Indonesia: UN suggests racism & genocide will again prevail if REDD oriented forest conservation occurs

In a letter released today, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern that a scheme to promote forest conservation in Indonesia via the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) mechanism could increase conflict over land if the government doles out forest-carbon concessions in the same manner that it has with logging and plantation concessions. In the worst cases, forest people could be denied access rights to their traditional territories say indigenous rights’ groups.

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“The Committee has received information according to which Indonesia
continues to lack any effective legal means to recognize, secure and
protect indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands, territories and
resources. For instance, it seems that Indonesia’s 2008 ‘Regulation on
Implementation Procedures for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation
and Forest Degradation’ reiterates Law 41 of 1999 on Forestry that
appears to deny any proprietary rights to indigenous peoples in
forests,” wrote Fatimata-Binta Victoire Dah, Chairperson of the
Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD).

The letter urges the Indonesian government to “review its laws … as well as the way they are interpreted and implemented in practice, to ensure that they respect the rights of indigenous peoples to possess, develop, control and use their communal lands.” There are also fears that corruption will impede fair distribution of funds to local peopleespecially in places where the rights of forest people are not recognized.

“Since the rights of indigenous peoples is an important national issue, not just as it relates to forests, it requires good will and strong efforts by the various government institutions to work together to implement these rights,” said Abdon Nababan, Secretary General of Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN), Indonesia’s national indigenous peoples’ organization.

AMAN is calling for greater transparency, accountability, and involvement of indigenous people in the REDD development process.

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http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0323-redd_indonesia.html