Enviro News Asia, Lombok — The Government of Indonesia continues to strengthen efforts to accelerate the recognition and designation of Customary Forests through the enhancement of human resource (HR) capacity among verifiers. Following the enforcement of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Customary Forest Designation under Ministerial Decree No. 144/2025, the Ministry of Forestry, through the Directorate of Tenurial Conflict Management and Customary Forests (PKTHA) under the Directorate General of Social Forestry, organized a Capacity Building Training for Prospective Customary Forest Verifiers in Lombok on October 6–10, 2025.
The activity is supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as part of international cooperation to accelerate the recognition and protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples (Masyarakat Hukum Adat / MHA).
Director of PKTHA, Julmansyah, emphasized that the training serves as a strategic step to ensure that the verification and designation process of Customary Forests at the district and municipal levels can proceed more quickly and effectively.
“The availability of qualified verifiers is crucial, especially with the increasing target area for Customary Forest recognition in the next five years. This initiative is also aligned with President Prabowo Subianto’s Asta Cita vision,” said Julmansyah.
He added that the involvement of regional government institutions (Organisasi Perangkat Daerah / OPD) is essential, as the Ministry of Home Affairs Regulation No. 52/2014 mandates the establishment of an Indigenous Peoples Committee responsible for identification, verification, and validation of Indigenous Peoples recognition proposals. Participants of the training were selected from various regions with high potential for Customary Forest designation.
“This program will be implemented in four batches across four regions of Indonesia, ensuring the availability of more competent verifiers in the future,” he added.
In addition to capacity building, the training also serves as a testing ground for verification instruments and tools developed by the PKTHA Directorate in collaboration with academics and practitioners experienced in the Customary Forest Integrated Team.
Customary Forests play a vital role in safeguarding the living space of Indigenous Peoples, preserving forest ecosystems, protecting local wisdom and traditional knowledge, and providing a mechanism for resolving tenurial conflicts within and surrounding forest areas. (*)
