Urgent Appeal for Solidarity and Support: Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia Devastated by Floods and Landslides

8 December 2025

Urgent Appeal for Solidarity and Support: Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia Devastated by Floods and Landslides

The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) expresses its deepest concern over the devastating impacts of floods and landslides on Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia. According to Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN), AIPP’s member organization in Indonesia, disasters have struck in several areas, severely affecting Indigenous Peoples in North Sumatra, Aceh, and West Sumatra Provinces.

As of 3 December 2025, AMAN has recorded that at least 49 Indigenous Communities have been impacted. Lives, homes, gardens, and rice fields have been swept away, with no fewer than 35,000 Indigenous Peoples affected.

AMAN is coordinating relief through five central posts in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. Volunteers and coordinators are moving across villages to deliver basic needs, open communication channels, and ensure that the voices of affected communities are heard amid the emergency.

AIPP commends the tireless work of AMAN, and in particular AMAN Tano Batak, AMAN Tapanuli Utara, and AMAN Humbang Hasundutan, in responding to this unprecedented situation. Indigenous Peoples are among the most vulnerable to ecological and human-made disasters, yet we remain at the forefront of resilience and recovery.

AIPP calls upon the Indonesian government, donor communities, UN agencies, humanitarian organizations, and regional partners to extend urgent and flexible support to AMAN’s response efforts. Beyond emergency relief, sustained partnerships are needed to strengthen the capacities of Indigenous Peoples including Indigenous Women, Indigenous Youth, and Indigenous Persons with Disabilities to withstand future disasters, protect our rights, and ensure our leadership in shaping climate and disaster risk reduction policies.

This tragedy is a stark reminder of the impacts of extractive industries such as mining, eucalyptus plantations for pulp and paper, and oil palm plantations on Indigenous Peoples. These destructive drivers of environmental damage must be stopped immediately to prevent recurring floods, landslides, and other climate-induced disasters.

It also underscores why our voices must be central in global climate negotiations, including in the recently concluded COP30, particularly in shaping the Loss and Damage Fund. Our lived realities highlight the urgent need for climate and environmental justice, and the crucial roles of Indigenous Peoples’ leadership in advancing solutions that protect both our communities and the planet.

AIPP further calls on governments across Asia to integrate Indigenous-led disaster risk reduction, and Indigenous Peoples’ struggles against human rights violations and environmental destruction, into National Disaster Risk Reduction Policies, National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

Beverly L Longid
Chairperson 
Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) Executive Council

Click here to download the full solidarity statement