My Next Chapter: Building Indigenous-Owned Corporations

Reflections from Abdon Nababan, Mitra BUMMA's Lead Strategist, 2017 recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay award, and former Secretary General of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN).

From left to right: Abdon Nababan from Mitra BUMMA, Yuniken from partner organization Samdhana Institute, & "Ruwi" Ruwindrijarto from Mitra BUMMA

Beyond Land Tenure & Creating Indigenous-Owned Corporations

I’m writing you from Sentani, Papua after attending the 6th Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) Congress where over 3000 Indigenous Peoples (IP) from all over Indonesia, our partners from Latin America and Asia, supporters and donors gathered to celebrate and plan the next phase of our movement in the world’s fourth most populous country. This is the first year where I have participated not as the Secretary General, but as a board member. After leading and growing the organization to now more than 2449 community members, it pleases me to see what we have been able to collectively build together.
 
In my last years in the leadership of AMAN, I have been reflecting on what the next chapter of the Indigenous Rights movement looks like in Indonesia. Since AMAN was created 23 years ago, hundreds of indigenous communities and their territories have been legally recognized. We’ve been able to secure thousands of hectares of land back to IP, which provides the security that IP can remain on their lands and continue to guard and steward the forests.

Papuan village heads at AMAN's 6th Annual Congress.

But what happens after land tenure is acquired? The reality is that the economic threats and pressures of deforestation and conversion of our forests into mining, palm oil plantations, and logging concessions remain strong. Tribal governance structures in Indonesia are also predominantly recognized at the village level, which leaves IP with very little negotiating power. Furthermore, if a tribal entity wanted to negotiate the use of their land for revenue-generating purposes, they would need to develop a corporation.
 
Our learning from decades of work is that Land Tenure is just the beginning—we must also secure livelihoods through the development of Indigenous People-Owned Corporations (BUMMA). BUMMAs were a framework I helped develop in my last years in AMAN leadership. Now, my next chapter is focusing on how to make this dream a reality with the team at Mitra BUMMA.

Morning light in the Namblong rainforest.

Though we are focusing on a diverse array of services and products, one of our products in development seems to be a dividing issue and one that many people would like to know more about.

Carbon markets, credits, and financing have been in the public discourse for decades, but with the rise in voluntary pledges from the world’s largest companies to get to net zero carbon emissions, this invisible gas has re-emerged as a major headline. Bloomberg, John Oliver, and many others have recently criticized carbon – both as a bandage solution that would allow companies to continue polluting as well as the lack of accountability to ensure forests do, in fact, remain intact. Even I have had a long discourse with carbon, speaking on the international stage at the World Bank and leading the “No Rights, No REDD” campaigns (REDD stands for “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation” and is the most popular carbon project type in Indonesia).
 
But my position, and that of many Indigenous Peoples, is more nuanced than what's been presented by western critics and the media. Many Indigenous Peoples are not opposed to carbon projects but instead will accept them with terms:

1. That carbon projects further advance and secure our land tenure and livelihoods, and that we are the primary owners of and have control over the credits.

2. We are by no means saying everyone should adopt our opinion carbon, only that you respect each indigenous community as we consider and make decisions regarding it.

AMAN members at the Carbon Workshop at their 6th Congress convening in Papua.

One of the most cited reasons for REDD carbon project failures is the lack of “community participation.” But a tribal-owned carbon project is owned by us for us. We are not and should not just be a participant and beneficiary of such projects and will continue to do everything needed to protect our homes.

For institutions and individuals opposed to carbon in principle, the reality is that carbon will continue to become a global commodity in Indonesia. According to a McKinsey analysis, global demand for carbon credits could multiply by a factor of 15 by 2030 and 100 by 2050. Rainforests and other nature-based solutions can sequester 30% of all greenhouse gases, making them a valuable carbon credit type.

Indonesia holds the third largest rainforest stock internationally after the Amazon and the Congo and our Indigenous Peoples steward and guard 57 million hectares of land. 17 million of this has already been degraded and deforested due to logging, agriculture, and mining concessions, mostly on the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra. Papua is the second-to-largest island in the world and has the lowest rates of deforestation of any other major island in our country. We must protect Papua’s people and forests before they face the same fate as our other islands.

Part of the forest managed by the Mare tribe.

Beyond the critical role that our people and forests play globally, we must look at carbon through an equity lens. There are currently 40+ Verra (one of the largest voluntary carbon project certification bodies) carbon projects in Indonesia. Nearly all of them are owned by international non-governmental organizations, companies, or non-indigenous Indonesians. We can turn to the financing space to understand why this is the case— less than 1% of the funding goes to Indigenous Peoples to manage our lands. Of that, the majority goes to land tenure work and excludes economic development. Compare this to the USD 78 - 91 billion per year that goes to conservation work done by institutions. Think about the disproportionality of this fact when considering that Indigenous Peoples manage 20% of the world’s lands and 80% of its biodiversity. We too restore degraded landscapes, preserve biodiversity and protect our borders from illegal activities such as poaching and unlicensed logging (many times at the cost of our lives).

Why is our labor valued less than that of our western counterparts? In fact, studies have shown that Indigenous Peoples are more effective at preserving biodiversity than the “fortress” conservation methodology widely adopted in many governments and countries. Tribal-ownership ensures that there is collective title over resources and how those resources are managed. So the next time you think about carbon, remember thatinvesting in tribal-owned carbon projects isn’t about carbon at all—it’s about the ability to secure our land, water, and culture.