or ceremonial adat needs. The Manual further indicates that only local people residing in the area are eligible for permits to use natural resources in the protected area, and the permits have to be granted by the park authorities.
Recent developments in forest policy include the ministerial decree (No. 677/Kpts-II/1998) on community forest concessions through the establishment of local cooperatives.[2] An internal draft instruction (Government of Indonesia 1999) discusses some possible new guidelines for use of natural resources in protected areas. Following the main directives of the ministerial decree, the draft proposes that the use of natural resources in protected areas be regulated as follows:
exploitation of natural resources in ways and modes that are compatible with the main function of nature conservation;
hunting activities in hunting parks with traditional methods such as dogs, arrows, spears or knives;
harvest of only non-timber forest products (natural latex, birds’ nests, traditional medicines, algae, honey, fruit, vegetables, edible roots or tubers, rattan), which means that no gaharu or timber may be cut nor minerals exploited;
management of eco-tourism, natural resources, and hunting by local people organised in cooperatives in the use zones of the park, according to the specific functions of the protected area;
management rights given to organised groups of local people or cooperatives for a definite period of time (30 years).
As with communities’ forest concessions, local people are allowed to operate small businesses and manage natural resources in selected parts of the conservation area by forming joint enterprises or cooperatives. Permitted activities are those defined as ‘traditional’ and compatible with the function of protection of endemic flora and fauna in the park ecosystem. The government maintains full jurisdiction over the area through the park authorities. Park authorities also retain the right to monitor and evaluate activities, and to suspend the operating licence of a cooperative. This creates an odd legal situation whereby local people who, based on the authority of customary law, are the owners and managers of their customary land, would have to apply to the Minister of Forestry for a permit to operate businesses in ‘their’ land.
The internal draft contains no direct or explicit mention of adat or indigenous institutions, except with regard to the denotation of local people entitled to form enterprises:
… Indonesian citizens who were born and still live in and around the conservation area and possess the characteristics of a komunitas because of their social closeness, similarity of interests and means of livelihood that depend on the exploitation of natural resources, a common history, special bond to the land… (Government of Indonesia 1999: D-1).[3]
The issuing of the 1999 forestry law and the approval of the government regulations on adat forest will provide a strong legal mandate for enforcing changes to the management of conservation areas. New arrangements and regulations will have to accommodate the interests and rights of indigenous people as well as those of forest protection.