Land grabs and the river: eco-social transformations along the Kapuas, Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Land grabbing is transforming the Kapuas River in Indonesia from a space of life and livelihood to one of illness and ecological collapse, and “green grabs” to mitigate climate change are equally implicated. Appropriation and accumulation strategies differ according to resource (minerals, lumber, oil palm, fish), scale of operations (smallholders, transnational firms) and the relationships among the economic and political actors, but our fieldwork confirms that the effects of the various socio-economic transformations are interlinked. Action research with local communities has identified the river’s – as yet unrealised – potential to connect and scale up otherwise isolated struggles against land grabs.

RÉSUMÉ

L’accaparement des terres est en train de transformer la rivière Kapuas, en Indonésie, d’un espace de vie et source de subsistance à un espace écologiquement effondré et de maladies. L’accaparement des terres pour la conservation (green grabs) aux fins d’atténuer le changement climatique y est également impliqué. Les stratégies d’appropriation et d’accumulation diffèrent selon les ressources (minéraux, bois d’œuvre, huile de palme, poissons), l’échelle des opérations (petites exploitations, entreprises transnationales) et la relation entre les acteurs économiques et politiques. Toutefois, notre recherche sur le terrain confirme que les effets des différentes transformations socioéconomiques sont interconnectés. La recherche-action menée avec les communautés locales a permis de déterminer le potentiel de la rivière de relier et intensifier les luttes, par ailleurs isolées, contre l’accaparement des terres.

KEYWORDS:

• Land grabs
• river ecology
• climate politics
• action research
• Indonesia

Notes on contributors

Oliver Pye is a lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies at Bonn University, with a research focus on political ecology and social movements. Together with Michael Flitner, he led the research project “Connecting the urban and the rural: a political ecology of the Kapuas River (Kalimantan, Indonesia)”, which was the basis for this article. Recent publications include The Palm Oil Controversy in Southeast Asia (ISEAS 2012) and The Political Ecology of Agrofuels (Routledge 2015, co-edited).

Irendra Radjawali is a scholar activist associated with the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Bonn University. He was a principal researcher on the project “Connecting the urban and the rural: a political ecology of the Kapuas River (Kalimantan, Indonesia)” (2011–2015, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). He is currently training hundreds of activists in Indonesia and globally in the construction and use of drones for counter-mapping.

Julia (this is her full name) is a Presidium member of the Kalimantan Women Alliance for Peace and Gender Justice based in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Her research and advocacy work focuses on women and environmental issues. She was a principal researcher on the project “Connecting the urban and the rural: a political ecology of the Kapuas River (Kalimantan, Indonesia)” (2011–2015). She is now pursuing her PhD at Bonn University on the gendered political ecology of the Kapuas River.

Notes

1. The acronyms REDD and REDD+ refer to the “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation” mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

2. In Indonesia, a regency is a political subdivision of a province.

3. The term “PT” before an Indonesian company name refers to its status as a limited liability company.

4. Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is a large German aid organisation set up as a limited liability company.

5. The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade action plan, established by the European Union in 2003.

Additional information

Funding

This article was written with support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG (German Research Foundation), [grant numbers GZ PY 76/3-1 and FL 392/3-1].