The Water to Our Fire




I came to speak for mypeople. (Credits: Global Landscapes Forum Flickr Page)

“We are fighting for our land in our homeland”, Emmanuela Shinta approached the front line of the stage proudly in Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), Jakarta, May 18th 2017. Shinta brought along the stories in her journey to Jakarta; all the way from the western part of Borneo to the busiest business district of Java.

Shinta came from the most exotic tribe in Indonesia, The Dayak Tribe. Wrapped beautifully in her traditional clothes, she drew the attention of media and the world to the life of Dayak’s indigenous people through RANU WELUM Foundation. RANU WELUM is meant “Air Kehidupan” in Bahasa or “The water of life” in English. Despite of its meaning, the “living water” had to fight with the fire since 2014.

Peatlands had always been an identity and culture of indigenous people of Borneo, especially Dayak. According to CIFOR, in 2012, Borneo has 5.7 million hectares of peatlands which is contained carbon 5 – 10 times bigger than the carbon contained in natural forest. The abundance of peatlands in Borneo was and will always be the important resources for agriculture for local people.

Despite of the resources provided, peatlands are sensitive to the drought. There were almost 25.000 hotspots scattered in the land of Borneo in 2014 – 2015, and these hotspots are fairly sensitive to fires in the drought season (Bambang 2015). Not only drought season, slash and burn practice done by the local people in the peatlands also sparked the fires.

Everything seemed all right until El Nino attacked Indonesia in 2015; when the drought caused massive fire breaks in Borneo, Papua, and Sumatera islands. The fires produced acid and toxic smoke that affected the health of 600.000 people. The effects also deployed to the neighboring countries; made Indonesia blamed and shunned. When Indonesia was blamed for the smoke, the local people fought for oxygen in the middle of fires.

“We had to fight for oxygen. We didn’t have place to hide from the smoke“, Shinta described the drama that happened in Palangkaraya. Oxygen crisis was really happening in 2015 in Indonesia, still land and forest fires were considered as cliché. Through GLF, the horror that happened in Borneo brought a chill toward our spine in JS Luwansa Hotel Jakarta.

Formed in 2013, led by CIFOR, and coordinated by The World Bank and UN Environemnt, GLF put forward the landscape approach. Landscape approach is not only about ecosystem, flora, or fauna, but also the engagement of indigenous people. GLF, which was held in Jakarta yesterday, is a milestone for local people to speak their voice and fight for their engagement in front of world’s practitioners.

Too many things are kept beneath the ground of peatlands instead of carbon. There might be stories, histories, cultures, or wars. A man has spoken, does it still require several more men to be heard? Let RANU WELUM be RANU WELUM without fighting with the fires.

Global Landscapes Forum: Let the irony stop in the darkest year of Indonesia, but do not let it happen elsewhere.


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