Long Isun Community Pushes for Mediation in Formal Complaint Against World Bank Carbon Project in Indonesia

East Kalimantan, Indonesia, November 5, 2025 – Members and representatives of the Long Isun Indigenous community have filed a formal complaint against a World Bank Emission Reduction (ER) project in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, citing both environmental and Indigenous rights issues. The complaint has been filed with support from Pekumpulan Nurani Perempuan, Accountability Counsel, and Forest Peoples Programme. 

The concerns center on the East Kalimantan Project for ER Results (P166244), financed by the World Bank through the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). The Program is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and it includes a Benefit Sharing Plan (BSP) to distribute emission reduction payments. 

In the complaint, the Long Isun community asserts that the project has: 

• Caused and will continue to cause harm due to discrimination based on Indigenous status.
• Failed to resolve long-standing land boundary disputes (as it was intended to do).
• Incentivized further delays in the Indonesian government’s indigenous recognition process for Long Isun.
• Forced the Indigenous community to give consent through a sham Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) process, and prevented them from truly opting out.

“The ER project was supposed to support the resolution of land boundary disputes and accelerate MHA recognition for groups like Long Isun, but these steps were never taken,” said Martha Doq, Director of Perkumpulan Nurani Perempuan.

Impacted communities have requested that the World Bank’s Accountability Mechanism initiate a mediation process with meaningful involvement from local government actors to reach mutually agreed solutions through facilitated dialogue. The Long Isun community is also urging the Accountability Mechanism to ensure a commitment from the Government of Indonesia against any form of retaliation against community members resulting from their involvement in this process. 

In light of the harms already experienced and the potential harms that will escalate if the Project continues without urgent corrective action, the Long Isun community is requesting that the World Bank immediately:

• Suspend the final tranche of disbursement to the Government of Indonesia (USD 89.1 million) until the complaint process concludes. 
• Respect Long Isun’s decision to opt out of the Project.
• Cease ER Project activities in Long Isun territory until the resolution of land boundary conflicts and approval of Masyarakat Hukum Adat (MHA) status. 
• Recognize harms suffered by Long Isun, including retaliation, intimidation, gender-based harms, and violations of the right to  Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).
• Revise the Benefit Sharing Plan (BSP) to address structural discrimination and inequities.
• Reform the project to align with a rights-based, Indigenous-led model of conservation.

“The World Bank’s failure to comply with its own safeguard policies and risk assessments is directly contributing to the harms experienced by Long Isun,” said Julio Castor Achmadi, Communities Associate at Accountability Counsel. 

One of the most persistent harms has been the long-standing delay in Long Isun’s formal indigenous recognition, or MHA. In East Kalimantan, only four Indigenous communities have been recognized as MHA, and none of the 50 villages in the regency where Long Isun is located have MHA recognition. Without this formal recognition, the community’s land tenure rights are unsecured and it remains vulnerable to dispossession, conflict and exclusion.

“Recognition of Indigenous territories is the first condition for real conservation. Without it, carbon projects like this only strengthen control by corporations and weaken the communities who have protected forests for generations,” said Fathur Roziqin Fen, WALHI Kalimantan Timur.

For years, the Bank has deferred to the Government of Indonesia’s slow-moving recognition process, and it has failed to monitor or enforce the implementation of any mitigation measures to protect communities like Long Isun from conflict. 

“We cannot talk about carbon or conservation while our land boundaries are still disputed and our rights remain unrecognized. Without MHA recognition, there will never be a fair or positive outcome for Long Isun,” said Theodorus Tekwan, Long Isun representative.

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Contact persons:‍

Martha, Perkumpulan Nurani Perempuan: +62 8115861244

Hanyang, Perkumpulan Nurani Perempuan: +62 812534833305

Fathur Roziqin Fen, WALHI Kalimantan Timur: +62 811598002

Julio, Accountability Counsel: +62 8999101176

Signatories:

Perkumpulan Nurani Perempuan

Pokja 30

Accountability Counsel

Forest Peoples Programme

WALHI Kalimantan Timur