Navigating power: The role of a conservation NGO in recognising and securing customary forest rights for Borneo’s last nomads

The legal recognition of Customary Forest (Hutan Adat) in Indonesia centres around a state-centric understanding of community land tenure. Often presented as a progressive policy, in its support of sedentary-agrarian communities and underlying plantation logic it is agrocentric in its paradigm. This research employs a critical ethnographic approach to analyse the struggles of a community in obtaining legal recognition, namely the last nomadic group of Kalimantan, the Punan Batu. Using an integrated SPA-Cube Framework, this study examines the ways that agrocentric governmentality works to marginalise the Punan, while providing formal state recognition. Indeed, we chart the ways Punan nomadic ontologies are rendered illegible. The analysis begins by examining the power background, revealing historical and structural inequalities rooted in state policies that systematically problematise nomadic ways of life. It then investigates the power delivery strategies of a non-governmental organization Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN) in their aims to leverage scientific research and participatory mapping to support recognition. While these tactics succeeded in securing district-level support, they also acted as government technologies to discipline the Punan Batu’s mobilities by redefining them into state-recognisable subjects, re-territorialising their fluid spatial practices and formalising egalitarian social structures and practices. Finally, the analysis explores processes of power adjustment, revealing that interventions provoke retaliation from timber companies and agrarian settlers, entrenching patron-client networks to generate momentum for internal dissent. The first author’s positionality as a YKAN insider enabled rich, three-year-long participatory observation, providing deep access and unique insights. These insider perspectives were tempered through the collaborative research approach and prioritised an overall critical reflexivity in engagement and analysis. Conceptually, this study contributes to environmental governance by demonstrating how the SPA-Cube Framework illuminates the paradoxes of recognition, where empowerment strategies can inadvertently reinforce the very governmental logics they challenge. Practically, it highlights the limitations of current recognition paradigms and offers critical insights for NGOs and policymakers.