Palm oil conflicts and access to justice in Indonesia
Colonial Debris, a documentary about palm oil and land conflicts in Indonesia, produed by Ward Berenschot
Events
In december 2020 the Pocaji project organised a series of webinars to present some of the findings of the research project as well as recommendations for how local governments could strengthen their efforts to resolve conflicts between communities and palm oil companies to an audience of local politicians and civil servants:
Webinar 7 December 2020
Webinar 19 January 2021
Webinar 26 January 2021
Media
Opinion article in Kompas and Inside Indonesia.
Indonesia urged to resolve palm oil conflicts in West Kalimantan, The Star, 29 January 2021, The Jakarta Post, 1 February 2021.
Launching policy brief 'Penanganan konflik perkebunan sawit di Riau, 1 December 2020.
M.medialaskar.com, ‘Perlu dibentuk lembaga penyelesaian konflik kelapa sawit di Riau‘, 1 December 2020.
Riau.antaranews.com, ‘Pocaji: Konflik sawit di Riau jarang terselesaikan, ini solusinya‘, 2 December 2020.
Potretnews.com, ‘Konflik kelapa sawit di Riau jarang yang tuntas, POCAJI sarankan bentuk lembaga ”mediator”‘, 2 December 2020.
Riauupdate.com, ‘Penelitian Pocaji: Perlu dibentuk lembaga penyelesaian konflik kelapa sawit di Riau‘, 2 December 2020.
Reports
Palm oil expansion and conflict in Indonesia (2021)
Ekspansi dan konflik kelapa sawit di Indonesia (2021
Policy report on palm oil conflicts in Riau: IND| ENG
Policy report on palm oil conflicts in Central Kalimantan: IND | ENG
Policy report on palm oil conflicts in West Sumatra: IND | ENG
Policy report on palm oil conflicts in West Kalimantan: IND | ENG
Dataset
Palm oil conflicts in Indonesia | Dataset of 150 company-community conflicts
Publications
Berenschot, Ward, Ahmad Dhiaulhaq, Afrizal, and Otto Hospes, Rightless resistance: The contentious politics of palm oil expansion in Indonesia. Cornell University Press, in press.
Peterson, Daniel, Adriaan Bedner, and Ward Berenschot, ‘The perils of legal formalism: Litigating land conflicts in Indonesia’, Journal of Contemporary Asia: 1–22. 2025.
Berenschot, Ward, and Nisrina Saraswati, ‘Discourses of land conflicts in Indonesia’. Development and Change 55-6: 1182–1205. 2024.
Berenschot, Ward, Ahmad Dhiaulhaq, Otto Hospes, and Daniel Pranajaya, ‘Corporate contentious politics: Palm oil companies and land conflicts in Indonesia’, Political Geography 114. Elsevier: 103166. 2024.
Berenschot, Ward, and Ahmad Dhiaulhaq, ‘The production of rightlessness: Palm oil companies and land dispossession in Indonesia’, Globalizations 1–19. 2023.
Afrizal, Afrizal, Otto Hospes, Ward Berenschot, Ahmad Dhiaulhaq, Rebekha Adriana, and Erysa Poetry, ‘Unequal access to justice: An evaluation of RSPO’s capacity to resolve palm oil conflicts in Indonesia’. Agriculture and Human Values 40-1: 291–304. 2023
Berenschot, Ward, Dhiaulhaq, A., Afrizal, Hospes, O., Erysa, P., & Rebekha, A., 'Anti-corporate activism and collusion: The contentious politics of palm oil expansion in Indonesia, Geoforum, 131, 39–49. 2022.
Berenschot, Ward, Dhiaulhaq, A., & Deviane, A., Local brokerage and international leverage: NGOs and land conflicts in Indonesia. Journal of International Development. 2022.
Afrizal, & Berenschot, W., Land-use change conflicts and anti-corporate activism in Indonesia: A review essay. Journal of East Asian Studies 22-2: 333–356. 2022.
Berenschot, Ward, '150 Tahun belenggu atas hak tanah', Kompas, 20 July 2020.
Berenschot, Ward, 'A 150-year old obstacle to land rights', Inside Indonesia, 22 September 2020.