PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA — The debate over the government’s plan to relocate oil palm farmers from Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) has resurfaced. Ahmad Zazali, SH., MH., head of the Center for Law and Conflict Resolution (PURAKA), stressed that no government policy should come at the expense of communities who have lived and farmed in the region for generations. He believes the relocation plan is strongly tied to carbon projects funded under the FOLU Net Sink 2030 scheme.
“Tesso Nilo is not an empty landscape without history,” he said.
“The Tesso Nilo area has been a perbatinan territory since the Pelalawan Kingdom in the 1790s—long before the region officially joined Indonesia in 1946. Communities and traditional batin authorities existed long before TNTN was established,” Zazali told Palmoilmagazine.com, Wednesday (3 December 2025).
A Long History of Land Tenure in Tesso Nilo
Zazali explained that traditional perbatinan structures began losing administrative recognition after the enactment of Law No. 19/1965 on Village Governance. Socially, however, perbatinan persisted as an institution holding customary land rights.
Forest policies in the region then shifted dramatically:
- 1974: The perbatinan territory was converted into a forest concession (HPH).
- 1986: Under TGHK, forest boundaries in Riau were formally designated.
- During the HPH period, access roads were built. After the concessions ended, former workers opened land for farming.
- 1993: The government issued an Industrial Plantation Forest (HTI) permit to PT RAPP through Ministerial Decree No. 130/Kpts-II/1993.
- Early 2000s: Conservation efforts gained traction. In 2002, WWF and BKSDA Riau proposed establishing TNTN—at a time when many smallholder farms had already existed in the area.
- 2004: The Ministry of Forestry declared TNTN Phase I, followed by Phase II in 2009, when more than 19,000 hectares had already been turned into community farms.
- 2011–2012: Boundary demarcation proceeded without resolving long-standing customary land rights.
- 2014: The formal decree on TNTN’s establishment was issued, when community plantations had expanded to nearly 30,000 hectares.
“It’s inaccurate to label farmers as encroachers,” Zazali said. “They opened land long before TNTN was designated or formalized. Many acquired land through grants and management rights from batin leaders.”
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Suspicions of a Carbon Project Motive
Zazali highlighted a larger economic motive behind the relocation push, linking it directly to carbon initiatives under FOLU Net Sink 2030.
“The proposed relocation of farmers inside TNTN is strongly suspected to be connected to FOLU Net Sink carbon projects. This controversy has been visible since the early tenure of Forestry Minister Raja Juliantoni,” he said.
He referred to public reports on parliamentary criticism regarding irregularities in the structure of the FOLU Net Sink working team.
PURAKA is urging the government to pursue alternatives beyond relocation—including reviewing and reducing Industrial Plantation Forest (HTI) concessions around TNTN.
According to Zazali, the Tesso Nilo elephant range spans beyond TNTN, extending into concession areas of PT RAPP (APRIL Group) and large-scale oil palm estates operated by PT Inti Indo Sawit (Asian Agri Group).
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Proposed Steps: Dialogue, Reduced HTI Permits, and Community Involvement
Zazali outlined several recommended actions, aligned with a July 2025 letter from Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) and findings from a joint meeting of Commission XIII of the House of Representatives with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Komnas HAM, and the Witness Protection Agency (LPSK):
- open formal dialogue facilitated by an independent mediator, with relocation not treated as the only option;
- reduce HTI concessions around TNTN and convert them into elephant conservation zones;
- involve local communities in restoring elephant habitats, including reforestation on lands taken from company concessions.
“Relocation is not the only solution,” Zazali concluded.
“The government must consider reducing HTI permits to expand elephant habitat while also acknowledging the historical and social reality that communities existed in the area long before TNTN.” (P2)
