Thanks to everyone who supported Kinipan!

Sep 8, 2024

The sudden visit of the Minister of Environment and Forestry on September 7, 2024 to Kinipan, a small village in the heart of Borneo’s mountain forest, was an excellent opportunity to deliver the petition “Please help us save Kinipan forest!” with 247,023 signatures from 195 countries.

A brief announcement was the only advance warning, and suddenly Siti Nurbaya Bakar, the Minister of Environment and Forestry, arrived by helicopter on the sports field in Kinipan early Saturday morning to the surprise of the villagers. Kinipan has been resisting a palm oil company that has been destroying its rainforest for years.

The minister arrived with a delegation that included Lord Zac Goldsmith, Senior Fellow of the Bezos Earth Fund, a foundation established by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Kinipan welcomed the delegation with honor: The village had set up a large tent for the ceremony. Village leader Willem Hengki presented the minister with our petition, “Please help us save Kinipan forest!”

A total of 247,023 people from 195 countries have pledged their support for the preservation of the Kinipan forest. During the ceremony, the number of signatures increased to 248,344.

Although the people of Kinipan had previously presented the petition in Jakarta, stood in the way of the palm oil company's bulldozers, and become an icon in Indonesia for the Indigenous struggle for rainforests through spectacular campaigns, there were no encouraging signs. Nine years have passed since they applied for official recognition as an Indigenous community, and six years since the first clear-cut in their forest in the mountains of Borneo.

Now, the Dayak Tomun people’s conflict with the palm oil industry and their fight for their forests is finally resonating in the political arena. The petition, as an expression of global solidarity, has contributed significantly to this.

Willem Hengki and indigenous leader Effendi Buhing would like to thank everyone who signed on behalf of Kinipan!

The Minister said that she had been following the Kinipan conflict for a long time. She explicitly thanked the environmentalists who stand by the Dayak Tomun. She believes that “this most difficult Indigenous forest problem (Kinipan) can be solved, and even more so other (forest problems).”

Village leader Willem Hengki places great expectations in this sudden visit: “We have many difficulties to overcome. And now, for the first time, a minister visits us. Even provincial officials rarely come here. So we have great hopes,” he said.

Hengki could not hold back his tears. In the presence of the minister and the international delegation, he wept.

Although Siti Nurbaya Bakar's term will end in about a month when President-elect Prabowo Subianto replaces current President Joko Widodo, her work to resolve the issues of Indigenous forests will continue, according to Tempo magazine.

“The fight of Kinipan is not over yet.”

This is the belief of Habibi, director of our partner organization Save Our Borneo. The visit from the minister’s delegation may bring fresh momentum, but the recognition of the Indigenous Dayak Tomun from Kinipan and the protection of their forest are not yet guaranteed.

We are closely monitoring the role of the Bezos Earth Fund in Kinipan and beyond. It is conceivable that the organization will promote carbon credit projects and other climate offset schemes in the region. These often violate the rights of local people and serve as greenwashing for Western companies. In addition, we are critical of the business practices through which Jeff Bezos has amassed his billions.

Lord Zac Goldsmith was Minister of State in the UK governments of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak. He belongs to the Conservative Party and sits in the British House of Lords.

In contrast to the Bezos Earth Fund, Save Our Borneo and Rainforest Rescue have been supporting Kinipan's residents for many years.

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