A Study in coexistence

THE government will soon issue a moratorium on peatland farming to put a stop on all uses of peatlands and restore degraded peatlands damaged by forest fires. President Joko Widodo said he will engage indigenous people to care for the forests. In his statement during the opening of COP21 (United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties21), the President stated that Indonesia was committed to unconditionally reduce 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 41 percent with international assistance.

If Muharram, a farmer from Pao Pao village in South Sulawesi, had doubts about the benefits of organic farming, they were gone by his first harvest. The 32-year-old was able to harvest six tons of paddy from his one-hectare farm. Before, he was only to harvest four.

Sun Bear Paradise

The life rhythm of the Dayak Benuaq people were disrupted when a company barged onto their 12,000 hectares landholding back in 1971, claiming forest rights. They soon began to log in the forests of Putaq Malinau, which belongs to the Benuaq in Muara Tae, West Kutai, East Kalimantan.

Standing apart from other pesantrens (Islamic boarding schools), is the Abdurrahman bin Auf Pesantren, which not only teaches religion, it also tries to instill in their students self-reliance and confidence by training them in business and farming skills. "Our objective is to teach them to go beyond merely reading the Qur'an, but actually living life as according to the Holy Book," said Akbar Mahalli. He is the business manager of the Abdurrahman bin Auf Entrepreneurship and Agrobusiness Pesantren, popularly known with its acronym, Perwira AbA, located at Bulan village, in the subdistrict of Wonosari, Klaten regency, Central Java.