How Indigenous People
are protecting the Planet
Herman Malak protects his home
Herman Malak, the Chief of the Gelek Malak tribe, lives in the tropical forest of Papua (Indonesia), one of the largest remaining tropical rainforests in the world.
Herman lives as a gatherer. Along with his tribe, he lives in balance and dignity with the natural environment. He grows a variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. His food comes straight from the soil: spinach, land kale, bananas, sour oranges, and sweet potato leaves. The tribe ate what they grew and cured their old with the earth's medicine.
Herman and the Gelek Malak tribe were living in peace with their land.
But in the 1960s, outsiders came to Herman’s village and took over the land by force.
Leaving home
Outsiders came to Herman’s village and took over the land by force.
Herman and his tribe had to move to a different village named Malalilis.
The new village wasn’t the same as their land. It didn’t offer Herman and his tribe the necessary food and plants to continue their customs, rituals, and values. They felt disconnected and could not live their lives with dignity.
Struggling to feed themselves, they were forced to work as labourers for a palm oil plantation in the new village. Some worked at the oil plantation for years, but this did not give them security, peace, or room to let their dignity flourish. Many were laid off without pay.
In 2019, while living in the new village of Malalilis, Herman Malak attended a community meeting where the Pusaka Foundation was introducing tribe members to ways to map and protect the land.
Participatory land mapping with indigenous peoples, guided by the Pusaka Foundation, combines knowledge from the indigenous tribes on the ground with satellite mapping. This method ensures that people who live in the forests can create meaningful maps.
Mapping indigenous land is a crucial first step towards applying for official land recognition. Once Herman understood the mapping and its potential, he knew this could mean going back.
Herman was intrigued. He missed his land, so he went back to community meetings to hear more.
After a few meetings, Herman approached the Pusaka Foundation representatives and asked how he could do the same for his village.
That year, the mapping process began for Herman’s village.
The return home
In 2020, the entire Gelek Malak tribe returned to their customary land.
They worked with local groups, neighbouring tribes, the Pusaka Foundation, and the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry to map their land. Rivers and bridges are used as markers of the boundaries, reflecting and respecting the indigenous people's local knowledge and sacred sites.
On 15 October 2021, the Local District Government issued a decree on the Recognition and Protection of the Moi Customary Law Community in Sorong, including Gelek Malak's customary land rights, which they had been mapping.
In 2022, Herman and his tribe began to revitalise their natural environment for local food preparation.
In May 2023, the Gelek Malak tribe performed a ceremony to mark the new beginning.
Why Indigenous Peoples Are Important to Climate, Nature and People
Statistics:
370M
indigenous people live in 70 nations around the world.
20-25%
of the Earth’s land surface effectively managed by Indigenous Peoples.
80%
of the world's biodiversity is managed by Indigenous Peoples.
The importance of mapping on the climate, nature and the planet
Areas with protected rights of indigenous peoples have lower deforestation rates and higher carbon stocks and biodiversity compared to forests managed by others.
They are also the basis for livelihood programs that improve the welfare of indigenous people and protect the area from being allocated for industrial agriculture in the future.
What is Porticus doing?
Porticus’s Living Forests Strategy supports organisations that ensure indigenous peoples and their communities can continue to act as stewards of tropical forests to prevent and mitigate the parallel climate and biodiversity crises.