Mina Susana Setra

Indonesia

Mina is an indigenous Dayak Pompakng from West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Dayak Pompakng have traditionally depended on the forests as a source of food, as well as for natural saps and medicines used to hunt, heal, hunt and fish. Wood from the forest once provided spearheads, chopsticks, wood carvings for storytelling, and construction materials for their longhouses. Their intricate and sophisticated forms of forest management are interwoven with a complex system of beliefs and values. Unfortunately, the forests where Mina once lived have been converted into palm oil plantations. Mina has worked on indigenous, environment, and climate policy at the Indonesia’s Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) since it was founded in 1999 and is AMAN’s Deputy Secretary General. AMAN links 17 million people managing community forests and lands. In 2012, she and others won a major constitutional court case, recognizing indigenous peoples’ customary rights over Indonesia’s forests.

Mina is President of the Board of If Not Us Then Who, Inc. Find out more here.

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