Nikodemus Niko is a native of the Dayak Benawan tribe. He is a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology at Raja Ali Haji Maritime University, Indonesia. He is also an ethnographer of the indigenous peoples of Dayak Benawan. He is currently working on a PhD dissertation about poverty among indigenous Dayak Benawan women in Indonesia. E-mail: nikodemusn@umrah.ac.id
Herry Wahyudi is a Lecturer in the Department of International Relations, Raja Ali Haji Maritime University, Indonesia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Riau University, Pekanbaru, and a master’s degree in International Relations from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. His research interests are related to Indonesian foreign policy and international politics, international security, studies of the Indo-Pacific and ASEAN, as well as contemporary issues in international relations. E-mail: herrywahyudi@umrah.ac.id
Indigenous Rights and Connectivity to Nature: Non-Traditional Security in an Indigenous Community of Dayak Benawan (West Kalimantan, Indonesia)
Abstract: Indigenous peoples in Indonesia generally lack security. They are faced with different vulnerabilities, such as the risk of losing rights over their land and the criminalization of their customs. This paper, relying on a case study, discusses the state of the rights of indigenous peoples and the vulnerabilities they face from a non-traditional security approach. The paper focuses on the Dayak indigenous people living in Balai District, Sanggau Regency. Field data was collected through observation and interviews. The informants involved in the study belonged to the Dayak Benawan community. The study shows the existence of threats related to the rights to land management, which stem from the indigenous community itself. This situation threatens their sources of livelihood, which are often connected to nature. As a result, local knowledge about the management of natural resources has begun to disappear. Other threats are also mounting (non-traditional security), such as food crises, eroded indigenous knowledge, and natural disasters affecting the community.
Keywords: indigenous peoples, indigenous rights, customary forests, non-traditional security, Dayak Benawann