Destruction of Nature and Fading Indigenous Identity

Dozens of people from the Civil Society Coalition, human rights and environmental defenders, and indigenous communities affected by the Merauke National Strategic Project (PSN) held a demonstration near the Horse Statue in Monas, Jakarta, on Wednesday, October 16, 2024. During the protest, the crowd urged the President, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Agriculture, and the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment to immediately stop the Merauke PSN, which is intended for sugarcane and bioethanol plantations as well as a one-million-hectare rice field creation project. TEMPO/Subekti

Mining expansion and land conversion can lead to erosion of living spaces and cultural identity of indigenous communities.

ADVERSE impacts from reckless mining and agricultural activities go beyond pollution, environmental destruction and health risks. There is a silent destruction: the loss of indigenous cultural identity.

This was illustrated in the latest research by Perkumpulan Prakarsa in collaboration with the Bangka Belitung branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and Responsibank Indonesia. The study revealed that living spaces of around 300 Lom tribe members or the Mapur indigenous community in Mapur village, Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung Islands, continues to shrink due to tin mining and oil palm plantation expansions.

Tin mining actually has been carried out across Bangka Belitung for centuries. However, pressure on indigenous peoples sharply rose after the government allowed wider room for small-scale mining in 2001. Now almost 80 percent of the Mapur village’s 79.69 square kilometers has become mine and plantation fields. Walhi said throughout the period 2014-2020, around one million hectares out of 1.6 million hectares of Bangka Belitung’s land were converted into mining concession areas, and 170,000 hectares into oil palm plantations.

For indigenous communities, forests, mountains, rivers, and seas are not just sources of livelihood, but also part of their collective identity.  Knowledge regarding nature, traditions, values, and cultural practices were handed down through interactions with nature. When indigenous territories shrink, their knowledge, collective memory, and way of life that have been passed down through generations are also at risk of disappearing.

Threats to indigenous communities are not just environmental damage, but also the issue of justice. People who enjoy the least economic benefits from extractive projects are precisely the ones who stand to lose the most: loss of land, livelihoods, and the right to determine the future of their own land.

The Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) recorded 140 communities that were affected by concession permits and government projects during the 2014-2024 period. During this time, around 2.8 million hectares of customary forests were transferred to the government or corporations. The Dayak people in Kalimantan, indigenous communities in the Nusantara Capital City region as well as four indigenous communities in Merauke, South Papua, are facing similar threats due to mining and agricultural expansions, and large-scale food projects.

This situation is exacerbated by the absence of laws that specifically protect indigenous peoples. The mechanism of recognition in various regulations often clash with stronger investment interests. Therefore, the House of Representatives (DPR) need to immediately pass the Indigenous Community Bill.  

The problem is not just weak legal protection. The state still too often considers indigenous territories as economic assets that can be easily converted into mines, plantation, or industrial zones. For indigenous people, however, these areas are living spaces that bring together economic, social, cultural, and spiritual functions. When state policies only count investment value, indigenous peoples are easily displaced from the land that sustains them.  

It is high time the government abandoned the development paradigm that views customary land solely as economic assets. Otherwise, at risks of disappearing are not just the natural landscape, but also knowledge, identity, and cultural heritage of indigenous peoples.

Read the Complete Story in Tempo English Magazine

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