THE END OF A DREAM THE BEGINNING OF HOPE: After more than 70 years of resistance finally the Katu people gain legal recognition for their rights to live in and manage their Adat lands.

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The constant threat of displacement

The history of displacement for the Katu people, began in 1918 when the Dutch government forced them to move to Bangkuleho to make tax collection easier. However by 1925 the community had moved back to Katu, only to be forced back to Bangkuleho in 1949, this time by the Indonesian government. Again the community moved back to Katu ten years later due to a wave of deaths and sickness that swept them in Bangkuleho. The Indonesian government 'let them live peacefully' in their ancestral lands until in the 1970's their land was declared to be included in a new protected area zone, the Suaka Margasatwa Lore Kalamanta (Anto Sangaji, Kabar JKPP, Maret 1999).

However, this time the Katu people stood their ground. Ever since until very recently, the Katu people were involved in a continuous struggle to protect their rights. Time to time they were faced with stepped up pressure from the government in 1985 and again in 1993 and 1997 when their area was definitively included in the newly declared National Park of Lore Lindu, a new project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In 1998, the Katu people conducted a natural resource inventory survey, and documented their traditional natural resource management practices. The report revealed a richly diverse agriculture practice involving 33 local rice varieties, eight local varieties of sweet potatoes, eight local varieties of maize, and six different varieties of yams (Anto Sangaji, Pengalaman Katu: Pemetaan Partisipatif Menuju Recognisi). Another feature documented by the survey was the resource use patters employed where the Katu have been harvesting timber, rattan, damar, and a number of non timber forest products, in a susainable way for centuries.

Finally: legal recognition

The long struggle endured by the Katu people finally resulted in formal recognition from the Lore Lindu National Park Management. In April 1999, Ir Banjar Julianto who is the current head of the Park, issued a formal letter awarding the Katu people the right to remain living in their ancestral lands, and the right to manage these lands using their traditional land tenure system. He was convinced by two very important factors that played a pivotal role in bringing around this recognition. One was the fact that empirical experience supported by scientific studies proved the Katu land tenure practices to be environmentally sustainable. And secondly the Katu people were able to provide a number of detailed maps describing not only their ancestral (Adat) lands, but also describing the Katu Adat land use systems, as well as maps showing natural resource distribution.

According to Restu Achmaliadi, the coordinator of Jaringan Kerja Pemetaan Partisipatif (JKPP) - a national network promoting participatory mapping in Indonesia, this formal recognition is quite unique. There are a number of examples in Indonesia where communities living in protected areas are given 'de-facto' recognition, but the Katu people have been given 'de-jure' recognition, therefor they have a much stronger legal standing. This legal standing has influenced change in the way the Katu are relating to their environment. If in the past they remained silent and passive upon witnessing outsiders encroaching on 'the National Park' to harvest various forest products, they now actively prevent this from happening in order to protect their environment. In the past they did not have the confidence to do this, as they themselves were often arrested for harvesting rattan and other forest products, even if they only did this within 'their own' Adat lands. This new behavior is reducing the extent of damage done to the park by irresponsible outsiders who have no interest at stake but to make a lot of money in a short period of time.

Now that the Katu people are recognized as the legal managers of their 1,178 ha's of Adat land located within the Lore Lindu National Park, they are able to legally harvest and sell forest products they traditionally have been harvesting. Rattan harvested by the Katu people now fetch a much fairer price of Rp.900,- per kilo, while in the past when the rattan they harvested was considered illegal, they could only fetch a price of Rp.200,- per kilogram. This shows that the mere switch of perception of traders towards the Katu people, from illegal poachers in the National Forest to legal managers of Adat lands, has improved incomes significantly, without having to increase the level of use of natural resources.

Restu Achmaliadi, coordinator of JKPP argues that if the management of the Park were to be given to the Adat people living within and around it, the state could save money as it would not have to pay scores of park rangers, and enjoy improved management practices at the same time.

Hope for Other Adat Communities

Anto Sangaji, a Central Sulawesi activist from Yayasan Tanah Merdeka, sees the Katu case as a ray of hope towards a policy making process where local community rights are seriously taken into consideration. He cautiously warns the park management however, of the fact that the Katu case alone does not solve the conflict between the Adat Community versus the Lore Lindu National Park management. There are still more that 60 communities facing the same problems the Katu were facing in the Lore Lindu National Park (Kabar JKPP, Edisi 5, Agustus, 1999).

A network of Central Sulawesi and National NGOs have continued to facilitate dialog with the Park management which includes Adat Communities. Another new development is the birth of AMASUTA (Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Sulawesi Tengah) - an alliance consisting of all the Adat communities in the Lore Lindu National Park on the other. Plans for the future envision the community mapping and eventually legal recognition of all Adat lands within the Park. The movement is also planning to register the lands under the new Agrarian Ministry decree no.5, 1999.

Real co-management signified by mutual trust and respect in Indonesia's National Parks is possible. The Lore Lindu National Park is progressively proving this by recognizing the rights of Adat Communities who live within its boundaries. Since Ir Banjar Yulianto Laban, issued the first formal letter of recognition for Katu Adat community lands covering an area of 1,178 ha's within the park boundaries in April 1999, another letter has been issued in August 1999, to recognize Doda rights over 5,481 ha's of their Adat lands. Following the Katu and Doda Adat communities, now the Toro Adat communities have mapped their 7000 ha ancestral lands and are in the process of negotiating formal recognition.

The Lore Lindu case provides the Masyarakat Adat movement in Indonesia, with positive insight into how technical skills together with an open attitude for dialog with government representatives can achieve sweeping breakthroughs in the often deadlocked position of Adat communities versus government when it comes to managing National Parks.