Welcome to Mitra BUMMA!
In the spirit of co-learning and co-building, we are providing these monthly updates to early supporters, partners, and individuals who are interested in learning about how we're building an indigenous-led and centered social enterprise ecosystem to tackle climate change in Indonesia. We hope you enjoy!
Reflections from "Ruwi," friend of the forest & Mitra BUMMA Co-Founder and Co-CEO
Ruwi in the forests of Namblong
A friend of mine observed that I look much more lively, excited, each time I am in a Mitra BUMMA related activity. Yes, I do- it’s a dream coming true. A dream of being and working with the team initiating and building indigenous peoples-led and owned corporations, which will be the first in Indonesia that will secure and manage hundreds thousand hectares of indigenous territories and forests.
And the calling of the forests of Papua. The last forest frontier in Indonesia. It feels like the make or break moment for those forests to survive the onslaught of industrial plantations, mining, logging, encroachment, un-mindfulness. The liveliness, the excitement, comes from the soul of the Indigenous Peoples and forests. I remember sitting with the Wuon and elders around the campfire in Mare, deep in the interior of West Papua, and following their spiritual direction as to how we could walk through the forest, to be there, in harmony with all beings, seen and unseen.
I remember an elder of Namblong Tribe said that this is the fullfilling of a prophecy told by the ancestors from generation to generation. She said, “One day, people from all over the world will come to you right here to work for you. You will run your own company, manage your own forests and lands, and the people and the forest will be whole again.”
Happenings
Mare community members meeting to map their customary boundaries
After several months of volunteer work, we’re hitting the ground running with the disbursement of our first $100k catalytic funding from the Samdhana Institute.
We’ve grown our field ops team with three new community organizers - Naomi from the Namblong tribe and Jeffrey and Simpet from the Mare tribe.
After spending the last month collecting tribal, spatial, and regulatory data with help from our tribal and government partners, we have completed our carbon project plan for the next 120 days!
Our team has been facilitating a participatory, community mapping process for Mare and Namblong tribes to determine the outer boundaries of their customary forests.
Mitra BUMMA’s truck
We purchased two trucks, one for the West Papua region and the other for Papua, which will be put to use transporting our community organizers within in their customary areas.
Less sexy but just as important- we’ve set up our accounting database, project management software, and document management system.
Our Namblong Project team has been busy on an ecosystem restoration project in neighboring Yotoro Hills, Sentani area. Over 270 volunteers planted 600 trees on our first volunteer outing, with more to come.
