equator Initiative of the United Nations development Program recently announced the 2015 winners of its prestigious equator Prize. Having attracted 1461 entries from 126 countries, the awards " Exceptional? Local Implementation in promoting sustainable development solutions for people, nature and resilient communities."
the Equator Prize is normally awarded every two years in even years. "But 2015 is a special year," said Helen Clark, UNDP administrator, at a conference of Press September 21 at UN headquarters in New York - where the awards ceremony was held. Later this week, world leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly in New York to launch the global goals for sustainable development. "There is a lot at stake when the world starts in 2015 on a new way to fight against poverty, inequality and climate change."
Of the 21 winners of this year, three call their home Indonesia: Kelompok Peduli Lingkungan Belitung (KPLB - Belitung Group for the care of the environment), Komunitas Adat Muara Tae, and the Forum Masyarakat Adat Dataran Tinggi Borneo (FORMADAT - indigenous Forum Borneo Highlands). These communities are allocated US $ 10,000 and will be supported to join in special events of the Conference on Climate Change of the United Nations in Paris in December.
Founded in 2007-2008 by students and Belitung "people who care" KPLB won the Equator Prize for running impressive programs such as sustainable fisheries, a tarsier sanctuary for primates in Batu Mentas, a conservation center in Kepayang, a mangrove conservation center in Mendanau community and eco-tourism.
Belitung and Bangka neighbors are known as tin producers with a long history of exploitation mining. the prospect of establishing a sea-tin mine could threaten the lives of people fishing, which represents 50 percent of the population of Belitung. the waters of Belitung also attract Bugis, Betawi and Cirebon distant fishermen whose home waters no longer occur as they did - soaring production costs and the pressure to return to the big house decision making these fishermen using bombs and potassium same time, in recent years Belitung. has attracted attention as a "tropical paradise" tourist destination.
Coral conservation in Belitung | Courtesy of KPLB
"The problem today is the pervasive destruction caused by the imbalance between what is taken from nature and what is preserved. Conservation is an effort to create a balance in nature. to create a better quality of life that will support our future generations that we have been entrusted to take care of the planet for them, "said KPLB president Budi Setiawan.
KPLB advocates policies environmental protection, educates residents and other stakeholders of the importance of conservation of sustainable livelihoods, and creates economic value chain in conservation programs. an example of this is the tarsier sanctuary where KPLB hosts a tarsier research center, and local trains to run community ecotourism businesses such as a restaurant, accommodation, tarsier watching tours, hiking in the jungle and tubing the river. The KPLB also allows the application of customary law Rimpuk Angkam establishes the quota for the harvesting of marine resources, the authorized methods of sustainable harvesting, and customary sanction to sink the offending vessels.
Coming from one to five hours drive from inside the lands Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Muara Tae Komunitas Adat fought a violent history of dispossession of land. The indigenous Dayak Benuaq Muara Tae traditionally subsistence farmers who depend on the forest to collect rattan, hunting for proteins, and the rubber valve. Since 1971, oil palm and coal companies have invaded Muara Tae, deceive and intimidate the residents off their land to make way for commercial exploitation.
"In the darkness before dawn, my young children and I were in bed in the living room, where a dozen men were sleeping, they laid the instruments for the customary ceremony we were going to perform reforest destroyed a part of our forest. Suddenly, I heard gun shots. the attackers broke into the front door and challenge our Benuaq warriors, but heard no signs of resistance of our men.
I heard bullets through our roof. An armed man broke robust in the room and carried me and my children in his vehicle.
"It left us in Muara Nayan. I did not know what happened to the men asleep in my house, but that night in 1998, continues to haunt me, "recalls Maria Mungkin, a woman in Muara Tae home and plaintiff against PT. London Sumatra, as written in a 2014 report by the Institute Sajogyo.
For many years, attempts by the Benuaqs to pursue justice have been criminalized by Indonesian legislators. To date, 7,000 hectares Benuaqs watched 11,000 hectares of their ancestral forests and gardens ransacked in vast polluted wasteland.
The struggle for the dignity of survival, the Komunitas partners with AMAN to conduct community mapping of Benuaq territory. This allows them to work to achieve legal recognition of rights Benuaq. The Komunitas also replanted 700 hectares of endemic wood forests and fruit trees. In their peaceful resistance, they revived the indigenous system of knowledge of their bio-cultural heritage, strengthening social unity and respect as culture.
Also Borneo FORMADAT is a cross-border forum for Highlanders Dayak Nunukan regency of Indonesia in North Kalimantan, and around the Sarawak-Sabah border of East Malaysia. The Highlanders include Kelabit, Lundayeh-Lun Bawang and Sa'ban peoples who share a common ancestor, the territory of the country, and language.
The harvest in the high lands Kraya | Courtesy of Robertson, FORMADAT 2013
Living 900 to 1.800 meters above sea level, the homelands of the Highlanders display backdrops of mountains paddy valleys, orchards and patches mixing bamboo with the surrounding forests. The Highlanders have practiced cultivation of upland rice for centuries, and the rearing water buffalo, which keeps the soil fertile. Their most famous product is the Adan rice variety, which comes in white, black and red. Adan black rice was recently listed on the Ark of Taste of Slow Food International -. a living catalog of delicious and distinctive endangered foods
FORMADAT partners with WWF Indonesia and WWF Malaysia in establishing the Tadur Rang Gawa ( "bridge space") Tele-centers, powered hubs for Internet digital telecommunications. Télé-Centre allows communities the Heart of Borneo to promote community-based ecotourism and premium products like rice adan. Télé-Centre in Sarawak Bario Radio launched a Kelabit language service which broadcasts local news collected by community members and debate issues of local interest. the partnership FORMADAT-WWF also runs the School of culture, which teaches traditional music and dance for children and young highlander.
"I think FORMADAT leadership and a vision of sustainable development that is rooted in local conditions and cultural traditions. This can be an example for other regions and governments, the importance of equitable partnerships for the realization of the agenda [UN’s] 2030 [for Sustainable Development], "said Dr. Cristina Eghenter, head of the company thematic civil WWF Borneo Programme
"the achievements of the winners of the Equator Prize telling us something fundamental:. that the low cost, innovative, local solutions are helping the climate change battle of the world and realize sustainable development, "said Helen Clark. "The winners of the awarding of the Equator Prize show that local actions are an essential part of achieving the transition to sustainable development. They signal to the world that there is hope and that there is leadership from the local level ".