Interview: Deforestation Threatens Indonesia’s Indigenous Peoples

What Indigenous communities did you focus on? Indonesia is home to about 50 to 70 million Indigenous people, about a quarter of the country’s population. We looked specifically at the impact of large-scale oil palm plantations on two groups: the Iban Dayak in West Kalimantan, and the Orang Rimba in Jambi. The two communities are very different. The Ibans have a more sedentary way of life: they farm, build wood houses, and live as a community in Dayak traditional long houses. The Orang Rimba are semi-nomadic and live in small groups. But for both, losing access to forest and land has erased their…

© Human Rights Watch - lundi 23 septembre 2019