Other publication / Published on "Mongabay"
This commentary examines how the World Bank’s carbon emissions reduction program in East Kalimantan risks further undermining the rights and sovereignty of the Dayak Bahau Indigenous community of Long Isun. While land disputes over customary territory remain unresolved, the program has moved forward by relying on state administrative maps that erase Indigenous governance, ancestral boundaries, and lived relationships with the forest.
Drawing on the community’s formal grievance submitted in November 2025, the article argues that climate finance mechanisms are not politically neutral. When Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is treated as a technical checklist rather than a process grounded in recognition and equality, carbon projects can reinforce the very power structures that enabled dispossession in the first place. In this case, Indigenous communities are counted in carbon calculations, yet rendered invisible in benefit-sharing and decision-making frameworks.
The Long Isun case highlights a broader warning for global climate policy: climate solutions built on unresolved injustice cannot be legitimate. The authors call for a fundamental shift in approach, one that resolves customary land conflicts before launching carbon projects, recognizes Indigenous authority over forest governance, and understands sustainability as inseparable from justice, dignity, and Indigenous sovereignty.
Read the full article on Mongabay ↗
DEEP EnGender Author
Fuat Edi Kurniawan / fuat.engender@globaldeepnetwork.org
Mr. Fuat Edi Kurniawan is an interdisciplinary researcher specializing in environmental governance, climate resilience, and social development. His research and practice span peatland and mangrove revitalization, Indigenous forest conservation, political ecology, and the green economy, while also advancing community resilience through refugee livelihoods, women’s digital empowerment, and social protection. He earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Sociology from Gadjah Mada University.
DEEP EnGender Co-authors
Sadar Ginting / sadar.engender@globaldeepnetwork.org
Anna Christi Suwardi / anna.engender@globaldeepnetwork.org
