Gaining Recognition Through Participatory Mapping? The Role of Adat Land in the Implementation of the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate in Papua, Indonesiatudy: Implementation of Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate, Papua, Indonesia

Authors

  • Rosita Dewi Indonesian Institute of Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14764/10.ASEAS-2016.1-6

Keywords:

Adat, Land Grabbing, MIFEE, Papua, Participatory Mapping

Abstract

Participatory mapping has recently become an instrument used by NGOs to advocate for adat (customary) land in Indonesia. Maps produced from participatory mapping are expected to support legal recognition through land formalization or titling. In order to stop land grabbing through the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) project, this strategy has also been applied in Merauke district, Papua. However, the pitfalls of communal participatory mapping have brought negative impacts to adat communities. This paper analyzes the land grabbing and mapping processes in three villages in the MIFEE area to show the unexpected consequences of participatory mapping. These mapping processes have caused fragmentation and conflict among adat communities. Furthermore, the legal recognition of communal adat land ownership is facilitating the buy-out of adat land by companies and/or the state.

Author Biography

Rosita Dewi, Indonesian Institute of Sciences

Rosita Dewi has been a researcher at the Centre for Political Studies, Indonesia Institute of Sciences (P2P-LIPI) since 2004. She joined the research team for Papua in 2005 and co-edited the book Papua Road Map: Negotiating the past, improving the present and securing the future in 2008. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University.

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Published

2016-06-30

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2016): Political Ecology and Socio-Ecological Conflicts

Section

Current Research on Southeast Asia

License

Copyright (c) 2016 SEAS – the Society of South-East Asian Studies

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