Across Indonesia, many indigenous communities, known locally as adat, have long sought recognition of their customary rights to forests and ancestral lands. Under President Suharto's authoritarian regime, large areas of customary land were taken away from indigenous communities and brought under state control. Although Indonesia's transition to democracy and decentralization after 1998 created new opportunities for adat communities to reclaim their ancestral lands, progress has remained slow.
In 2013, a landmark constitutional court ruling recognized that forests within customary territories were no longer state forests. However, by 2024, only 240 of the country's 1,425 adat communities (13.8%) had received formal recognition, covering just 244,195 hectares of the estimated 22.8 million hectares of potential customary forest land.
An important question still remains – why has the recognition of land rights succeeded in some communities but not in others? Now, a global study involving Andi Rahmat Hidayat, Lecturer at Hasanuddin University, Indonesia, has sought answers to this question, which remained less explored in existing literature. The findings reveal how local political conditions and legal procedures shape the recognition of customary land rights across Indonesia.
This study was made available online on April 14, 2026, and will be published in Volume 167 of Land Use Policy on August 1, 2026.
Explaining the rationale behind this study, Hidayat says, " Understanding this variation offers nuanced insights into the effects of decentralization and democratization on the ground, particularly with regard to local customary land rights struggle."
To examine this complex landscape, the study compared the experiences of "adat" communities in three districts on the island of Sulawesi—Enrekang, Sinjai, and Pasangkayu. They conducted 58 semi-structured interviews with community leaders, local activists, journalists, academics, and government officials, and reviewed government regulations, academic papers, meeting records, and online sources related to customary land rights.
Together, the interviews and document review revealed that although Indonesia's national legal framework recognizes customary land rights, obtaining formal recognition largely depends on local governments. The researchers describe this as "legal fragmentation," where communities must first prove their status as adat communities and document their customary territories before local governments will formally recognize their land rights.
The study found that communities that developed strong political connections with influential local leaders were more successful in securing formal recognition of their customary land rights. In Enrekang, adat representatives formed close ties with district leaders, helping make the recognition of adat communities a legislative priority. In contrast, communities in Sinjai and Pasangkayu struggled to achieve similar progress. Despite meeting many of the legal requirements, they lacked strong political representation and encountered less responsive local governments.
A crucial support system for these communities has been the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), Indonesia's largest indigenous advocacy organization. AMAN helped communities strengthen their land claims by documenting ancestral histories, mapping customary territories, building relationships with local officials, and navigating the legal process required for recognition.
To improve recognition of customary land rights, the researchers propose several measures which can facilitate the prospects of recognition. Elaborating further, Hidayat says, "We propose simplifying bureaucratic procedures, strengthening the capacities of local NGOs, emphasizing the importance of developing close informal ties with local leaders, and reforming the electoral system to reduce politicians' vulnerability to co-optation by extractive interests."
By advancing the understanding of uneven land recognition patterns and offering solutions to even out these differences, the study aligns with the findings of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report Land and Human Rights: Standards and Applications (2015) , which states that "Land is not a mere commodity, but an essential element for the realization of many human rights." It also advances several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly, SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) by emphasizing the importance of recognizing land rights, ensuring equitable access to resources, and strengthening inclusive governance systems that protect the rights of marginalized communities.
Ensuring equal access to land rights for Indonesia's adat communities is a must if these populations are to be safeguarded. The findings of this study suggest that national legal reforms alone are not enough; they must be supported by effective implementation, responsive local leadership, and stronger institutional support for adat communities.
Reference
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2026.108061
About Hasanuddin University, Indonesia
Hasanuddin University (Universitas Hasanuddin or Unhas) is one of Indonesia's largest autonomous universities, located in Makassar. Established on September 10, 1956, and named after Sultan Hasanuddin of the Gowa Kingdom, the university has grown into a major center for higher education with 17 faculties, including medicine, engineering, law, agriculture, and natural sciences. Its origins date back to 1947 with an economics faculty linked to the University of Indonesia. Today, Unhas focuses on advancing science, technology, arts, and culture, with a strong emphasis on the Indonesian Maritime Continent, aiming to develop innovative and globally competitive graduates.
Learn more, here: https://www.unhas.ac.id/about/
About Andi Rahmat Hidayat from Hasanuddin University, Indonesia
Andi Rahmat Hidayat is a lecturer in the Department of Public Administration at Hasanuddin University, Indonesia, and a researcher specializing in public policy and governance. His research focuses on public policy, collaborative governance, local governance, citizenship, social activism, and public sector reform. He is particularly interested in how Indonesia's democratic transition and decentralization have shaped the recognition of customary land rights for adat (indigenous) communities. Through his work, he examines the interactions between local governments and adat communities, exploring the political and institutional factors that enable or hinder the formal recognition of indigenous land rights in Indonesia.
