WEST PAPUA DAYA – Papua’s nature has extraordinary biodiversity, Papua’s tropical rainforest is also one of the largest remaining wildernesses in the world that protects unique and rare species, such as:
- Birds of paradise,
- Tree kangaroos,
- Various other rare animals.
In addition to the rare species that inhabit the natural forests of Papua, another uniqueness of the forests in this province is their ability to provide life for local communities. The Moi indigenous people are one of the Papuan tribes that inhabit most of Sorong Regency and Sorong City, Southwest Papua Province. The Moi people inhabit Makbon District with customary territories covering around 400 thousand hectares.
Chairman of the Malaumkarta Raya Customary Council Spenger Malasamuk, said that forests and humans are inseparable from one another based on the concept of the Moi Tribe. The forest is the foundation of the Moi indigenous people’s life, through the forest the local indigenous people can get what they need, such as food and other sources that are used to fulfill the family economy, “For us Papuans, especially the Moi indigenous people who live in the Makbon coastal area, Sorong Regency, the forest is a source of life,” said Spanger Malasamuk.
One of the uniqueness of this tribe is the application of the concept of forest management based on a mapping system for each clan in the Malaumkarta Village area, Makbon District. The concept of forest management has turned out to be a cultural heritage that continues to be revived and becomes the basis for forest management and this mapping system is the basis for forest management intended to minimize the occurrence of inter-clan conflicts within the Moi Tribe.
Forest utilization by each clan has been determined based on mapping, each clan can take anything to fulfill family needs without having to take other people’s property and in Malaumkarta Village there are 14 clans that have the right to manage forests based on mapping, consisting of:
- Kalami Kinipelik,
- Kalami Tiloke,
- Kalami Matiligek,
- Malasamuk,
- Magablo Lingsuok,
- Mubalen,
- Sapisa Su,
- Salamala,
- Ulimpa Su,
- Coastal Magablo clan,
- Do clan.
Another cultural system that is considered important to implement as part of maintaining forest sustainability is egek culture. Egek is local wisdom that has become the Moi tribe’s customary value system to prohibit or protect the clan’s customary forest area which is their source of life. The application of egek is one of the Moi Tribe’s strategic ways to preserve nature to support the living needs of the local indigenous people by giving nature time to regenerate.
Egek is a cultural heritage from ancient times that has been passed down from generation to generation until today and its purpose is to give nature the opportunity to renew and restore conditions before being processed again to fulfill needs. In that condition, the community is prohibited by custom to take forest products during a predetermined period of time.
The egek culture that continues to be maintained until today is a way for the people of Malaumkarta Village to protect nature, especially forests as a source of livelihood and philosophically, the Moi Tribe recognizes that forests and land are life. This shows that the indigenous people of the Moi Tribe really depend on their lives from their forest wealth.