JAKARTA — Land conflicts nearly doubled under the administration of Indonesia’s current president, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, compared with his predecessor, driven largely by his prioritization of investors and infrastructure projects over local communities and the environment, a new report shows. Between 2015 and 2023, there were 2,939 land conflicts identified by the Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA), against 1,520 under the administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, from 2005 to 2014. These conflicts involved a combined 6.3 million hectares (15.6 million acres) of land, mostly occupied by Indigenous or traditional communities but which have been granted by the government as concessions to plantation companies or earmarked for infrastructure projects. As a result of these conflicts, up to 1.75 million households have been affected, with many individuals assaulted by security forces when protesting against the companies or projects in their areas, or else subjected to criminal charges or evicted from their own lands. That figure is also nearly double the 977,000 households affected under the Yudhoyono presidency. “There’s an increase in agrarian conflicts during the Jokowi administration, even though it’s only been nine years [since the president took office], not yet 10 years,” KPA secretary-general Dewi Kartika said at the launch of the report in Jakarta. “[The increase is] nearly 100% compared to the previous decade.” In 2023 alone, corporate activities and government infrastructure projects resulted in 241 conflicts over 638,188 hectares (1.58 million acres), affecting 135,608 households, according to the report. Most of the conflicts involve plantation companies, and of these,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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