YLBHI

FINAL PROJECT STATUS BRIEF 2001

Land for the Tiller: Finding Legal and Policy Solutions for Land and Natural Resources Conflicts

Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (YLBHI)

Geographical focus

Coastal and marine ecosystems/ tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests

June 2000 - March 2001

Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (YLBHI)'s lawyers in 14 field offices have been handling cases related to conflicts over land and natural resources for more than a decade. YLBHI records show that in 1999, there were 335 cases covering a total land area of approximately 2.9 million hectares, affecting around 800,000 people in 20 provinces in Indonesia. Of those cases, 112 (32%) involved forestry issues, 90 (25%) plantations, 57 (16%) industrial zones, 33 (9%) coastal and marine issues, while 23 (7%) involved mining issues. Other cases involved tourism developments 10 (3%), housing developments 3 (1%), and others 24 (7%).

In most places especially Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi, farmers who do not have their rights to land recognized have taken over areas that were allocated to commercial concessionaires, mostly plantations. Negotiations have been successful when local plantation managers and governments tried to accommodate the demands of the farmers. YLBHI has been assisting these negotiations on condition that local actions are non-violent. Yet they find that no local or national law or policy involving land and natural resources supports these negotiated agreements. Also, they find local peoples organizations wanting in basic skills for organizing, conflict management and institution building.

This grant will assist YLBHI in collaboration with Konsorsium Pembaruan Agraria (KPA) in pursuing the following objectives:

Land law and policy reform through organized civil society efforts at local, regional and national levels;
Strong local community organizations to handle land rights conflicts;
An informed public opinion supportive of land reform.

Land law and policy reform. YLBHI and KPA will follow up a number of land cases that are in the process of negotiated solutions. They will work intensively with a select group of individuals and institutions committed to engage in legal and policy research at the national level for recognition of land rights of local farmers and land managers. The team will work not only with local and regional YLBHI lawyers but also with other allies including those from the government land agency, to develop draft legislation that will promote land reform and incorporate practical solutions to the current land conflicts.

Strong local community organizations. This grant will support local workshops, discussions, and conflict resolution initiatives with key YLBHI partners. The target is to match legal and policy development initiatives for land reform at the national level with strong and organized local movements. The grant will include development of an advocacy manual.

Public opinion supportive of land reform. Ideally, this grant will develop a groundswell of interest in agrarian reform. The grant activities include a multi-media campaign on agrarian reform. This will include coalition meetings with journalists to take advantage of the mass media. Posters, leaflets and other art works supportive of land reform will be printed.

LBH helped four farmers' networks and 9 local farmers' organizations to find legal solutions to land tenure insecurity, while assisting them in conflict management and strengthening of farmers' organizations and networks. This support evolved into two types of assistance consisting of: a) case handling and policy development coupled with b) strengthening local farmer institutions. LBH offices in the provinces of Lampung, Banten, East Java, West Java, Yogyakarta, Central Java, Makassar and Bali provided legal advice and assistance to farmers' groups for land and plantation cases, and used the cases as entry points in negotiations with government. They negotiated with government offices for agriculture and plantations, forestry, and land registration. A workshop held in January 2001 between farmers and experts in law, sociology and policy evolved a joint commitment to pursue recommendations on plantation issues.

LBH field offices, along with farmers' groups, developed a "rapid agrarian conflict appraisal" (RACA) approach. They tailored a farmers' version of the Institutional Development Framework (IDF) used by BSP-Kemala partners, to assist in determining strength and progress of local and regional farmers' organizations. Under the RACA approach, LBH developed a training of trainers series on "handling and managing conflicts over land, water and other natural resources", with the acronym TASDAL. The training was launched in February 2001 with leaders and facilitators of regional farmers' organizations, namely Lampung Farmers Association (Papanjati East Java), Central Java Farmers Organization (Ortaja, Central Java), Free Farmers Alliance (SeTAM Yogyakarta), Lampung Farmers Federation (IPL Lampung), along with LBH lawyers from Java and Lampung. The training was set up to improve skills and knowledge in handling conflicts over land, water and natural resources based on existing cases and experiences. LBH's recently compiled manual was used as material in the training.

LBH provided institutional development assistance to the farmers' groups by conducting a series of IDF sessions with farmer trainers. The trainers were key council members of farmer network organizations in Java and Sumatera. LBH lawyers and farmer organization leaders met and tailored an adapted IDF training module to suit local needs. The adapted IDF module was tested with the organization Papanjati. These farmer trainers for the first time had a tool to objectively test their organizational strengths. They were so excited with this training that they volunteered their time, with very little LBH resources to conduct further trainings with ten other local groups in East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, Banten and Lampung. Each region facilitated two local farmers' groups. Farmer leaders in each of these local groups committed to again conduct another round of IDF sessions, together with local LBH facilitators, with more farmer groups in their regions. They concluded that strength in organization is key to be able to negotiate well with government, plantation representatives or the military in efforts to manage the conflicts they are currently experiencing.

[ Bantaya ] - [ ELSAM ] - [ FPK ] - [ Hualopu ] - [ JKPP ] - [ Jaring Pela ] - [ KalBar SHK ]

[ Kemala ] - [ KonPenMA ] - [ KPA ] - [ KPSHK ] - [ LATIN ] - [ LMAA ] - [ LPPMA ]

[ Pancurkasih ] - [ PLASMA ] - [ Pro Plasma ] - [ PUTER ] - [ RMI ] - [ Telapak ] - [ WWF Sahul ]

[ YBAW ] - [ YLBHI ] - [ YPLHC ] - [ YTM ]



	FINAL PROJECT STATUS BRIEF 2001

Project	Land for the Tiller: Finding Legal and Policy Solutions for Land and Natural Resources Conflicts
Partner	Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (YLBHI)
Geographical focus	Nationwide
Biome	Coastal and marine ecosystems/ tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests
Timing	June 2000 - March 2001
Description	Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (YLBHI)'s lawyers in 14 field offices have been handling cases related to conflicts over land and natural resources for more than a decade. YLBHI records show that in 1999, there were 335 cases covering a total land area of approximately 2.9 million hectares, affecting around 800,000 people in 20 provinces in Indonesia. Of those cases, 112 (32%) involved forestry issues, 90 (25%) plantations, 57 (16%) industrial zones, 33 (9%) coastal and marine issues, while 23 (7%) involved mining issues. Other cases involved tourism developments 10 (3%), housing developments 3 (1%), and others 24 (7%). In most places especially Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi, farmers who do not have their rights to land recognized have taken over areas that were allocated to commercial concessionaires, mostly plantations. Negotiations have been successful when local plantation managers and governments tried to accommodate the demands of the farmers. YLBHI has been assisting these negotiations on condition that local actions are non-violent. Yet they find that no local or national law or policy involving land and natural resources supports these negotiated agreements. Also, they find local peoples organizations wanting in basic skills for organizing, conflict management and institution building. This grant will assist YLBHI in collaboration with Konsorsium Pembaruan Agraria (KPA) in pursuing the following objectives: Land law and policy reform through organized civil society efforts at local, regional and national levels; Strong local community organizations to handle land rights conflicts; An informed public opinion supportive of land reform. Land law and policy reform. YLBHI and KPA will follow up a number of land cases that are in the process of negotiated solutions. They will work intensively with a select group of individuals and institutions committed to engage in legal and policy research at the national level for recognition of land rights of local farmers and land managers. The team will work not only with local and regional YLBHI lawyers but also with other allies including those from the government land agency, to develop draft legislation that will promote land reform and incorporate practical solutions to the current land conflicts. Strong local community organizations. This grant will support local workshops, discussions, and conflict resolution initiatives with key YLBHI partners. The target is to match legal and policy development initiatives for land reform at the national level with strong and organized local movements. The grant will include development of an advocacy manual. Public opinion supportive of land reform. Ideally, this grant will develop a groundswell of interest in agrarian reform. The grant activities include a multi-media campaign on agrarian reform. This will include coalition meetings with journalists to take advantage of the mass media. Posters, leaflets and other art works supportive of land reform will be printed.
Results	LBH helped four farmers' networks and 9 local farmers' organizations to find legal solutions to land tenure insecurity, while assisting them in conflict management and strengthening of farmers' organizations and networks. This support evolved into two types of assistance consisting of: a) case handling and policy development coupled with b) strengthening local farmer institutions. LBH offices in the provinces of Lampung, Banten, East Java, West Java, Yogyakarta, Central Java, Makassar and Bali provided legal advice and assistance to farmers' groups for land and plantation cases, and used the cases as entry points in negotiations with government. They negotiated with government offices for agriculture and plantations, forestry, and land registration. A workshop held in January 2001 between farmers and experts in law, sociology and policy evolved a joint commitment to pursue recommendations on plantation issues. LBH field offices, along with farmers' groups, developed a "rapid agrarian conflict appraisal" (RACA) approach. They tailored a farmers' version of the Institutional Development Framework (IDF) used by BSP-Kemala partners, to assist in determining strength and progress of local and regional farmers' organizations. Under the RACA approach, LBH developed a training of trainers series on "handling and managing conflicts over land, water and other natural resources", with the acronym TASDAL. The training was launched in February 2001 with leaders and facilitators of regional farmers' organizations, namely Lampung Farmers Association (Papanjati East Java), Central Java Farmers Organization (Ortaja, Central Java), Free Farmers Alliance (SeTAM Yogyakarta), Lampung Farmers Federation (IPL Lampung), along with LBH lawyers from Java and Lampung. The training was set up to improve skills and knowledge in handling conflicts over land, water and natural resources based on existing cases and experiences. LBH's recently compiled manual was used as material in the training. LBH provided institutional development assistance to the farmers' groups by conducting a series of IDF sessions with farmer trainers. The trainers were key council members of farmer network organizations in Java and Sumatera. LBH lawyers and farmer organization leaders met and tailored an adapted IDF training module to suit local needs. The adapted IDF module was tested with the organization Papanjati. These farmer trainers for the first time had a tool to objectively test their organizational strengths. They were so excited with this training that they volunteered their time, with very little LBH resources to conduct further trainings with ten other local groups in East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, Banten and Lampung. Each region facilitated two local farmers' groups. Farmer leaders in each of these local groups committed to again conduct another round of IDF sessions, together with local LBH facilitators, with more farmer groups in their regions. They concluded that strength in organization is key to be able to negotiate well with government, plantation representatives or the military in efforts to manage the conflicts they are currently experiencing.