Conservation in Asmat

Training local partners in participatory mapping methodology to document critical habitat and local traditions that support conservation and traditional culture in Asmat and the Greater Lorentz Lowlands, Papua Province, Indonesia

Traditional laws, beliefs and practices -- collectively known as adat -- continue to govern the use of the forests, rivers, and seas in Asmat. The most likely way to make conservation succeed is to support those elements of adat that form the indispensable basis for sustainable resource management.

We are currently planning to carry out a pilot MLA assessment in one sub-area of Asmat. This will result in a full mapping and documentation of adat (a term comprising forest/resource tenure patterns and regulations, traditional knowledge, resource utilization for woodcarving and other ceremonial and subsistence practices) of one important sub-region of Asmat (i.e. one “FAR area”) and train leaders from other FAR areas in MLA methodologies so that MLAs can later be replicated elsewhere in Asmat. Finally, we intend to identify biologists with independent funding who can “piggyback” the MLA to inventory biota. Asmat has never been scientifically surveyed, and so is of strong interest to the biologist community. Scientists will be expected to share this knowledge with local communities during and after the MLA.

IPCA is working with partners to carry out an innovative participatory mapping and documentation project to combine conventional methodologies for documenting biodiversity with ethnobiological and participatory social, cultural, and economic assessments. This approach, a locally-adapted form of CIFOR’s Multidisciplinary Landscape Assessment (MLA), will identify sociallycritical habitat (used for hunting,fishing, and other activities) and sacred forest areas. MLA is also a tool to generate greater awareness among the Asmat regarding the importance of their natural resources, and to facilitate understanding by external stakeholders of the importance of biological resources to local people in terms of their livelihood and culture.

The Multidisciplinary Landscape Assessment is an innovative methodology developed by CIFOR that helps reveal why different aspects of the landscape and biodiversity matter to the local people, how much it matters and to whom. It also takes careful note of how both men and women value different aspects of the landscape. MLA uses participatory surveys, GPS measurements, biological assessments, and mapping to assess critical forest, freshwater, and marine habitat from biological, social, and cultural perspectives.

Our partners for the MLA include the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Cenderawasih University, local Asmat institutions (LMAA, FARs, the Asmat Museum in Agats), and local government.

The pilot project will:

1. Identify critical and sacred habitat areas in one FAR area. This information will be used by our Asmat partners in a multistakeholder dialogue with local government and other stakeholders to integrate these results into ongoing regional development spatial plans.
2. D ocument natural resource use practices and the adat that underpins it.
3. Train Asmat leaders from other FAR sub-regions in MLA methodology for additional later assessments.
4. MLA is a significant educational tool, and will enhance community awareness and support for maintenance of adat and conservation.

For example, communities identify forest areas that are important for hunting, sago cultivation, or woodcarving resources, but also areas that, based on Asmat cultural traditions, are considered sacred areas. These core areas, combined with biological information, will be used to generate a map of critical habitat areas. This map will be used in dialogue with the government to define spatial development planning in ways that are consistent with the important cultural and biological priorities in Asmat.

The programmatic collaboration between IPCA, LMAA and FARs in Asmat aims to help stakeholders make appropriate decisions about the development, management and conservation of their natural resources. The primary objective of the survey is to reveal local perceptions of natural resources as a tool for their empowerment as owners of those resources. At the same time, the results of the surveys will help other stakeholders (government, conservation and community-based NGOs, private sector) to more clearly understand Asmat priorities. This will also build greater appreciation among adat communities of the economic and social value of their ecosystems and the biodiversity within them.

For additional information, see our external links.

MLA map from Mamberamo, Papua, Indonesia. Courtesy of Conservation International.

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