Riding her motorcycle while balancing a backpack, a wok and a sharp knife, Asmia deftly maneuvered up a dangerous cliff – a 5 kilometer journey along a steep, narrow dirt road, until she reached the entrance to the forest.
Asmia is one of 15 forest rangers, 10 of them women, who protect the forest in her village in Indonesia's Aceh province from landowners who want to cut down the trees for wood or crops.
“Once we fought with a possessor and asked him to stop the invasion,” Asmia recalled. “He insisted on clearing the land because he wanted to grow coffee. He was persistent, but we talked him out of it.”
Dressed in veils, green uniforms and rubber boots, Asmia and the other rangers protect part of the Leuser ecosystem, on the island of Sumatra.
Asmia's village, Damaran Baru, lies in the foothills of the Burni Telong volcano. Surrounded by strong streams and steep slopes, the area was vulnerable to landslides and flooding, but the risk intensified after possessors deforested swaths of the area.
In 2015, a flash flood devastated more than a dozen homes and inundated farmland in Damaran Baru and neighboring villages. Although no one died, hundreds were evacuated to refugee camps.
Worried that devastating floods would occur again, the women of Damaran Baru decided it was time to play a more active role in protecting their environment.
However, in Indonesia, patriarchal culture is deeply rooted. Being a forest ranger is considered a man's job in Aceh, where Islam predominates. It is the only province in Indonesia that has implemented Sharia, or Islamic law.
Although it took months of debate, village leaders were finally convinced to allow women to become rangers. The initiative was called Mpu Euteun, or someone who takes care of the forest.
In November 2019, rangers obtained a rural forest permit, officially allowing them to manage and protect 250 hectares of forest surrounding Damaran Baru. With permission, they can insist that trespassers leave and ask the government for help if they don't. (Rangers do not carry weapons and cannot make arrests.)
In January 2020, Mpu Euteun debuted. Two teams take turns each month on five-day forest patrols. Since they began patrolling, the number of incidents in which they encounter possessors has decreased, they say.
When they do, in fact, encounter squatters, the women first approach them and seek to de-escalate the situation. Often the intruders are from the area and are known to at least some of the rangers.
“We start with small talk while offering them snacks and coffee,” one of the rangers, Rezeki Amalia, or Lia, told her friends.
Despite the hard work and sporadic online harassment, the rangers say they feel proud and committed to their efforts.
“If it's not us, then who? Let them talk,” Lia commented. “We will stay strong.”
By: Muktita Suhartono
The New York Times
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/7045685, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-12-27 19:45:04
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