Defending Paradise FAQ

Defending Paradise is a campaign for tropical rainforest preservation in Tanah Papua and Maluku Islands as a habitat of cenderawasih or birds-of-paradise. This campaign is marked with #DefendingParadise on social media.

This campaign is a collaboration project between the EcoNusa Foundation and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, which has been conducting research and documenting birds-of-paradise in their natural habitat, including in the forests of Papua and Maluku. This project is called the Birds-of-Paradise Project.

The Defending Paradise campaign involves Ed Scholes, an ornithologist from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Tim Laman, a popular videographer and wildlife photographer, who were involved in the Birds-of-Paradise Project by Cornell Lab of Ornithology since 2004.

Birds-of-Paradise or Cenderawasih are iconic birds that are also characteristic, and one of the endemic animals that only lives in Tanah Papua and the Maluku Islands. Cenderawasih also has a close relationship with the culture of indigenous peoples.

Cenderawasih is a sign that the tropical rainforests in Tanah Papua and Maluku Islands, which are the forests with the largest cover in Indonesia, are still in good health and condition. The life cycle of Cenderawasih and the forest’s existence depend on each other.

Without the forest, there would be no birds-of-paradise. On the other hand, without these birds, the forest will lose an important element that helps the growth of trees in the forest. Without birds-of-paradise, indigenous peoples will also lose the culture associated with the birds. Without forests, the source of life is also threatened.

Unfortunately, at this time several species of birds-of-paradise are threatened with extinction. The biggest threat is deforestation due to land conversion and loss of forest cover which is their habitat. 4 of the 28 species birds-of-paradise in Indonesia are listed on the Near Threatened IUCN Red List. 3 of them are Papuan endemic, namely  the Pale-billed Sicklebill (Drepanornis bruijnii), Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise (Cicinnurus respublica), and Red Bird-of-Paradise (Paradisaea rubra).

This campaign needs to be voiced and supported by all parties to participate in calling for the preservation of tropical rainforests in Papua and Maluku. Those forests are one of the largest forest covers in the world. Now, these forests are slowly losing their tree covers due to land conversion and development. In the span of 2009-2018, deforestation in Tanah Papua reached more than 353,000 hectares, and forests in the Maluku Islands lost by more than 151,000 hectares. 

In fact, these forests are not only a source of life and home to a variety of high biodiversity including birds-of-paradise, but also contribute to storing carbon and maintaining the stability of the earth’s climate.

It is hoped that this campaign will be heard by stakeholders and taken into consideration for them to make sustainable policies so that forest loss due to land conversion of infrastructure development and industry can be prevented.

This campaign does not conduct fundraising. This campaign collects support messages for the preservation of tropical rainforests in Tanah Papua and the Maluku Islands by writing down in the landing page econusa.id/en/defendingparadise.  Note: We are stop collecting support message around mid-2022.

• This campaign has started since March 2021 to coincide with International Forest Day and will continue throughout 2021.

• Defending Paradise will release a Video Series that tells about the relationship between humans, forests, and birds-of-paradise in 3 episodes with a duration of 5-7 minutes.

• On Earth Day April 2021, a popular Indonesia band, Slank dedicated the song Natural Selection for the Defending Paradise campaign.

• Other campaign activations on digital channels are tagged with the hashtag #DefendingParadise

• This campaign will also voice the importance of conserving tropical rainforests in Papua and Maluku along with the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) on November 1-12 2021.

The video series will be broadcast through the landing page econusa.id/en/defendingparadise and Youtube EcoNusa TV in September, October, and November 2021.

Defending Paradise invites all levels of society and environmentalists to give messages of support for the preservation of the tropical rainforests of Papua and Maluku as a habitat for birds-of-paradise through the landing page econusa.id/en/defendingparadise.

Visit the econusa.id/en/defendingparadise landing page to access all information about the #DefendingParadise campaign. This campaign is also published on all social media channels of EcoNusa and the Birds-of-Paradise Project.

Visit econusa.id/en/defendingparadise or bit.ly/DefendingParadise.

Click the Voice Your Support #DefendingParadise button

Fill in your personal data and write your support message 

Click Submit

Note: We are stop collecting support message around mid-2022.

Your support message will be reviewed by the #DefendingParadise team. Support messages must not contain race, ethnic, religion issues and hate speech. If your support message is eligible, it will appear on the Defending Paradise community support page on the landing page. 

EcoNusa Foundation keeps and maintains the privacy of every incoming data. The data will not be disseminated and will only be used to send information regarding the #DefendingParadise campaign via email.

In addition to the video series, the #Defending Paradise campaign also held webinars and talk shows with experts in their fields, games and quizzes through social media EcoNusa, as well as a paradise dance competition. Follow information through social media Instagram @econusa.id, FB @econusa.id, Tiktok @econusa.id, and Twitter @econusa_id, as well as Instagram and FB @birdsofparadiseproject.