Position Statement of the Aceh Women’s Environmental Paralegal Forum (FPPA)
We, the Aceh Women’s Environmental Paralegal Forum (FPPA), representing various regions in Aceh, gathered for the 2025 Aceh Women’s Environmental Paralegal Meeting and Consolidation. From this meeting, we affirm that Aceh’s natural environment is in a critical state. Forests are being cleared, rivers are being polluted, swamps are drying up, and mines are being allowed to destroy people’s living spaces. Women are the ones most affected, because when nature is destroyed, their lives are also being destroyed.
We do not oppose development. However, we reject development that ignores justice, sacrifices the environment, and narrows the people’s living space. We reject policies that favor capital while marginalizing the common people. We reject Aceh being used as a field of exploitation in the name of progress.
We call on the Aceh government to take immediate, concrete action, not just promises or ceremonies. We demand:
- Urge the Aceh Government to REDEFINITE the PEOPLE’S MINING policy so that it is not used as a pretext to justify exploitation, but is truly in favor of human safety and environmental sustainability, and strengthens environmental protection and management regulations.
- Urge the Aceh government to ensure women manage spaces and territories around forest areas, instead of simply handing out permits to companies in the name of promoting the people’s economy. Women must be recognized as subjects of natural resource management, not victims of unequal policies.
- Asking the Aceh Government to open access to open information and guarantee a free critical space for Acehnese women, instead of introducing programs that silence the critical power of the community.
- Accommodate the Leuser Ecosystem Area (KEL) in the Aceh Province Spatial Planning Plan (RTRW) in a comprehensive and binding manner, because KEL is the lifeblood of Aceh that must not be sacrificed for corporate interests.
- Urge the acceleration of the formation of a Governor’s Regulation on the Determination of Wildlife Conflicts as Extraordinary Events, as a form of government responsibility in mitigating and resolving negative interactions between humans and wildlife in Aceh.
- Demanding the Aceh Government’s commitment to building an economy based on local potential, such as ecotourism and craft products at the village level, and ensuring that communities gain access to and economic benefits without damaging the environment.
- Demand strict law enforcement against companies and mining mafias that damage the environment, and take action against officials who neglect oversight. The government must be responsible for restoring ecosystems through reforestation, reclamation, and protection of swamp and mangrove areas.
- Demanding the active involvement of women in every environmental monitoring and decision-making process, and ensuring full protection for environmental defenders from all forms of threats, intimidation, and criminalization.
- Ensuring that all Aceh Government policies meet the principles of Access, Participation, Control, and Benefits (APKM) for women’s groups in a fair and balanced manner, and ensuring that the implementation of these policies is in favor of the community down to the village level.
We emphasize that saving Aceh cannot simply wait for government initiatives. Communities, especially women, have already been at the forefront of protecting forests, rivers, and seas. We will continue to fight for a just economy, community-based forest management, and increased environmental awareness that supports life.
This statement is both a voice of love and a warning. Love for the once green and fertile land of Aceh, and a warning that if nature is allowed to continue to be damaged, human life will also become extinct. We want our children and grandchildren to still be able to hear the sound of birds in the morning and breathe the fresh air of Aceh’s pristine land.
We will not be silent. We will not stop speaking out. Because for us, protecting nature means protecting life.
Banda Aceh, October 23, 2025
Aceh Women’s Environmental Paralegal Forum
