Grants in 2018

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Kelompok Studi dan Pengembangan Prakarsa Masyarakat (KSPPM)

$10,000 to support work with Indigenous Tano Batak families in the Lake Toba region in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia, impacted by Toba Pulp Lestari, a US$600 million pulp company, through local organizing and facilitated discussions to raise awareness regarding collective community rights to customary forests as well as trainings to prepare community members through negotiation and mediation training to enter into a conflict resolution process that will create the possibility of securing the return of land rights and compensation. Many Batak communities steward and plant kemenyaan (benzoin) trees, which produce a fragrant resin similar to frankincense and provides a critical source of sustainable income.

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Pueblo Originario Kichwa de Sarayaku

$5,000 to support the Kichwa Indigenous peoples of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon launch event of their pioneering Kawsak Sacha, or ‘Living Forest’ proposal to create a new category for permanent protection of native land free of natural resource extraction and further support their ongoing efforts that to date have kept an estimated 100 million barrels of oil in the ground and protected a de-facto no-go-zone beneath 330,000 acres of standing primary, roadless rainforest.

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Yayasan Pusaka

$1,250 to support community meetings and workshops regarding Indigenous land rights and potential threats related to the expansion of palm oil plantations in Papua, Indonesia, and specifically prepping 2 villages for mediated resolution processes mandated by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil resulting from a formal complaint process.

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WALHI Jambi

$12,500 to support farmers groups in 5 villages in Jambi Province engaged in conflict resolution processes with pulp and paper companies to document land tenure history, perform participatory mapping of conflicts, hold village discussions and trainings (legal, rights and conflict resolution) and coordinate with and pressure company and government officials to resolve conflicts and recognize land rights.

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Grassroots Consulting

$5,000 to support work with Indigenous Dayak communities in Sarawak, one of last frontier areas for palm oil expansion left in Malaysia and a critical ecological area due to forests and peatlands, with an action plan and framework towards achieving a mediated resolution to return native customary lands back to community ownership.

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Associação das Comunidades Montanha e Mangabal

$4,000 to support descendants of migrant rubber tappers, the river-dwellers of Montanha-Mangabal, along with Indigenous groups in the Tapajós region of the Brazilian Amazon (including Munduruku, Kaxuyana, Tiriyó, Xeréu, Wai Wai, Txikyana, and Apiaká peoples) holding an assembly regarding their collective territorial auto-demarcation processes and to discuss other shared priorities to protect their traditional territories.

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Hutan Kita Institute (HaKI)

$10,500 to support efforts to monitor major pulp and paper companies’ implementation of social and environmental commitments in Sumatra, Indonesia. The specific focus is to review concessions that are currently non-active and/or held by small companies, which collectively cover huge areas and are likely targets for expanded operations due to wood supply shortages.

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Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia Sulawesi Selatan (WALHI Sulsel)

$5,000 to support documenting traditional practices and local wisdom and conducting participatory mapping in South Sulawesi, Indonesia as part of the Last Forest campaign and land rights initiative in 6 key regions of critical forest areas throughout the country where large blocks of rainforest have been well-managed by Indigenous communities but are now under threat of mining, palm oil, and pulp and paper plantations.

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Confederacion de Nacionalidades Indigenas de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana (CONFENIAE)

$2,500 to support an Amazonian Women’s Congress and March for International Women’s Day. These activities provided an opportunity to refine strategies for protection of Indigenous territories and to prioritize sustainable alternatives to meet local needs in alignment with the vision of Indigenous women leaders who are steadfast in their demands for no industrial extraction within their communities’ traditional territories.