The Transformation of the Namblong Indigenous Movement Against Deforestation Practices in the Grime Nawa Valley, Papua
This study analyzes the transformation of the Namblong Indigenous movement against deforestation driven by PT Permata Nusa Mandiri's oil palm expansion in the Grime Nawa Valley, Jayapura Regency, Papua. The study explores why and how the movement changed, maps its stages, and identifies key actors. The intrinsic case study draws on three evidentiary layers: in-depth interviews with six key actors on 9 June 2026; participant observation; and a coded documentary corpus of seventeen items carrying fourteen named speakers, nine of whom were not part of the leadership. The customary boundaries, the revoked concession, and patrol posts were verified in QGIS. When analyzed through the lens of New Social Movement theory, the findings reveal four non-linear phases: traditional protest (2011–2020); multi-scalar advocacy alliances (2021–2022); a partial, contested victory (2022–2025), in which central-government revocations were never matched by district-level cancellation; and institutionalization through Indonesia's first Indigenous-owned corporation (2024), owned by 44 clans across roughly 52,765 hectares. This study argues that the incompleteness of the legal victory, rather than its success, drove the shift from rejection to development. The study also documents the accompanying internal friction. The present study extends New Social Movement theory by proposing the Indigenous corporation as a new repertoire of resistance in the Global South. This is offered as an analytical, precondition-dependent generalization.
Keywords: Agrarian conflict, Deforestation, Indigenous corporation, Indigenous movement, New Social Movement
Afrizal, & Berenschot, W. (2022). Land-Use Change Conflicts and Anti-Corporate Activism in Indonesia: A Review Essay. Journal of East Asian Studies, 22(2), 333–356. https://doi.org/10.1017/jea.2022.12
Afrizal, Elfitra, & Zuldesni. (2023). Analysing the effectiveness of the roundtable on sustainable palm oil’s Free, Prior and Informed Consent policy to respect customary land rights. Journal of International Development, 35(5), 761–780. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3700
Anugrah, D., Muin, A. V. F., Irlan, I., Tomasina, M. A., Azila, N., Sirimorok, N., Dungga, N. E., & Alam, S. (2022). Injustice against Women in a Social Forestry Program: Case Studies from Two Indonesian Villages. Forest and Society, 6(2), 723–741. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v6i2.20006
Barnaud, C., & Muradian, R. (2024). Ecosystem services and collective action: New commons, new governance challenges. Ecosystem Services, 70, 101662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2024.101662
Bauer, Z., AbouAssi, K., & Johnston, J. M. (2023). Governance Arrangements of Cross-Sector Collaboration and Its Effectiveness. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 52(2), 346–369. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640221100705
Berenschot, W., & Dhiaulhaq, A. (2025). The production of rightlessness: palm oil companies and land dispossession in Indonesia. Globalizations, 22(8), 1377–1395. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2023.2253657
Berenschot, W., Dhiaulhaq, A., Afrizal, Hospes, O., Adriana, R., & Poetry, E. (2022). Anti-Corporate Activism and Collusion: The Contentious Politics of Palm Oil Expansion in Indonesia. Geoforum, 131, 39–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.002
Bjork-James, C., Checker, M., & Edelman, M. (2022). Transnational Social Movements: Environmentalist, Indigenous, and Agrarian Visions for Planetary Futures. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 47(1), 583–608. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-112320-084822
Buechler, S. M. (2013). New Social Movements and New Social Movement Theory. In The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470674871.wbespm143
Buratti, N., Sillig, C., & Albanese, M. (2022). Community enterprise, community entrepreneurship and local development: a literature review on three decades of empirical studies and theorizations. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 34(5–6), 376–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2022.2047797
Chao, S. (2021). The Beetle or the Bug? Multispecies Politics in a West Papuan Oil Palm Plantation. American Anthropologist, 123(3), 476–489. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13592
Chao, S. (2023). Multispecies mourning: grieving as resistance on the West Papuan plantation frontier. Cultural Studies, 37(4), 553–579. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2022.2052920
Colbourne, R., Peredo, A. M., & Henriques, I. (2024). Indigenous entrepreneurship? Setting the record straight. Business History, 66(2), 455–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2023.2166034
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. In Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
De Gruyter, E., Gordon, J., Qureshi, I., Bhatt, B., & Mafico, N. (2025). Financing Indigenous entrepreneurs: A review and research agenda. Australian Journal of Management, 50(4), 1333–1358. https://doi.org/10.1177/03128962241270823
FAO. (2020). Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020. FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9825en
Fitz-Henry, E. (2022). Multi-species justice: a view from the rights of nature movement. Environmental Politics, 31(2), 338–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2021.1957615
Frank, S. A. K., & Idris, U. (2026). From customary mapping to spatial planning: indigenous territorial governance in Keerom Regency, Papua. Planning Practice & Research, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2026.2677643
Gouvea, R., Lehneman, L., & Terra, B. (2022). Tribal economic development & entrepreneurship: A Latin American perspective. World Development Perspectives, 26, 100403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2022.100403
Harada, K., Habib, M., Sakata, Y., & Maryudi, A. (2022). The role of NGOs in recognition and sustainable maintenance of customary forests within indigenous communities: The case of Kerinci, Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 113, 105865. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105865
Herrawan, H., Sirimorok, N., Nursaputra, M., Mas’ud, E. I., Faturachmat, F., Sadapotto, A., Supratman, S., Yusran, Y., & Sahide, M. A. K. (2022). Commoning the State Forest: Crafting Commons through an Indonesian Social Forestry Program. Forest and Society, 20–39. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v6i1.10680
Hidayat, A. R., Hospes, O., & Termeer, C. J. A. M. (2026). Uneven recognition: A comparative study of indigenous communities’ struggle for securing customary land rights in Indonesia. Land Use Policy, 167, 108061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2026.108061
Kauffman, C. M., & Martin, P. L. (2023). How Ecuador’s Courts Are Giving Form and Force to Rights of Nature Norms. Transnational Environmental Law, 12(2), 366–395. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102523000080
Khan, N. U., & Han, H. (2023). Linking local collaborative governance and public service delivery: mediating role of institutional capacity building. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 906.
Laraswati, D., Krott, M., Soraya, E., Rahayu, S., Fisher, M. R., Giessen, L., & Maryudi, A. (2022). Nongovernmental organizations as interest groups and their roles in policy processes: Insights from Indonesian forest and environmental governance. Forest and Society, 6(2), 570–589. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v6i2.19125
Larson, A. M., Sarmiento Barletti, J. P., & Heise Vigil, N. (2022). A place at the table is not enough: Accountability for Indigenous Peoples and local communities in multi-stakeholder platforms. World Development, 155, 105907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.105907
Li, T. M. (2021). Commons, co-ops, and corporations: assembling Indonesia’s twenty-first century land reform. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 48(3), 613–639. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2021.1890718
Loivaranta, T. (2023). Geographies of knowledge creation in forest rights claims-making processes among Indigenous communities in Central India. Land Use Policy, 131, 106741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106741
Lurie, M. R. (2025). “We have that vision of the future”: Indigenous womxn’s resistance as environmental protection in the U.S. Southwest. Journal of Political Ecology, 32(1). https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.5225
Malinda, R. (2025). Dispossession, Extractive Capitalism and Political Reactions from Below in West Papua. Journal of Agrarian Change, 25(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.70032
Manganda, A. M., Mika, J. P., Jurado, T., & Palmer, F. R. (2023). How indigenous entrepreneurs negotiate cultural and commercial imperatives: insights from Aotearoa New Zealand. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 17(6), 1171–1192. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEC-01-2022-0017
Martinez-Alier, J. (2021). Mapping ecological distribution conflicts: The EJAtlas. The Extractive Industries and Society, 8(4), 100883. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2021.02.003
Maryudi, A., Sahide, M. A. K., Daulay, M. H., Yuniati, D., Syafitri, W., Sadiyo, S., & Fisher, M. R. (2022). Holding social forestry hostage in Indonesia: Contested bureaucracy mandates and potential escape pathways. Environmental Science & Policy, 128, 142–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2021.11.013
Mika, J. P., Tūrongo Brooks, R., & Hudson, M. (2024). Te pūtahitanga: Commercialising genomic research through Indigenous enterprise. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1177/14657503241293284
Mueller, B. (2022). Property rights and violence in indigenous land in Brazil. Land Use Policy, 116, 106063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106063
Nerenberg, J. (2022). ‘Start from the Garden’: Distribution, Livelihood Diversification and Narratives of Agrarian Decline in Papua, Indonesia. Development and Change, 53(5), 987–1009. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12691
Padilla-Meléndez, A., Plaza-Angulo, J. J., Del-Aguila-Obra, A. R., & Ciruela-Lorenzo, A. M. (2022). Indigenous Entrepreneurship. Current issues and future lines. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 34(1–2), 6–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2021.2011962
Rahayu, S., Laraswati, D., Permadi, D. B., Sahide, M. A. K., & Maryudi, A. (2023). Only a Noise? The Role of Non-governmental Organizations in the Policy Processes of a New Social Forestry Model in Indonesia. Small-Scale Forestry, 22(2), 253–270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-022-09525-9
Rasmussen, M. B., & Lund, C. (2025). Scales of dispossession: Institutionalizing resource access at the frontier. Journal of Political Ecology, 32(1). https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.5661
Runtuboi, Y. Y., B. Permadi, D., Sahide, M. A. K., & Maryudi, A. (2020). Oil Palm Plantations, Forest Conservation and Indigenous Peoples in West Papua Province: What Lies Ahead? Forest and Society, 23–31. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v5i1.11343
Sandi, J. R. A., Hadi, K., & Haridison, A. (2026). Reframing decentralisation: the persistence of customary governance in Indonesia. Territory, Politics, Governance, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2026.2658039
Santoso, J., Mutahir, A., Restuadhi, H., & Chusna, A. (2024). Moving with the Soul: Cipari Peasant Movements for Land Rights in Indonesia. Forest and Society, 8(1), 16–40. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v8i1.26579
Scheidel, A., Del Bene, D., Liu, J., Navas, G., Mingorría, S., Demaria, F., Avila, S., Roy, B., Ertör, I., Temper, L., & Martínez-Alier, J. (2020). Environmental conflicts and defenders: A global overview. Global Environmental Change, 63, 102104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102104
Sopaheluwakan, W. R. I., Fatem, S. M., Kutanegara, P. M., & Maryudi, A. (2023). Two-decade decentralization and recognition of customary forest rights: Cases from special autonomy policy in West Papua, Indonesia. Forest Policy and Economics, 151, 102951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2023.102951
Sylvester, O., & Clark, A. (2026). Pura vida for who? Slow violence against Indigenous land defenders in Costa Rica. Local Environment, 31(11), 2030–2049. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2025.2596712
Sze, J. S., Carrasco, L. R., Childs, D., & Edwards, D. P. (2021). Reduced deforestation and degradation in Indigenous Lands pan-tropically. Nature Sustainability, 5(2), 123–130. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00815-2
Tănăsescu, M. (2020). Rights of Nature, Legal Personality, and Indigenous Philosophies. Transnational Environmental Law, 9(3), 429–453. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102520000217
Tran, D., & Hanaček, K. (2023). A global analysis of violence against women defenders in environmental conflicts. Nature Sustainability, 6(9), 1045–1053. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4
Villamayor-Tomas, S., & García-López, G. A. (2021). Commons Movements: Old and New Trends in Rural and Urban Contexts. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 46(1), 511–543. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-102307
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The copyright is reserved to Bulletin of Social Studies and Community Development that is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Address:
CV. IMRECS: Jalan Gagak I, Kecamatan Larangan, Kota Tangerang. Postal Code: 15155