Indigenous groups in Indonesia are petitioning the country’s Constitutional Court to invalidate parts of a 2024 conservation law, arguing it could allow the government to designate ancestral lands as conservation areas without communities’ consent and threaten their customary land rights.The court case comes a year after the court denied a judicial review of the law’s legislative process, despite dissent from two justices.The latest legal challenge focuses on provisions allowing the creation of “preservation areas”, which the groups say could restrict communities’ access to their lands and undermine traditional forms of conservation.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indigenous groups in Indonesia have made a legal challenge to parts of a new conservation law. The groups say it could allow the government to designate their ancestral lands as conservation areas without their consent and threaten their land rights.
The Coalition for Equitable Conservation, which comprises the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), civil society groups and representatives of Indigenous and local communities, filed the lawsuit on July 8, 2026.
The case seeks to overturn provisions of Indonesia’s 2024 conservation law that the groups say threaten the rights of communities living on ancestral lands, community-managed areas, coastal regions, small islands and conservation zones.
