Insecure rights tend to lead to land-use conflicts. The literature mainly focuses on the impact of insecure land rights on investment. Regarding the causes, studies mainly focus on the effect of state regulations. Little attention is given to the impact of the extractive economy on land rights security. This article scrutinizes how palm oil expansion manipulates insecure land rights, leading to land-use conflict. We pay attention to a particular land right in Indonesia that is based on the´ land status letter´ (Surat Keterangan Tanah, SKT), an initial proof of land ownership that is widely held by villagers in Indonesia. Studies have neglected this land right, as most attention has been on customary rights (Adat). Our main questions are: How do palm oil companies treat the SKT in their efforts to obtain more land for their plantations, and how do farmers try to fight for their SKT rights? Using a qualitative case study in Indonesia´s Riau Province, we show that because of a shared perception that SKTs offer security, villagers did not attempt to get a full legal land certificate from the Land Agency, and palm oil companies often manipulated SKT land rights to acquire land for new plantations. Limited access to conflict resolution mechanisms hampers landholders’ efforts to enforce their land rights, and our study suggests that the security of SKT land rights depends upon landholders’ ability to fight for their rights. NGOs did not help empower them in this matter in most cases.

中文翻译：

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棕榈油扩张、土地权不安全和土地使用冲突：以印度尼西亚廖内省棕榈油中心为例


权利没有保障往往会导致土地使用冲突。文献主要关注不安全的土地权利对投资的影响。对于其原因，研究主要集中在国家法规的影响上。采掘经济对土地权利保障的影响很少受到关注。本文探讨了棕榈油扩张如何操纵不安全的土地权利，从而导致土地使用冲突。我们关注印度尼西亚的一项特殊土地权，该土地权基于“土地状况书”（Surat Keterangan Tanah，SKT），这是印度尼西亚村民广泛持有的土地所有权的初步证明。研究忽略了这种土地权，因为大多数注意力都集中在习惯权利（Adat）上。我们的主要问题是：棕榈油公司在为自己的种植园获得更多土地的过程中如何对待SKT，以及农民如何努力争取他们的SKT权利？通过对印度尼西亚廖内省的定性案例研究，我们发现，由于人们普遍认为 SKT 提供安全保障，村民们并没有尝试从土地局获得完整的合法土地证书，而且棕榈油公司经常操纵 SKT 土地权为新种植园获取土地。有限的冲突解决机制阻碍了土地所有者维护其土地权利的努力，我们的研究表明，SKT 土地权利的安全取决于土地所有者争取权利的能力。在大多数情况下，非政府组织并没有在这件事上帮助他们赋权。