ABSTRACT
On 16 May 2013, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia ruled that customary forests (hutan adat) were no longer to be regarded as part of state forests (hutan negara). The Court ruled to delete the word ‘state’ from article 1.6 of Forestry Law No. 41 of 1999. The article now reads ‘Adat forests are state forests located in the territory of customary law communities (masyarakat hukum adat)’. The ruling determines the category of forest to which a ‘customary forest’ (hutan adat) belongs. ‘Customary forest’ has been removed from the category of ‘state forest’ (hutan negara), and moved into ‘forest subject to rights’ (hutan hak). The Constitutional Court ruling in Case 35/PUU-X/2012 is a landmark achievement for the forest reform process in Indonesia.
