{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Kynan Tegar wants \u2018a future that exists\u2019 for Indonesia\u2019s Indigenous communities","description":"Indigenous activist and filmmaker Kynan Tegar joins the Mongabay Newscast this week to discuss the impacts of the fires devastating Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. Some 48,000 hectares (about 119,000 acres) of land have burned so far this year; Kynan says these fires are intentional on the part of agricultural corporations. \u201cThe process that has gotten us to this point right now, where fires are raging through the island, it\u2019s a process that started maybe you can draw the line up to the 1970s, which was around the time where the Indonesian New Order period regime of Suharto was leasing out a lot of lands as concessions to companies,\u201d she says. \u201cA lot of times it\u2019s logging, it\u2019s palm oil concessions, it\u2019s also gold mines.\u201d Corporations have drained more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of peatland, she says. But the impact, she says, that isn\u2019t receiving as much attention is the decreased access to freshwater for Indigenous and local communities, which both climate change and El Ni\u00f1o are making worse. \u201cIt\u2019s quite an ironic thing. Like, it\u2019s one of the world's biggest rainforest[s], and a lot of the people there are struggling for water. So that, on top of the conditions created by the massive wildfires that has been happening since July \u2026 has put a lot of the people there in strain,\u201d she says. Kynan released a spoken-word music video in 2024 to dramatize and tell the story of her community, Sungai Utik, and the people who have defended the land for more than 100 years. She explains the filmmaking process behind the video, Earth Defender, and how she created the narrative, which states that \u200aevery 48 hours, an Earth defender loses their life protecting their land, protecting their forests, protecting their ecosystems, their families Kynan is also a transgender woman. In light of the Indonesian president\u2019s decision to designate the \u201cdissemination of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) culture\u201d as a nonmilitary state threat, she explains how this impacts her advocacy. \u201cHow free we can really be in this country? It made me second-guess on how much I \u2026 can actually speak up on the kinds of issues that I have always spoken up for.\u201d She further reflects on what she feels is a lack of solidarity. \u201cBeing queer and being Indigenous, it\u2019s not that far removed. It\u2019s a lot of the same, layers of oppression culturally, economically, socially. And I suppose that\u2019s where I really had hoped for there to be more solidarity between these movements because of all of those similarities. But I think that\u2019s still something that we collectively need to work on.\u201d Kynan also shares her thoughts on the long-delayed Indigenous People\u2019s Bill, which promises to grant legal recognition to customary lands, but has hung in parliamentary limbo for 16 years. \u201cI don\u2019t see elements within it that will redress the historic inequality that we have faced. I think that\u2019s still a massive problem that needs more than just a legal solution.\u201d When asked what she hopes to see for the future of Indonesia\u2019s Indigenous population, she says, \u201cI don\u2019t think I can accurately represent all Indigenous youths of Indonesia. But for me personally, the kind of future that I want to imagine is a future that exists.\u201d Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here. Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky. Basten Gokkon is a Jakarta-based staff writer for Mongabay with interests in wildlife conservation, renewable energy, and Indigenous communities. Follow him on Twitter to see his latest thoughts via @bgokkon. Image: A customary longhouse in Sungai Utik. The community elders make sure everyone complies strictly with the law, as this serves as a model for the young generation to follow in their footsteps and lead the path to community conservation. Image by Indai Apai Darah, Kynan Tegar \/ Wayfinders Circle. \u2014- Timestamps (00:00) Opening (03:26) Fires in Kalimantan (10:13) Sungai Utik and Imagined Futures (18:10) Earth Defenders (22:49) Indigenous Peoples Bill & Identity (28:34) Gender, Environment & 'A Day on Earth' ","author_name":"Mongabay Newscast","author_url":"https:\/\/www.mongabay.com\/podcast\/","html":"