"Why am I so focused on the climate crisis and its impact on coastal indigenous women, because I see firsthand how coastal indigenous women experience greater violence than others."
Teh Aas, as she is known, described her anxiety about the condition of coastal women in her area on Pari Island, Seribu Islands Regency, on October 16 2023 at the 2023 tenure conference panel discussion. Pari Island is one of a hundred existing islands and forms a group of islands in Jakarta Bay. Until now, he and coastal fishermen are fighting in the Swiss state courts to demand the sustainability of their territory which is now polluted by waste and rubbish from extractive industrial activities.
"Why don't we sue the Indonesian court of law, because the law in our country is very unfair," he explained.
Teh Aas together with the Forum group since 2015 has concentrated on conservation efforts mangroves. Not without reason, this was done to preserve the nature of Pari Island, which is now starting to be threatened. Notes from Greenpeace explain that in 2014-2015 the National Land Agency (BPN) issued around 77 certificates on Pari Island land. These certificates were then declared maladministrative by the Ombudsman of the Republic of Indonesia in early April 2018.
The residents of Pari Island are residents who have managed the local land for generations. They only own the land where their house currently stands, while their lives also depend on the preservation of the sea. Now, the 41 hectare land occupied by 32 heads of families is threatened and is being confiscated by companies that control 44,500 hectares of land throughout Indonesia.
The struggle of Teh Aas and other residents of Pari Island seems endless amidst the many parties who declare their side with the people. Teh Aas and the residents of Pari Island are still struggling to face the enormous power of investors who have even criminalized residents and tried to privatize small islands. Plus the condition of the island is now full of waste and rubbish. Mangroves are almost completely eroded and marine biota is almost extinct. This is a fear for residents in the midst of increasingly real climate change, in case abrasion appears and affects the residents of Pari Island.
“If there is a climate crisis, husbands No "You can go to sea and catch fish, and this is of course a double burden for us coastal women to work harder to earn an income and a decent life," stressed Teh Aas.
Teh Aas admitted that until now the residents of Pari Island are still waiting for confirmation of the legality of their territory from the Indonesian government. They will continue to fight until they get their rights. “Maybe now we are still safe for farming and fishing, but No "I know for the next 10 years, because sea levels have continued to rise since climate change," he explained.
How Mollo Indigenous Women Interpret the Environment
In scientific articles Do Trees Talk to Each Other the so-called Mollo indigenous people say that to be Indonesian, you must be rooted in your identity. And in Mollo, it all starts with preserving nature and tradition. In Mollo, almost all life's needs can be met without the need to constantly spend money. Corn, mushrooms, lakoat, kujawas, tubers and vegetables all grow and can be harvested in home gardens, gardens and forests.
"For Mollo indigenous women in NTT, there are four environmental elements that are important to us. "Water as blood, stones as bones, and forests as hair, heart and lungs," said Marlinda Nau, at a panel discussion at the tenure conference, 16 October 2023.
Marlinda Nau said, in the concept of the Mollo traditional community, nature, forests, springs, rocks, are about the role of women. They are the ones who have been guarding the site and the clan stones. If nature is damaged, their role in managing the family's subsistence needs is disrupted. It is women who will feel the impact of the imbalance that occurs in nature the most.
"For the last two years, the environmental conditions in Mollo have still been going well, you could say that women and young people have had space, they can express their opinions, they can also be involved in government bodies and deliberations," he explained.
For the Mollo indigenous people, uem bubu is not just a house. It is a storehouse of food and knowledge. When rocks, springs, or forests are disturbed, people will react because it is connected to their identity. The marble mining case that occurred in Mollo in 1999, for example. The indigenous people resisted because the rock they wanted to mine was the rock of the Mollo people's identity. When the rock mountain was destroyed, the ancestral origins disappeared.
Reporting from the Multatuli project report, the Mollo community's struggle to evict the mining company went on for a long time. In 2006, the women fought to maintain their identity by weaving for months on a rocky mountain. The cultural approach, through woven narratives and clan names related to rocks, springs and forests, has proven effective in raising the courage of residents to reject and fight the presence of mining companies.
Women have a strategic role in the structure of the Mollo traditional society. A bife ainaf—mama—is in charge of managing food in and out. Organize a family's livelihood and design a strategy to survive through the seasons with the food they have.
Not only that, they maintain traditional rituals to maintain relationships with nature and ancestors. Traditional rituals carried out are related to climate and ecological knowledge. They are the ones who keep the narrative alive in the Mollo indigenous community.
"In Mollo there is no doubt about the role of women. "One hundred percent of their role is to protect forests and nature, because the source of that knowledge comes from the women themselves."
Marlinda Nau hopes that with this tenure conference held by various environmental institutional sectors, more women, especially young people, will be given space to speak and make decisions regarding agrarian issues and natural resource management in Mollo.
Women's Forest in Tobati
Women's Forest is the name of a mangrove forest whose existence cannot be separated from Enggros and Tobati women. It is located in Youtefa Bay, Jayapura, Papua. The forest is a mangrove area that has been cared for by women with local wisdom passed down from generation to generation. Men who dare to come to the forest when there are women in it must pay a customary fine in the form of beads, a valuable item for the Tobati people that is expensive.
The tradition of visiting mangrove forests, in local language is called tonotwiyat. Tonot means mangrove forest, while wiyat means invitation. In the quiet forest, the women freely poured out their hearts to each other, talking about the problems they faced or nostalgia for the past, while listening to the birds chirping.
“In the Tobati area, Jayapura, traditional women are always not given space when they want to speak out. "That's why we use the forest as a forum for us to talk," explained Mama Marice at the tenure conference panel discussion, 16 October 2023.
Mama Marice also added that if there is a large meeting, men and women are called to the meeting. Men sit in the traditional para-para, women sit in the house para-para only. This is what makes the Women's Forest very sacred for traditional women in Tobati. Unfortunately, local wisdom in the Women's Forest is now starting to be eroded by developments over time.
Mama Marice said that fewer and fewer young women care about preserving the Women's Forest tradition. So the hope of preservation now rests on the shoulders of elderly mothers. In addition, the Women's Forest is now facing various threats which have an impact on the shrinking forest area due to development and environmental pollution due to urban waste which ends up in Youtefa Bay.
"At this conference, Mama hopes to gain broader insight so that she can continue to fight and pass it on to existing young people in order to protect the forest for Mama's children and grandchildren in the future," she concluded.
