Counter-Mapping against oil palm plantations: reclaiming village territory in Indonesia with the 2014 Village Law

This paper explores how villagers in Sambas District of West Kalimantan, Indonesia, attempt to protect their land rights against oil palm companies by engaging in mapping and spatial planning, in the context of the implementation of Indonesia's 2014 Village Law. Drawing on theoretical debates about counter-territorialization and counter-mapping, this paper considers how villagers use the Village Law to legitimate control over their territory. Although village-level spatial planning and mapping initiatives do not guarantee that land rights will be protected in the long term, spatial plans and maps can serve as leverage in negotiations with oil palm companies and government officials. Moreover, mapping and spatial planning help to organize people and boost discussions about land rights and different aspirations for land use. Proactive village-level spatial planning is necessary to find ways to maintain pre-existing ways of using land, and to counter notions of empty land, available for companies to claim.