Bi-monthly event to introduce best practices from the Land of Papua, particularly in regards to community-based conservation.
To date, forests around the globe has been reduced in size at the alarming rate due to massive extractive industries and land conversion activities. Million hectares of forests disappear every year including Indonesia. Various measures have been taken to conserve the remaining including forests in the Land of Papua. The Land of Papua has the largest tropical rainforests in the world as the sources of life for germ plasm and biodiversity and the indigenous peoples residing surrounding the forests.
The indigenous people play their important roles to preserve forest through local wisdom and various cultural practices from generation to generations. These practices inspire EcoNusa Foundation to promote community-based environmental conservation to the public through popular way. EcoNusa Foundation comes up with an idea of conveying Mari Cerita Papua (Let’s Tell Papua Story/MaCe Papua) as bimonthly public discussion at national level. MaCe Papua is commonly hosted by resources persons from Papuan figures with various disciplines.
The activity aims to endorse local initiatives in sustainable management of natural resources in the eastern regions of Indonesia, particularly in the Land of Papua dn Maluku so as to create sovereign management of natural resources. MaCe Papua is deemed strategic way for EcoNusa Foundation to build positive narrative on the Land Papua in conservation of forest, sea and other natural resources.
MaCe Papua has been organized since 2018 by promoting various delicate issues such as noken, local culinary, prominent commodities, local youth roles, ecotourism and arts so that public has comprehensive knowledge on the Land of Papua. Through MaCe Papua, EcoNusa Foundation tries to prop up fascinating stories on the vital roles of the indigenous peoples. This way, it counters against narrative on negative stigma of indigenous people in Papua in Indonesia. EcoNusa expects that MaCe Papua will inspire public so as to create paradigm shift among public with more objective perspective, judgment and feeling on what happens in the Land of Papua and eastern regions of Indonesia in general sense.
