How social forestry and private investments can save Indonesia’s forests

Two decades ago, the Wawowae community in Flores, a picturesque island of mountains, forests and lakes in Indonesia, made a solemn vow. "We gathered on top of a hill, and made a promise not to harm the forests that sustain us," recalls Nikolaus Moka, a village elder. The ritual, known as “Ri’i”, forbids villagers from cutting down trees and is one of many customary practices in Indonesia that treat natural spaces as sacred. Anyone breaking the rules in Wawowae faces sanctions, and, it is believed, a curse. For Moka, it was necessary to perform Ri’i given that most of Wawowae’s 1,680 inhabitants are farmers who depend on healthy land to cultivate their Arabica coffee. “In this village, the relationship between people and nature is very close,” he explains. “Humans and nature must be in harmony and in this village, we have all agreed to protect nature.”