Summary of Nominee Profile
Marcus Colchester is a British human rights activist who has been working with forest peoples in the tropics since the mid-1970s. His first degree was in zoology, but his subsequent research has focused on social and political ecology. He has a doctorate in social anthropology from the University of Oxford, an Honorary Doctorate from Oxford Brookes University and has been awarded a Pew Conservation Fellowship and Lucy Mair Medal for Applied Anthropology. Initially active in the Venezuelan Amazon and then Guyana and Surinam, he has worked with forest peoples in Central Africa, South Asia and now mainly Southeast Asia. While the main emphasis of his work is in direct support of forest peoples on the ground, he has long been active in global policy-making. He was on the Committee of Experts for the revision of ILO 107 and a member of the Forest Advisory Group of the World Bank. He was Founder and Director of the Forest Peoples Programme, where he is still employed as Senior Policy Advisor. He has been involved in the RSPO since 2004 and has been continually active on various working groups and task forces ever since, including the Board of Governors, Assurance Standing Committee, P&C Review Task Forces, Human Rights Working Group, Biodiversity and HCV WG and the Jurisdictional Approach WG. He set up and ran the RSPO Task Force on Smallholders in its early iteration. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Forest Stewardship Council. He has published widely in books, and in both academic and popular journals.
Summary of Organisation Profile
Forest Peoples Programme is an international human rights organisation with NGO consultative status at the UN (ECOSOC). FPP supports the rights of forest peoples to their lands and livelihoods and to self-determination. It works in direct partnership with local NGOs and indigenous peoples in 22 countries in Central and South America, Africa and Asia. It is also prominent in international human rights courts and policy forums relevant to forest peoples. FPP is a long-standing member of RSPO and also IUCN, ILC, HCVN, HCSA, TFD, TFA and AFi. FPP organises its work around three axes: Legal and Human Rights, Environmental Governance and Responsible Finance. It has worked widely with communities in the palm oil sector including in Peru, Colombia, Liberia, Cameroon, DRC, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Summary of Nominee Profile
Bernadinus Steni Sugiarto is an environmental and human rights lawyer with a Master of Law from the University of Indonesia and a Bachelor of Law from Gadjah Mada University. He is currently pursuing his Doctoral Program at IPB University. Steni has extensive experience providing legal assistance to indigenous peoples and local communities, especially regarding natural resources. At Kaleka (previously Inobu), Steni served as the Chairman and an Environmental Lawyer who coordinates the legal reviews and analyses and leads the implementation of the jurisdictional work in Central Kalimantan and West Papua. He provides guidance and advice on sustainable commodity production, in particular for palm oil, jurisdictional certification of palm oil as well as engaging, registering, and including smallholders in sustainable commodity supply chains. He also guides in understanding the regulations that apply in Indonesia, including those governing the development of sustainable oil palm and its smallholders, and provides direction in implementing these regulations in the field. He also has a great interest in the development of social problems experienced by Indonesian oil palm farmers, including human rights, labor rights, women's rights, and conflicts in the Indonesian palm oil industry.
Summary of Organisation Profile
Kaleka Indonesia (formerly Yayasan Inobu) is an Indonesian, non-profit organization that strives towards the sustainable management of Indonesia’s landscapes and seascapes for the benefit of local and indigenous communities. Founded in 2014, Kaleka is a women-led organization, where the Executive Director and majority of managers and staff are women. With over 60 staff now, our staff represent the diversity of peoples in the Indonesian archipelago, all committed to upholding human rights and protecting the environment. Kaleka’s thematic strengths are in the areas of sustainable sourcing, conservation and restoration, agri-food systems, community development and environmental and social governance.
At the heart of Kaleka’s approach, is the concept of Collaborative, Action Research. Before commencing any work, we work with our partners, including the government at the national and sub-national levels, civil society organizations, producer, manufacturing and consumer-facing companies, universities, farmers and local communities, to identify their priorities. Through researching best practices in science, while incorporating local and indigenous knowledge, we test, implement, evaluate and refine innovations. This approach ensures the acceptability and relevance of interventions to local partners while also allowing us to scale nationally.
