On what's working

Communities living in forest areas are often the most effective conservation actors, and recognizing that changes the way you design solutions.

Sukirman's most significant finding over nearly two decades of research is that the Polahi are a conservation solution. They do not damage watersheds. They protect endemic species. When miners enter their territory, they resist. Working with the Polahi means working with that reality: providing seedlings for cleared areas, developing agroforestry that meets both their food needs and conservation goals, and involving them in watershed management rather than trying to remove them from it. According to Sukirman, the conservation approach that works is one that gives communities space and meets their needs, not one that treats protection and facilitation as separate goals.

On barriers

Overlapping regulations make research and protection work in forest areas difficult.

The most immediate practical obstacle Sukirman faces is not community resistance but bureaucratic complexity. Entering a forest area for research requires permits from the central government, regardless of the purpose. In national parks, additional approvals are required. The result is that researchers, advocates, and government partners who want to work with communities like the Polahi face layers of administrative process that slow everything down and create gaps in knowledge and protection. Sukirman's hope coming out of the Indonesia convening is that visibility of this work will push the Ministry of Forestry toward greater nuance in the ways territories are administered.

On consolidating PIACI as a global category

A single definition cannot hold the diversity of contexts it is being asked to cover, but shared understanding is still possible.

Sukirman doesn’t feel that the UN definition of isolated and recently contacted peoples applies cleanly to the Indonesian context, and specifically to communities like the Polahi. Each region has its own social context, administrative conditions, and cultural history, and a definition developed elsewhere can’t simply be applied without adaptation. As an example, Sukirman points to the fact that the Polahi have different needs than the O’Hongana Manyawa, who are threatened by the country's nickel mining policies, and treating them as equivalent risks misunderstanding both.

On building effective alliances

Declarations are a starting point, but the field needs concrete programs, not more high-level discussion.

Sukirman participated in an exchange with organizations working on PIACI rights in South America in early 2026, and he emphasized the need for action over process. The declaration produced at the meeting was meaningful, but what communities like the Polahi need is not another statement of principle; it is programs on the ground. To Sukirman, the cross-regional exchange was valuable, and now concrete, ground-level follow-up should define what comes next.