Indigenous Rights and Resource Governance in Indonesia

Indonesia’s Indigenous communities, often governed by customary or adat law, have historically faced marginalisation in formal resource governance structures. The archipelago’s rich natural capital—spanning tropical forests, peatlands, coastal fisheries and mineral deposits—lies in territories traditionally managed under communal tenure systems. Since the fall of the Soeharto regime, decentralisation and legal reforms, notably a landmark 2013 judicial recognition of Indigenous tenure and subsequent community forestry regulations, have sought to harmonise state and customary orders. However, tenure insecurity persists amid competing claims from extractive industries, large-scale plantations and conservation initiatives. Contemporary research highlights a complex interplay between legal pluralism, local resistance, collaborative governance experiments and environmental sustainability. Strengthening Indigenous land rights is increasingly seen as critical both for safeguarding cultural heritage and for achieving global climate and biodiversity objectives.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

Indigenous Rights and Resource Governance in Indonesia publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in indigenous rights and resource governance in indonesia across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Adat law: Traditional customary legal order governing land tenure, resource use and social relations within Indigenous communities in Indonesia.

Legal pluralism: The coexistence of multiple legal systems—customary, religious and state law—within a single jurisdiction.

Tenure security: The degree of protection individuals or communities have against involuntary loss of land and resource rights.

Rightlessness: A condition in which communities are effectively excluded from formal legal recognition and protection, undermining their ability to claim resource rights.

Resource governance: The institutions, policies and practices that determine how natural resources are managed, allocated and regulated.

References

1. Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia. Geoforum (2022).
2. Local brokerage and international leverage: NGOs and land conflicts in Indonesia. Journal of International Development (2022).
3. Another Law in Indonesia: Customary Land Tenure System Coexisting with State Order in Mutis Forest. Jurnal Manajemen Hutan Tropika (Journal of Tropical Forest Management) (2020).
4. The production of rightlessness: palm oil companies and land dispossession in Indonesia. Globalizations (2023).
5. ANALISIS KRITIK TERHADAP PUTUSAN MAHKAMAH KONSTITUSI NOMOR 36/PUU-X/2012. Mimbar Hukum - Fakultas Hukum Universitas Gadjah Mada (2013).