Frankincense Versus Eucalyptus: A Struggle for Forest Resources Access in Pandumaan-Sipituhuta, North Sumatra

This study investigates the contested access to forest resources between Indigenous communities and corporate actors in Pandumaan-Sipituhuta, Humbang Hasundutan Regency, North Sumatra. The Indonesian government has designated the area as production forest and granted forest management rights to a private company for eucalyptus plantation development. However, this area is also traditionally managed by the Pandumaan-Sipituhuta Indigenous Peoples, who rely on it for harvesting frankincense resin (haminjon). The overlap in-land claim has triggered a protracted struggle over access, wherein the state and company actors are positioned against the Indigenous community. Employing a qualitative research approach, the study draws on in-depth interviews with ten key informants to examine the mechanisms of power and contestation among actors. The findings reveal that each party employs different forms of power to secure access: the company relies on legal-rational authority and economic capital – particularly through formal concessions and tax payments – while the Indigenous community mobilizes social capital and networks, including alliances with NGOs and local political figures, to assert customary rights. The study concludes that diverging interests among forest stakeholders and the procedural complexity of legal recognition pose significant barriers to the formal acknowledgment of Indigenous rights over ancestral forests.