Agrarian conflict settled through small-scale land reform

Location: Kulon Bambang, Blitar, East Java, Indonesia

Timeline: 1999-2011

Principal organisations: KPA

Over the past four decades, competing pressure for natural resources and the lack of a coherent legal framework generated numerous land conflicts, criminalisation of indigenous peoples' land tenure systems and environmental degradation in Indonesia. The Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA) promotes small-scale land reform initiatives as an alternative method for tackling unfair land distribution. They have engaged the National Land Agency, local governments and peoples' organisations in an effort to equip them with knowledge and skills needed to protect land rights of local communities. This case illustrates the decade-long journey of local communities from exclusion and marginalization, to freedom and development.