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Together with the Seasea community, an island tribe in the heart of the vast Indonesian archipelago, social geographer Annisa Triyanti and conservation biologist Mochamad Indrawan are shaping nature conservation policy. Government-imposed policies sometimes fail to consider the perspectives and customs of local people, and as a result, often fall short of their goals. By co-developing this policy with the community, the researchers hope it will be more widely embraced and effectively implemented.

When Mochamad (better known as “Didi”) began his career as a young conservation biologist in 1991, he took his first steps working with the Seasea community. He was immediately captivated by the natural beauty of the Banggai Islands. “But I came across something even more beautiful than nature: the people who live there, with their own culture, wisdom, and adaptability,” says Didi. He decided to launch a project together with the Seasea community to protect and sustain both nature and culture.

Expertise on social capital
In 2022, Annisa joined the project. “Thanks to her expertise on social capital, we were able to expand the scope of the project,” Didi explains. Social capital can best be understood as the network of relationships and mutual support that people share. It’s an invisible value created through trust, cooperation, and social connections. Annisa says: “We always talk about protecting nature, but we forget that things must first be going well for the people themselves. How can they protect their environment if they can’t even protect themselves? Right now, for instance, we’re helping someone market their honey products to provide a stable living.”

The community is grateful for the collaboration with Annisa and Didi. Sinosol Basoa, elder of the Seasea community: “Through this research, we were able to change the hunting behavior of the local communities and understand how to better conserve our natural resources. Without this research and outreach, the forests would be totally decimated.”

Didi explains their approach: “The community has often not gone through the kind of education we know. But they are very intelligent and deeply aware of the nature around them. They often don’t know that certain plant and animal species are unique to the archipelago, but they have their own ways of protecting nature that fit their local culture. Indigenous and local knowledge are increasingly recognized to be on par with science.”

Local heroes
In 2024, this project received the Public Engagement Seed Fund. With the funding, the researchers have ambitious plans. Didi: “Together with Annisa, I’m making a documentary about how the indigenous communities view the forest and how they are transforming into stewards of nature and culture. Once the documentary is finished, we’ll share it with the local community to raise awareness about who they are – local heroes.”

“There are challenges as well,” Annisa explains. “A transdisciplinary research project like this often doesn’t fit within the current academic system, which is divided into disciplinary silos. Among academics, I’m often asked: are you doing science or activism? For me, there’s no difference between the two. I do science because I want to create change — that’s my philosophy.”

Just start
Annisa is eager to share a message with the academic community. She says: “Don’t be afraid to start a transdisciplinary project if you truly want to make a difference. Even if, at first, you feel you’re not suited because you ‘don’t have the right expertise’ or ‘didn’t follow the right training’, it really has to start with the passion to make an impact. And remember, the learning process in transdisciplinary research is never linear. But that's the beauty of it, right? That you’re open to uncertainty, to growth. That you don’t limit your thinking by the bounds of a five-year grant.”

Dr Annisa Triyanti is a lecturer and researcher in Disaster and Climate Risk Governance for Sustainability at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development.
Dr Mochamad “Didi” Indrawan is a lecturer and researcher in Conservation Biology and Social Forestry at Universitas Indonesia and a sustainability volunteer in the Banggai Islands.

Text: Sigrid Dekker
Photo's: Humas Bangkep, Rahmad Hidayat, Mochamad Indrawan