Claiming the forest: Inclusions and exclusions under Indonesia's 'new' forest policies on customary forests

- Customary claims on forest rejuvenated by Constitutional Court decisions.
- Confusion around how to apply the laws remains.
- The decisions are specific to claims over State forest land.
- Customary claims over non-state forest land remain without legal basis.

The hopes of customary communities in Indonesia have recently been bolstered by Constitutional Court assurances that they have the right to control customary forest. There are, however, several obstacles to making successful claims, and there are also many situations in which forest users and customary land claimants do not stand to benefit from the recent rulings. This policy review analyses the court decisions, politics around their implementation, and considerations of types of land claimants who are excluded from the current process. We highlight groups of forest and ex forestland users that are excluded from benefiting from the Constitutional Court decisions and are adversely affected by land use change and re-designation of land. These groups include those with claims over land in conservation areas, allocated to concessionaires for resource extraction, on land already issued to them through forest management rights, and those whose land has already been removed from the State forest land.