EcoNusa is working with the community to improve economic life, food security and social life while maintaining forest, coastal and marine ecosystems. This is one of the solutions from Eastern Indonesia for climate issues. We focus on the Maluku islands and land of Papua. They are home to nearly 50% of Indonesia’s forests and 52% of Indonesia’s remaining mangroves; the region’s seas are home to nearly 50% of Indonesia’s fish stocks. The forests, coasts and seas of Eastern Indonesia are the richest biodiversity areas in Indonesia and the center of the world’s coral triangle. They are also home to indigenous communities with more than 500 different languages. A vulnerable paradise towards the climate crisis and the threat of over-exploitation. Promoting a sustainable local economy, food security and livelihoods of indigenous and local communities is one of the keys to sustaining and preserving this region.
Our focus is on indigenous people areas that are prone to threats of exploitation, have important conservation values including social forestry areas that have been and will be designated by the government to support the development of an eco-based local economic model. This model is inline with the Indonesian government’s FOLU Net Sink 2030 agenda and target to strengthen local food security.
Moreover, EcoNusa develops community-based eco-tourism such as eco-tourism accommodation services managed independently by local communities, eco-attractions to tourist, such as bird watching and diving as well as the development of key commodities with high economic values, which are nutmeg, walnuts, cinnamon, cloves, coconut, coffee, cocoa and mangrove shrimps. We are continuing to seek added value for other community products such as taro, bananas, sago, fishery products and others that have been managed for generations by the local communities, including for food security. The challenges of commodity development in Eastern Indonesia, particularly in Papua and Maluku are constrained by market disparities, low productivity and minimum added values, also the very expensive logistics supply chain.
Thus, The EcoNusa Foundation together with 10 cooperatives owned by indigenous and local communities in the regions of Papua, West Papua, Southwest Papua, Maluku, and North Maluku to form a socio-eco enterprise called KOBUMI. This is a Multi-Stakeholder Cooperative to support and create a sustainable economy of unique commodities and products of Eastern Indonesia in order to increase commodity competitiveness as well as the local communities welfare.
KOBUMI initiatives are connected to initiatives in EcoNusa, which are:
Strategy to reduce the threat of damages and large-scale deforestation.
Until end of 2022, through collaborations with Government, local partners and communities, this initiative are able to cover:
