Teras Mitra was one of the stalls selling hand made goods at the Mata Air Festival 2016, whilst there I spoke with Pitria about what Teras Mirta stands for. Teras Mitra acts a platform to launch many different local entrepreneur’s businesses, ranging from handicraft, design, food and Knowledge Management. Teras Mitra is very selective about who they aid, all the brands working with them must have a cause behind them. For example Lawe, a weaving business started by 5 women, Adinidyah, Westiani Agustin, Ita Natalia, Paramita Iswari and Rina Anita in Yogakarta in 2004. Lawe was founded as way to keep traditional weaving techniques alive, and today there are 50 weavers working in Yogakarta. The founders of Lawe wanted to keep this traditional handmade product relevant so they have many different designs, originally the woven fabric was used for clothing or in a traditional ceremony, now it is being used to make bags, wallets, home décor, accerories and stationary. The traditional colours used in this style of weaving are black and browns, however Laew has updated this style by using a variety of colours which appeal to a younger audience, which will keep the next generation interested in this traditional handicraft. Terasmitra supports Lawe because Lawe is about conserving tradition, empowering women and using environmentaly friendly resources, they are currently working with ecological natural dyes.

However many great organisations such as Lawe often struggle to make ends meet, especially when their Global Environment Facility (GEF) funding runs out which is usually after 2 years, this is where Terasmitra steps in and is able to help these organisations sustain themselves through design, production and marketing. Terasmitra sells products from many other organisations like Lawe, they help communities market their products, and when people buy them they are helping uphold that values of each organisation, indirectly, consumers who purchase the product in Terasmitra can help partners build a better environment.

References

• Interview with Pitria at Mata Air festival 2016
• http://www.terasmitra.com
• http://www.houseoflawe.com

Sources used in title image clockwise; photo by author, http://www.houseoflawe.com, http://garudamagazine.com, http://www.houseoflawe.com, http://www.terasmitra.com and http://garudamagazine.com

I have been fascinated by Borneo since watching the Borneo episode of Eliza Thornberry as a kid, and have wanted to visit since I found out that large tracts of the forest are disappearing forever. It is an island of dense tropical rainforests where orangutans, clouded leopards, pygmy elephants, sun bears and rhinos roam wild. A treasure trove of exotic species and biodiversity, Borneo is divided by three countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. These three countries share the responsibility to conserve and manage Borneo’s rainforests (sometimes called the Heart of Borneo) and protect the many endangered animals, which live there. Just as Borneo’s flora and fauna it’s indigenous people are similarly varied. The indigenous peoples who live in the heart of Borneo’s rainforest are commonly known as Dayak. There are over 50 ethnic Dayak groups speaking more then 170 different languages.

In the past many of these ethnic groups rely on the rainforest’s abundance to survive, however with changing agricultural practices logging of the rainforest has been on the rise, with big tracks of the Heart of Borneo being destroyed. Many tribes in the area have felt the economic pressure and incentives to allow companies to log on their land. And if trees are not being felled for timber big sects of the rainforest is being cleared to allow rice farming as many of the local peoples income relies on rice farming.

However one tribe of the Dayak Kenyah has been noted for how they are managing to combat deforestation. The Oma’lung tribe in Setulang village have been fighting to preserving their rainforest for decades. Their Rainforest is aptly named Tana Olen, which means forbidden forest as the traditional laws of Setulang prohibits the cutting down and damaging of trees in Tana Olen. The village of 900 people has a written policy signed decades ago decreeing that anyone who logs or damages trees in Tana Olen will be punished. Kole Adjang the Head of the Setulang Forest Management Agency, it is his job to preserve and look after Tana Olen. Kole Adjang talks about an agreement made by the villagers 2 two generations ago to preserve the forest, and he is proud that it is succeeding and bringing eco tourism as a result which is more money for the villagers.

However like many of the surrounding villages Setulang also relies on rice farming for income, so to avoid the fate of many neighboring tribes (whose forests have been torn down to make room for rice paddies), Setulang has arranged a system where each family gets 10 lots of land, which each gets used once in a ten year cycle. This has been highly successful as there is enough farming land without encroaching on the rainforest.

For more information you can watch a video here

References

• Alva Lim, Luis Patron and Citt Williams, 2009, ‘Forbidden Forest of the Dayak People’ http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/forbidden-forest-of-the-dayak
• Alde 2011 ‘Origin of the Dayak Tribe In Indonesia’ http://history-of-culture.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/origin-of-dayak-tribe-in-indonesia.html
• Parmova, Emilia, 20 Jul 2012, ‘Social Assets & Social Hazards Shape Adaptive Capacity in Setulang’ http://blog.cifor.org/10292/social-assets-and-social-hazards-shape-adaptive-capacity-in-setulang

Title images sources clockwise; http://news.nationalgeographic.com, http://wwf.panda.org/wwf, http://www.wwf.org.au, http://wwf.panda.org/, http://ramblingspoon.com, https://ideas4sustainability