Divers Paths to Justice - English - Forest Peoples Programme

Divers Paths to Justice: Legal pluralism and the rights of indigenous peoples inSoutheast Asiaownership but allows for conditions of access to be determined andmanaged by local communities and/or indigenous peoples. With commonproperty, land use (usufruct) is determined by a system of traditionalregulation by indigenous peoples as a mechanism of local control, and not amechanism of State law.When land is changed from common property to State or private property,traditional laws governing rights and usufruct which are dependent on localcontrol and management are changed to a law of ownership, which isdependent on State or individual control. In the case of communities whopractise rotational farming, such self-sufficient practices becomeunsustainable and communities are forced to shift to forms of permanentagriculture which make them dependent on financial and technical supportfrom outside their community.When a situation occurs in which most of a village’s families face problemsbecause they find themselves unable to practise rotational farming, villagerstry to solve their problems by working together to manage their resources atthe community level. In this way, problems which cannot be solved at afamily level alone are addressed at a collective, community level. This oftenresults in communities establishing committees, such as village committees,forest committees and committees of elders. Such committees work to adapttheir local knowledge and customary laws to solve their problems andmanage their resources, for example, by designating and cultivatingcollective areas to become community forests or bamboo forests to helpfamilies gain life security and become more self-sufficient. In this way,communities can support their member families to seek alternatives, toadapt and shift from an insecure system of cultivation to an agriculturalsystem which is more sustainable for them.At the same time, management at the community level can work to increasethe collective space for the community, playing an important role inensuring life security for its members by increasing the scope for alternativeforms of agriculture to be explored. Committees can serve as forums whichsupport a community in investigating and developing sustainable forms ofagriculture on its fallow land without having to resort to destructive andunsustainable agricultural practices, such as cash crop farming. For149