Involving communities in Indonesia: Promoting Community Participation in Integrated Water Resources Management

Local communities in the southwestern coastal region of Bangladesh—together with an international consortium including Uttaran, CEGIS, and Both ENDS—have presented a community-led plan to confront climate change and accelerating sea-level rise through nature-based adaptation. The People’s Plan for Upscaling Ecosystem-Based Adaptation outlines a scalable strategy rooted in local ownership and generations of lived experience. At its centre is Community-Based Tidal River Management (CBTRM), a proven approach that reduces waterlogging, raises land elevation, and restores ecological balance by working with natural tidal and sediment dynamics.

On September 23th the European Union and Indonesia concluded their negotiations of the EU-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a free trade agreement between the EU and Indonesia. Both ENDS condemns this agreement for favoring corporate interests over those of local communities and the environment.

Photo blog - In June, I travelled to Indonesia with our partner organization Puanifesto to research the impacts of nickel mining in East Sulawesi. On July 13th, the news broke that the European Union and Indonesia have reached a political agreement on a free trade agreement that was years in the making, called the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Nickel from Sulawesi is already being used in European cars. This makes it all the more important that we ensure that human and environmental rights are secured in mining and refining operations in Indonesia, before the road is opened to more extraction and exploitation for the European market. The conversations we have had with communities and workers on East Sulawesi show that more binding regulations are necessary to make this happen and ensure an energy transition that is socially and environmentally just.

Together with Indonesian CSOs Both ENDS is calling on  the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to intervene and direct its client, the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), and its borrower, the Government of Indonesia, to immediately halt this week's ongoing forced evictions in Tanjung Aan Beach and surrounding areas in Mandalika, Lombok.

The ocean emerged strengthened from the UN Ocean Conference in Nice. More countries are supporting a ban on deep-sea mining, more marine protected areas are being established, and more pledges are being made to fight pollution. The question now is whether countries will follow through on their commitments. Because the ocean movement faces a camp of powerful interests.

This article was originally posted in Dutch on MO*Magazine.

This week, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima visited Thogoto Forest as part of their state visit to Kenya. They were able to see the impact of the work of our partner MCDI in the area: a restored forest, clean water and farmers who can earn a living by selling their agro-ecological products.

Brussels, 18 February 2025 - Over 120 civil society organizations and trade unions from Indonesia and Europe today call on the Indonesian government and the European Union to stop the negotiations for the Indonesia-EU free trade agreement – the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).