The year of 2020 turns to be decisive momentum for EcoNusa to build the capacity of young people in the Land of Papua to encourage them to create sovereign indigenous community for equitable and sustainable natural resources management. Bustar Maitar, the CEO and founder of EcoNusa Foundation, made this statement on the EcoNusa Outlook 2020 on January 28, 2020 in Jakarta.
“Young people are deemed the key for a sustainable development. They play major roles to make change while defending their forests,” said Bustar.
EcoNusa needs to move together to protect forests and the people of Papua. For the reason, the organization of its mere two years of age is willing to promote local initiatives and best practices that has been made or ongoing process by the indigenous Papuans.
“EcoNusa has a dream that young people of Papua can manage and enjoy what they have in the near future,” said Bustar, hoping that those youngsters who study or wander off could go back home to develop their homeland.
EcoNusa has thus far targeted the eastern parts of Indonesia including Maluku, North Maluku, West Papua and Papua Provinces. Those regions are the major focus of the organization due to the fact that they comprise a total of 38,660,805.42 hectares of forest covers or 44% of the total forest cover of 88,458,514.08 hectares across Indonesia.
Forested areas in the Land of Papua and Maluku have important forest potential as the last forest frontier in Indonesia. “Besides, the Land of Papua and Maluku are the center of the largest indigenous communities in Indonesia in which all kinds of culture and best practices on forest protection are originated,” Bustar stressed out.
More than 150 participants attended the EcoNusa Outlook 2020 here. They were from government officials, academic society, media, bloggers, partners and communities. Among the attendants are Matias Maimura, the Head of Kaimana Regency, West Papua, Jimmy Wanma, a researcher from Papua University, Felia Salim, a member of EcoNusa Foundation Board of Trustee. Yuli Fonatabe, Miss Indonesia Papua 2018 and Liputan6 News Anchor, was the moderator of the event.
EcoNusa also builds an ocean initiative as a way to contribute for a sustainable ocean natural resources governance and management. For the reason, academic review was also presented during the event displaying the results of Mangrove Expedition held by EcoNusa on December 2019. The expedition went along 1,000 kilometers of the southern coastlines of West Papua. The expedition studied the 419.8 hectares of mangrove areas, vegetation and biodiversity survey, including social and economic potentials the local community on those mangrove areas.
In 2020, EcoNusa plans to have a collaboration with Kompas print and electronic media for a so-called Kompas Expedition. It aims to get significant pictures on 14 regencies in the Land of Papua. The expedition is expected to provide positive narrative of the Land of Papua which will be disseminated by media
