Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Indigenous communities in Indonesia's easternmost region of Papua accuse the government of underhanded zoning changes to expand the so-called food estate program there to include large-scale oil palm plantations.
Indigenous representatives have filed a formal objection to two decrees issued by the Ministry of Forestry that reclassify 486,939 hectares (1.2 million acres) of forest in Merauke, Boven Digoel and Mappi districts, in South Papua province, as nonforest land. This new designation means these forests are now eligible to be cleared for oil palm plantations.
The communities say these decrees were issued without consulting them and overlap with areas they've long proposed as customary forests, or hutan adat. They allege that the process is being bulldozed through without their knowledge or consent, and that it threatens their customary territories.
"This [rezoning] harms communities because they are the owners of those forests, yet they are not recognized as customary owners," Tigor Hutapea, a lawyer from the NGO Pusaka Bentala Rakyat working with the communities, told Mongabay.
He said at least four Indigenous clans in Boven Digoel district are affected by the rezoning as the areas covered by the decrees overlap onto their customary lands.
Next-day approval
The rezoning follows a proposal to expand the food estate program into a broader agricultural and energy project in South Papua.
On Sept. 17, 2025, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman reportedly submitted a letter to Coordinating Food Minister Zulkifli Hasan, proposing the development of 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of new rice fields, 400,000 hectares (1 million acres) of oil palm plantations, and 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) for livestock ranching.
A map attached to the proposal shows planned oil palm development in Muting subdistrict in Merauke district, extending into Subur and Jair subdistricts in Boven Digoel. The proposal was quickly approved: the following day, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni signed a decree rezoning the forest areas in Merauke, Boven Digoel and Mappi into nonforest land.
Of the total 2 million hectares proposed by Amran, the decree approved the rezoning of 486,939 hectares, nearly a quarter, for agricultural purposes, overriding an earlier forest rezoning decision.
Ministry of Forestry spokesman Ristianto Pribadi told investigative media outlet Tempo the rezoning is part of government efforts to support strategic important national projects such as the food estate program. He added the decision was based on a proposal from the South Papua governor and research by a joint government team, and not a unilateral decision on the part of the forestry ministry.
Administrative challenge
Following the issuance of the decrees, the Indigenous communities submitted an administrative objection to the ministry, a required step before filing a lawsuit with the State Administrative Court.
Under Indonesia's administrative law, the ministry has 10 working days to respond. If the objection is rejected or goes unanswered, the communities plan to proceed to court seeking the annulment of the decrees.
Tigor said the Ministry of Forestry didn't publicly announce the decree when it was issued on Sept. 18, 2025.
A coalition of NGOs only obtained a copy on Jan. 13, 2026, after formally requesting it. Even then, the copy they received from the ministry didn't include the map of the affected areas, making it difficult to identify the exact rezoned boundaries.
After receiving the decree, the NGOs consulted Indigenous communities whose lands would be affected by the food estate program. This was the first time the communities had learned of the decision, Tigor said.
"Communities only found out after the decree existed, which means they were never involved," he said. "This reflects a state perspective that sees Papua not as customary territory but as empty land, so the function of Indigenous territories can be changed."
The communities felt disrespected because the rezoning was carried out without any hearings, explanations, or consideration of their rights, said Teddy Wakum, director of the Merauke Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and a member of the coalition providing legal assistance to the communities.
Customary rights ignored
Several of the affected areas overlap with customary forests that communities have proposed for recognition under the government's social forestry scheme.
Among them is the Wambon Kenemopte community, which applied for recognition of its customary forest in September 2023. That application has yet to be approved because the community was asked to first obtain formal recognition of their Indigenous status from the local government, Tigor said.
While they were working to meet those requirements, the forestry minister changed the forest status of their claimed territory to allow for oil palm development.
"The government does not care about us," said Albertus Tenggare, a representative of the Wambon Kenemopte community.
Sekar Banjaran Aji, a forest campaigner at Greenpeace Indonesia, said the Indigenous recognition process is currently stalled at the local parliament.
Tigor said the forestry ministry has a mechanism to include pending customary forest proposals in an indicative map, which would earmark them for future legal recognition and protect them from competing claims. The communities' applications, submitted in September 2023, should have been included in that map, he said.
"This is where the violation lies: the community's right to seek recognition was not respected; instead the decree was issued," he said.
Palm oil push
The food estate program in South Papua has from the outset combined food and energy targets. The government's plans for it include vast swaths of rice fields alongside large-scale sugarcane plantations to produce bioethanol, positioning the project as a way to boost both food and energy self-sufficiency.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Sudaryono said the expansion of self-sufficiency areas is intended to help food-insecure regions meet their own needs.
On Dec. 16, 2025, President Prabowo Subianto underscored the energy dimension by calling for oil palm development in Papua to produce biofuel from palm oil.
"We hope that in Papua oil palm will also be planted so it can produce fuel from palm oil," he said at a meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta.
Indonesia, the world's top producer of palm oil, has expanded its biofuel program in recent years to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Since January 2025, all diesel sold domestically must contain 40% palm-based biodiesel, a blend known as B40. The government plans to increase the blend to B50 in the second half of 2026.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said oil palm development in South Papua for biodiesel aligns with the government's goal of achieving energy self-sufficiency.
Tempo reported that the government is targeting a total of 469,000 hectares (1.16 million acres) of oil palm plantations in South Papua under the food estate program – nearly eight times the size of Jakarta.
This includes 143,000 hectares (about 353,000 acres) from areas rezoned by the forestry ministry's decrees in September 2025, and 326,000 hectares (806,000 acres) of land seized by the government's forest area enforcement task force, or Satgas PKH, a cross-agency body formed in January 2025 to inventory violations in the state forest zone and recover assets.The proposal to include the 326,000 hectares of seized land was discussed during a meeting at the Coordinating Ministry for Food on Jan. 12, 2026.
If the plan moves forward, Indigenous Papuans risk losing not only their forests but also their food sources, culture, traditional livelihoods, beliefs and environment, Tigor warned.
Source: https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indigenous-communities-oppose-papua-forest-rezoning-for-palm-oil