The Indonesian government has integrated data from its Ministry of Culture, the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency and AMAN, the country’s largest Indigenous peoples’ alliance, to build a new dataset covering 3,857 Indigenous communities.The database will document and register customary territories and capture cultural aspects as well, including Indigenous languages, local foods and traditional knowledge.It is hoped that the database will provide greater visibility of Indigenous territories and enable them to be incorporated into permitting, development planning and spatial planning, but it does not grant legal recognition to Indigenous communities or customary territories.
JAKARTA — Indigenous peoples in Indonesia have long faced a basic problem: Data on their communities, cultures and customary territories are scattered across government agencies and civil society organizations, making them less visible in spatial planning and permitting.
The Indonesian government is trying to address that gap by integrating data from the Ministry of Culture, the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency (BRWA) and the country’s largest Indigenous peoples’ alliance, AMAN, in a dataset covering 3,857 Indigenous communities.
