{"id":83802,"date":"2026-08-07T16:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/?p=83802"},"modified":"2026-08-07T16:30:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:30:29","slug":"tanah-adat-recognition-is-the-key-to-biodiversity-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/story\/83802\/tanah-adat-recognition-is-the-key-to-biodiversity-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"Tanah Adat &#8211; Recognition is the key to biodiversity protection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Jun 12, 2026, more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/story\/64739\/over-1500-strong-protest-for-orang-asli-and-asal-rights\">1500 Orang Asli and Asal (OA) community members marched<\/a> to the doorstep of the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKDW) in Putrajaya. They stood united to demand immediate action on the recognition, respect, and protection of their customary land rights, or <strong><em>Tanah dan Wilayah Adat.&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What exactly is <\/strong><strong><em>Tanah dan Wilayah Adat<\/em><\/strong><strong>?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/suhakam.org.my\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/NI.pdf\"><strong>Tanah Adat<\/strong> (Customary Land) refers to territories traditionally owned, managed, and inhabited by Indigenous Peoples according to their customary laws (<em>adat<\/em>)<\/a>. Rather than being defined by commercial property deeds, this relationship with the land is rooted in generations of ancestral stewardship, culture, and deep ecological knowledge. Legal recognition to <em>Tanah Adat <\/em>will gives communities the statutory authority to defend their land and to say no to destructive and extractive projects, and enforce community-led conservation frameworks.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why must we support the recognition of <\/strong><strong><em>Tanah Adat?<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC7456116\/#:~:text=While%20these%20are%20local%20average,to%20preserve%20their%20forested%20areas.\">Studies<\/a> show that deforestation rates inside legally recognised <em>Tanah Adat<\/em> are <strong>2 to 3 times lower<\/strong> than in state-managed or unprotected areas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Where traditional communities are empowered to uphold strong stewardship, the forest stands. Where the state refuses to recognise those rights and hands out corporate concessions, deforestation skyrockets.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div data-hydrate=\"planet4-blocks\/gallery\" data-attributes=\"{&quot;attributes&quot;:{&quot;gallery_block_description&quot;:&quot;Rich Forestry in Kampung Cunex, Temiar Territory, 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https:\\\/\\\/www.greenpeace.org\\\/static\\\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/71db849c-097a1166-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\\\/\\\/www.greenpeace.org\\\/static\\\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/71db849c-097a1166-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\\\/\\\/www.greenpeace.org\\\/static\\\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/71db849c-097a1166-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\\\/\\\/www.greenpeace.org\\\/static\\\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/71db849c-097a1166-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\\\/\\\/www.greenpeace.org\\\/static\\\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/71db849c-097a1166-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\\\/\\\/www.greenpeace.org\\\/static\\\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/71db849c-097a1166-510x340.jpg 510w&quot;,&quot;image_sizes&quot;:false,&quot;alt_text&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;More than 1,500 Orang Asli and Asal marched in protest, demanding for land rights recognition.&quot;,&quot;focus_image&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;credits&quot;:&quot;&quot;}]}}\">\n<\/div>\t\t\t<section\n\t\t\tclass=\"boxout  \"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-action=\"Image\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"cover-card-overlay\"\n\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/petitions\/our-forests-our-future\/\" target=\"_blank\"\n\t\t\t><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\/2026\/08\/027be2ac-image-1024x576.jpeg\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\/2026\/08\/027be2ac-image-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\/2026\/08\/027be2ac-image-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\/2026\/08\/027be2ac-image-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\/2026\/08\/027be2ac-image-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\/2026\/08\/027be2ac-image-510x287.jpeg 510w, https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\/2026\/08\/027be2ac-image.jpeg 2048w\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(min-width: 1000px) 358px, (min-width: 780px) 313px, 88px\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\talt=\"\" title=\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\/>\n            \t\t\t<div class=\"boxout-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"boxout-heading medium\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-action=\"Title\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/petitions\/our-forests-our-future\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\ttarget=\"_blank\"\n\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOur Forests, Our Future\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"boxout-excerpt\"><strong>Stand in solidarity with the Orang Asli and Orang Asal!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t                                    <a\n                        class=\"btn btn-primary\"\n                        data-ga-category=\"Take Action Boxout\"\n                        data-ga-action=\"Call to Action\"\n                        data-ga-label=\"n\/a\"\n                        href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/petitions\/our-forests-our-future\/\"\n                        target=\"_blank\"\n                    >\n                        Sign Petition\n                    <\/a>\n                \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 1500 Orang Asli and Asal (OA) people protested at the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKDW) in Putrajaya on the recognition, respect, and protection of their customary land rights. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":83807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[132,126],"tags":[19,84,109],"p4-page-type":[16],"class_list":["post-83802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-and-activism","category-policy-and-justice","tag-forests","tag-environmental-justice","tag-indigenous-rights","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83802"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83815,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83802\/revisions\/83815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83802"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=83802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}