In the biodiversity hotspot of Raja Ampat, ecotourism underpins conservation

the Papuan people cannot live without their environment, without their forests, without their sea, if the sea forests destroy here, they cannot live because they very depend on this natural resource. Welcome to the Monkabe newscast. I'm your host, Mike D. Jirolimo, bringing you weekly conversations with experts, authors, scientists and activists, working on the front lines of conservation, shining a light on some of the most pressing issues facing our planet and holding people in power to account. This podcast is edited on Gadigal Land. Today on the newscast, I'm going to take you to the most biodiverse marine region in the world, Raja Ampat. This equatorial archipelago is located on the far northwestern tip of the island of New Guinea, also known as the Crown Jewel of the Bird's Head Peninsula, upon which it sits. I was privileged enough to travel there this past January and document my experience and I'm really excited to share it with you. Along my journey I was accompanied by several of my colleagues and documentary filmmakers. I spoke with both local community members and outsiders who have lived and worked to protect the region for decades. While known for its high marine biodiversity and containing a thriving man-to-rate population, Raja Ampat boasts stunning, cast limestone formations, towering up from the water, creating steep, densely forested terrain, containing scores of endemic species, and also many birds of paradise. Speaking personally, it is unlike anything I've ever seen. It is a wholly unique intersection of marine and terrestrial beauty. In recent decades, Raja Ampat has benefited from the creation of a network of marine protected areas. That some refer to as a conservation success story, though it does retain nuanced challenges in regard to the protection of marine species from poaching, it is also a very rural area that is quite far away from critical human infrastructure. The rate of poverty in the Papua region is amongst the highest in Indonesia. However, in ecotourism boom and other conservation income initiatives are providing employment and job training opportunities for local communities. I got to visit and stay at a traditional home stay run by a local family. I also paid a visit but did not stay at a more exclusive resort with a conservation philosophy. I wanted to know more about the challenges Raja Ampat faces and also its successes. While I wish I could show you all the amazing wildlife I got to see, for the purposes of this podcast, I'm going to focus on the conversations, though you will get to hear my journey in the pitch black morning hours of Waigeo Island to see two birds of paradise in the middle of the forest. I sat down to interview the first guest you're about to hear at a home stay on Dianne Island while you mull. He's a documentary filmmaker with experience working with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and EcoNusa filming the birds of paradise for their defending paradise campaign. If you listen to our Mongo Bay Explore series on New Guinea, then you have heard these birds. Why you spoke with me about the recent recovery of the EcoTourism industry and the benefits it is bringing to Raja Ampat and some of the challenges that still remain. So while you welcome to the Mongo Bay newscast, I feel a little strange saying that because we're sitting here in the middle of Raja Ampat. So it's definitely the first time I've recorded a podcast in the middle of the field. So you're a special first guest. So welcome. Thank you very much to inviting me here in this podcast and we are welcoming you in Raja Ampat here now in Dianne Island in the north of Batant Island, the bigger island here in Raja Ampat. And why are we here? And specifically why are we here at this home's day? Okay. Right now, we are in the cruise that we go around in Raja Ampat Island. Raja Ampat Island, we have four big island here is in Waigeo, Batanta, Misol and Salawati. We will traveling around Batanta Island and Waigeo. But now we are here in Dianne Island. The objective is I want to show you from Mongo Bay and from our colleague that we meet with the local people here who are running home's day for their living and they protect the environment here. In Dianne Island, here is a constant family. Constant running his home's day to protect also coral reef that lie down in surrounding his island here in Dianne Island. And so does Constant own the island here, own all the land around here? Yeah, Constant and his family not only Constant but Constant and his big family whose own this island. And there's another home's day right across the straight from where we are. Who owns that one? That one is owned by Hans Family. Hans Family. Hans Family, running the Batanta adventure. Here in Dianne I go home's day and that's why we very glad to go because these local people, they're looking, they see how ecotourism can be their livelihood. First I want to ask you about the struggle of getting this started because especially COVID-19 hits and there were no tourists here for a while. So when did the turnaround start happening for Constant? Actually this home's day the government gave the local people 8 to build this home's day like this, the traditional house of Papua in 2019. But after that we know we have pandemic COVID-19 and the guess that they will come here is not welcome. Not welcome because the pandemic. So me and with some colleagues in 2022 try to bring in guests here. We talk to our colleague in Jakarta and Sarandik that we must visit Ajampa but not going to the exclusive resort. We live with the local people here. We eat and we talking with the local people and study how they protect their environment here, how they protect their land here and how they can live with their ecotourism here. So some locals have embraced ecotourism but some have still clung to or saw other forms of income. What can you tell me about that? Some people who are some local people here who they realize that they cannot live with the healthy environment, the healthy ecosystem. They change that right now they are becoming a local hero to protect their land. But some people they still have like for us it's like just short from thinking about how to get the money by collecting the space here or maybe the plan that protected by government. But I think it is our homework to spread out knowledge to them that if we want to live long, if we want to make a legacy for our children, our grandchildren, we must protect this island. We must protect the sea, forest also because the Papuan people cannot live without their environment, without their forest, without their sea. If the sea forest destroy here, they cannot live because they very depend on this natural resource. So that's why we are focusing on to teach them, to acknowledge them about how the importance of the natural resource is. So we're actually going to be traveling to some other islands and seeing some other things. And you don't need to spill the beans on everything we're going to do. But what are some of the things that you think are the most exciting that we have planned? In this area, we saw the people who protect their sea. But when we will be going to support Kering Village, and also in Rajampat, in Waigeo Island, we will see another ecotourism. It's bird watching, bird watching, bird watching, bird watching from all around the world. Come here, come to Rajampat, just to see two endemic species, bird of paradise here. It's a red bird of paradise and Wilson bird of paradise. We will see, I hope we can see those two birds. I first reported on the birds of paradise two years ago. I spoke with Edwin Skoles at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who described them as a natural wonder of the world. At the time, I was shocked and mystified that birds this colorful and brilliant existed. So the prospect of getting to catch a glimpse of them in person was huge. I was really looking forward to it, but it would have to wait as our journey to Waigeo would take us a couple more days. Meanwhile, we made a stop to the island of Cree, where a man named Max Amher, who first came to Rajampat over 30 years ago, is running an impressive ecotourism resort of his own. Outside the resort, we walked along the crystal clear water on a beautifully constructed boardwalk made of ironwood. You could see sharks swimming below. Amher says he chose this location in 2003 because it was originally a plantation. The architecture is notably modeled after the building style of the local communities, but it's reinforced four structural integrity and longevity. We noticed that there were almost no traditional buildings anymore in the right young. But everyone was changing to stone walls or on boards. Or they had corrugated iron, of course, like everywhere in the world. But it's bloody hot, it's ugly. But there were one or two houses in some villages that were traditional. So we said, "Man, can you still build them? And we can be willing to build them for us." So then we got the local people, and now we modernize it, like we have problems with termites. So we made our own fake wooden beams. So this is concrete now, but it still looks and the style and the roof. It's still a lot of the culture is in it. The resort is more exclusive, running an average visitor around 4,000 euros for a week long stay. This is roughly 4,500 USD. But it has a relatively modest capacity. Amher told me he's never serving more than 14 guests at a time. Annually, he books roughly 70% of his capacity. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Amher's Operation Houses the Raja Ampott Research Conservation Center. It supports scientists, researchers, and sometimes media with lodging and logistical support for their work. It also employs many members of the local community providing them with job training in a variety of skills. It even has a dental clinic, which they say has provided treatment to dozens of patients on the island. There is also a zebra shark hatchery with full-time staff dedicated to the nursing of baby zebra sharks, which eventually will be reintroduced into the wild. I got to see it myself. A woman named Mary spoke to me about the opportunities the facility offers to local communities. I've been working here since September 22, 2022. And as far as I know, for the opportunity, we are helping people. And we try to buy, like, a phone for job opportunities for them to work in here to protect, I mean, like, the marine species in here, like, to become an Aquarius. That's the first one. And then the other thing, we also buy food like we have life foods that come from the local people. So if you see on our source over there, we ask people to find, for us, things like snails, things like clams, and also lobsters, prawns, squids, and other things like that. So we're helping on their economy also. And this hatchery is actually built from the local people. So they're the ones who build up the walls, build up the roofs, everything in here is from the local people knowledge. I got a chance to speak with Amber more in his office, joined by my colleague Hans Nicklaus Young. On our way into the room, he pointed to a weathered drone covered in a layer of dead moss sitting on a cabinet. And he told me he found it while hiking through the forest, and guests that it may have been laying there for a couple of years or more. For some reason, the imagery stuck with me. Can you tell our audience where are we sitting right now? Okay, we're sitting in the Raja Amput Conservation Center. So a number of years ago, we decided to make an entity, so you're legal to do things in conservation. And that we did within the era as they say, Raja Amput research in conservation center. So can you give our audience a bit of background on how long you've been working in Raja Amput? You said you've been here for 33 years. What brought you here and what kind of work did you start doing here? That's a long story, but I happen to be very blessed with parents' love nature. So from a young age, I grew up in Nigeria. I'm a Dutch German mix with Indonesian too. But my parents, my father worked in the oil industry in Nigeria as a big oil producing country. But to those who had a lot of forest and animals, my parents were very passionate about animals. And they saw that they would sell the baby animals on the side of the street. So Nigerian people eat what they call bush meat. They kill the adult animal and sometimes there's a baby one. And then they try to sell it for some money. And my parents cared for those animals and they tried to keep them alive. And they would release them to the wild again. So as a little boy, I learned that from my parents how they take care of animals, try to release them back to the wild. So I got a great patient for animals. But different than my parents, I want to protect the actual habitat. I think it's more successful to protect the habitat than to try to protect the animal. If there's a habitat, the animal will be there. And when I came here for another reason, for aircraft wrecks, as I told you, I'm interested in history of the Second World War, I fell in love with the people and the land. And I thought I could use my time maybe to work with them to help the people to create maybe a better existence, a higher quality of life. But then the same time also work on conservation. I thought, why not? I was at the time not married. I was a single, so you know, can do whatever I wanted in my life. And I thought it was a more useful way of spending my life. So I choose for that just because of passion for nature. So I did make a dive resort, but it was not specific for the diving. It was, what can I do to make money? I don't like to, I don't, I want to make my own money. And then with my own money, I can work on conservation. So what I do, doing the resort, working with pop-on people, is already working on conservation and try to, as a diver, you try to protect the reef. So from the beginning where we're conservation minded, but later we put it into an organization. So we have a name and a title, and we can, let's say, work with the government because as an individual, it's a little difficult, but as an entity, it's more easy to communicate and get things going. And how many resorts do you have now in this location? We have two resorts, and both are, try to run in an environmental friendly way. A lot of people talk about zero, I find it a little bit funny. We do plant a lot of trees, so if you say how many trees do we plant, maybe you can say it's zero, but I think a resort, per se, cannot be in a way zero because you have things that you're doing. But if your contribution is more positive than negative, you're already doing something positive, and that's what we try to do. So we try to balance it with working with the local people, we try to balance it with how do we build? It's environmentally friendly, we do it with what kind of boats do we use, what kind of engines do we use, and we still do things wrong. We make a lot of mistakes, of course, but we are always trying to see how can we improve what we do. So you mentioned earlier that there's a number of unique conservation projects that you're working on that you wanted to talk about more. So I just want to give you an opportunity. What are some of those? Okay, for instance, in the diving industry, and also in transport wise, in an area with a lot of islands, we need boats. I found out by experience that the Katamaru boat design is about 65% more economic fuel wise. So that's a big contribution you can give. And so we are building Katamarams, and we're teaching other people also to build Katamarams. I think a lot of mistakes people make is they look at what they are doing, but that's a little thing. We are looking what we can do over a wider area. So if we teach people to build boats, they will keep on doing it, and keep on doing it, and they make a living. And at the same time, they help to have transportation that is 65%. and more fuel economic, which is a serious contribution towards being more environmentally friendly. So that's one of the projects we're interested in that we do. Another project we feel very happy about and proud about, especially our students. We were able to train not myself. We work with other people. We work, it's always working as a team. It's never one person. It's always a team, but we have some friends. And together with them, we've been able to train upon people to become aircraft pilots and aircraft mechanics. We're tremendously proud of the men. They come from villages that do not even have electricity. And they have to, like you and we ourselves, all of us here in this room, we, as a young child, you had electricity in your house, you learn how to work with the drill, you had the bicycle to learn how to pedal, then you maybe had a little motorcycle and at the certain point you had a car. They don't have any of that. And they have to learn from a very simple setting to learn how to fly an aircraft. That's a big step. There are many steps and they were able to do it. So we also do this, not only it's good for them to be able to help their own people, but we also do it because we see a lot of power when people kind of drop the towel and the ring and they give up. We say, no, don't give up, man, fight. You can get there. If you put your energy in and you have the right attitude, you could achieve something. Because a lot of people, they become like a victim. Well, I'm a victim, I'm poor and I can't do anything. Is it, no, man, you can do. And also I say to a lot of people, you're actually very rich, you own the land. I'm here as a foreigner, I don't own anything. I rent a piece of land, you own the land, you're rich. If you are a land owner, you're actually rich. You know how expensive it is to you. You want to have a house, you want to buy a piece of land because you're fortunate. So the people are rich, but you're not aware of it. Here I should note, it's important to recognize that while some of the people Amher has interacted with own their land, this is obviously not the same context as owning land in a more industrialized wealthy nation with all the opportunities and privileges that affords. But I understand the point Max is making here. - So I hope to make them understand, they have the tools, they have the power, they have to just understand that. And they can, and they have the right also in this country to take care of their own area. If they are an adult leader, they have, the land is theirs. According to the Indonesian law also, they just have to learn how to use the Indonesian law to benefit them. - Again, here's another important note. Roger Ampot land ownership is by customary law, not title deeds. This is an issue I alluded to at the beginning of this podcast. Roger Ampot homestays, like the one I state in, is one way in which local communities can obtain government support, keep their land, and make a living. Just as why you explained earlier and Max explains here, tourism developers coming in from the outside are one of the bigger threats to displacing local communities. - What's the work that's unique that you're doing here at the Roger Ampot Research and Conservation Center? - Okay, in this center, the main thing we do is create opportunities for others to do research here. So we work with local and outside universities and research institutes and organizations like yourself that we exchange knowledge, we host you. You wanna stay with us? We have a dormitory, it's not commercial, very low fee for staying. If people, for instance, students want to do some work that we feel is beneficial for the area. We often host them for free. They can stay with us for free. If we feel that they have a contribution, sometimes we feel the student is doing something for him or her, that's fine. But then we charge. But we feel they're really making a contribution for the local community. Then we say, okay, you can be for free because we feel this is helping the local people. So that is one of the things we're doing. We help other people to do their job, to do their work, to do their research. - Hans, do you have a question or two that you wanna ask? - Actually, I wanted to ask more about these shark conservation program that we just visited. Can you tell me more about that, about the background, how that idea, how that project come into fruition? And is that part of the Raja Bhatt Research Center? - Yes, it's part of the Raja Ampat Research and Conservation Center. But like I said, we work with a lot of other people. I think the initial idea came to come in the mind of Dr. Mark Irkmo, who is currently working for Conservation International. So he is very well connected and he realized that in Aquaria, there's a lot of, they wide-well reproduce. But in the wild, these sharks are almost extinct. So he thought, okay, then maybe we can take the wild breads, the aquarium bread, the fish and put them in the sea. So that was a general idea. And he is also very well connected and he got funding for this and he got with the idea. And then he really made a whole network. If I'm not mistaken, there are 97 different entities, part of this re-shark, this idea, and this people is sponsoring like a shark. And then they name it after a person and that person pays for whatever the call says to do it. So what we do to help them, we build the facility, we mandate the facility, we operate the facility. But the idea came from this entity that is called re-shark. They have a newsletter, there's a lot of people involved. It's really an amazing thing, because as you probably know, the zoos have been trying not to get animals from the wild anymore. If there's wild enemies into zoos, it's often people smuggle them and then they put them in the zoo because where you're gonna do with the animal. But in fact, they tried, in all days, they would harvest too many animals from the wild, but now that's no longer considered sustainable, you shouldn't do that. So they're really cleaned up their eggs, let's say. But aquariums are a little bit behind. So we try to entice aquariums, also, they're good deed. And in this way, they can have a contribution like that. So that's why people are all on board. They all are happy because they get good criticism and people like good criticism. And it's also a very, it's a nice idea. You help the wild to restock. And then a beautiful animal will no longer be extinct, but will be a, it is a beautiful animal. So any animal we can stop to be extinct is I think at least one step in the right direction. I mean, you know how much work there is, but it's at least a good step in the right direction. And I was very surprised how popular they are. I mean, people love these yards. Everyone is wild about it. We get reporters, people writing about it, document their makers all the time. I had an interview yesterday with a friend's reporter today with you, and on Friday, there will be the Dutch television. That's his one week. It's like, I never talked about this. To me, I own Mark Erdmann, a good friend of mine, he's an amazing guy. I think he's, I really, he's absolutely one of the top people in conservation. And we know it's sort of for many years. So when he came with ideas that I'm in, I'm super happy to help this. But yeah, but it's interesting. - It's all like a huge undertaking. - It is, yeah. - Major, I mean, the networking is insane. There's so many people involved, it's unbelievable, but it's a good thing. Like what we did for instance, say you asked what we did. We for instance invited the governor of West Papua to get an award for his involvement in conservation. It was so important to bring a person from Papua to the US and put him in a podium and give him credit for his work because he deserved it. His, he and his team did a lot of different things. At this moment, you guys are very much into forest. Eight is 70% of the forests of West Papua is dedicated for conservation. They call it the crown jewel of Tana Papua. But they don't get the credit for it. It's very difficult for a local government to make this happen. You know, there's so much to meet with people, there's organizations, it's a total nightmare and it's years of preparation. And to give them the credit for it, it's wonderful. And that helps them to keep motivated. If you, if you tell a guy, good job, then oh man, you were, let's keep on going. And if no one ever sells, so you do a good job here that they kind of, you know, they're working that bit often, no one says, think you are good. So we found out that the able, we got nine of the government officials, our organization, Richard Snyder and our organization together invited them to go to the US and be on the podium and get this, it was wonderful. It was a really amazing thing. And also, we did do it only for that, but it made it gives us a good working, you know, we have a very easy, we can just walk into the office and say, hey, how are you doing? And what can we do here? And we have a very good relationship, it helps. Like with, part party was very important in this. And we named one of the sharks after him. Of course, he was super happy to be here. He was supporting that. And last time he was at the farm, you know, the agriculture industry and he was willing to speak on the camera, we made a promotional film about it and we get all the support, but that's why it's, important and you say, "Oh, thank you for your time. I'm happy to spare my time because we can all help each other that way because it's a hard job and everyone that is doing something that's something and we should all support each other and I've done a bit of work. I mean, when I started with conservation, I taught it by myself and I knew nothing many years ago. I said, "I need educational material with the trained kids. I already realized to train the kids is one of the best things. But how am I going to do that? What do I know about educational materials for conservation? I know nothing." So I write every organization I can find. I didn't know about you guys and you didn't exist and I think. But the only one replied me was Mark Erdogan. He replied me. He got the educational material and he sent it to me. So I thought, "This is not a guy that talks. This is a guy that does something." So ever since we've been a friend and he was, let's say, still a piece, these students and not well-known and he have been growing and we also, but we have always been supporting each other. We support each other. We both working on the same thing. We tell everyone from each other, "Good guy, good guy, good guy." And many success come out of that. And that's how you can help each other. But this is a good guy. This is a good guy. And when I find someone, I connect him and he knows someone for something connecting me and we do more and more and more because of that. I'm curious to hear because you've been here for 33 years and obviously a lot has happened in that time. The island of New Guinea and West, and obviously the, the engine used to have the West Pacquo isn't a unique position where it has 70 to 80% force cover and protected. And so the idea here is that now the island is in a place where it's going to develop critical human infrastructure. I'm curious to hear from you. Do you see that happening in a just and equitable way? And if not, what do you think needs to change? Now it is going to be very difficult. That is clear. The thing is, I believe that the Indonesian government, the true government, the president and his cabinet have a good plan, I mean well. But you always have scrupulous business people that don't care and they just think about themselves. And that's why it's so important to work together to empower the people but also educate them. The problem is because it's a remote area, there are unfortunately a lot of lesser educated people and that is a bit of a problem. There are very good people but they by tradition not work together very well. So what the governor has been we're trying to do is let them work as a team. And I tell them that you cannot win if you don't work as a team. If you all are individual, you will all lose. But when you combine your knowledge and work as a team, so that is something that is needed. But there's a lot of things needed. So I believe that the general plans of the government are positive that they try to do the right things. Unfortunately, there's a large area that can under the radar do a lot of logging and all the kind of nasty stuff. And you guys are of course instrumental to make that known. So then some people will give a bad light and then people don't want to be in the spotlight in a negative way like the right-jumpot. Because it's known, you can't do serious logging in the right-jumpot. You're going to damage the right-jumpot, you'll be get all over the news, you're going to be so they take off. But now they take off and they do it somewhere else. Those guys don't stop. If they can't do it here, they go there. And where did they go? Somewhere that they're a little bit out of the spotlight. So the remote areas are the ones that will suffer most. So we try to work in the remote areas and we try to just help the people to realize that they have the power to stop things. They don't like it, stop it. They can. The local, the government in Indonesia has good rules for the local people, actually especially for the pop and people. The pop and people actually very powerful compared with other people in Indonesia. Because they have the other right is considered more powerful, almost in the Indonesian law. So if they say no, no one can law. But if they say yes, they can. And a lot of times there's no other opportunity. When people have not much money, what are they going to do to survive? You know, we sometimes are, we don't, we have to understand, I try to understand the people. Like for instance, I work with fish and man. So we need fish for our resource. So I buy them from the local people. I could fish myself, but I don't want to do that. I want to buy from the local people. So they have extra income from this resource by selling fish to us. So I make a deal with the guys, no shark finning and no turtle poaching. I said, when you do that, I won't buy your fish. So one guy runs to me and said, oh, Max, he has a turtle in the boat. Oh, I'm going to the guy. What are you doing, man? We're making agreement no turtle in boat. Come and sit and talk. So I get him here and I sit and talk. Then he tells me he has a daughter that would like to go to high school. He has no money. I have also a daughter. My daughter can go to university. I have the money. He has not. What I'm going to say to such a father, you know? So I kind of make a deal that I bought this turtle and I release it again. But I mean, I don't want to buy also the turtle because then I'm supporting buying turtle. So it's sometimes very complicated, but we cannot be angry with people that have, you know, that's why I say, come with the solution. Not say what they shouldn't do because the guy is poor and he wants his daughter. Your daughter is your diamond, is your peril. You know, you want to take care of her and you can't bring it to school. You have no money. That's not a nice situation as a father, you know what I mean? So I have to try to understand then when he caught this turtle, he saw this opportunity to make some money and he could give it to a daughter. So I have to, you know, also realize that so it's a little bit complicated, which is easy for us to say this is bad, but if you are poor, you know, what are you going to do? So that's why let's together look at solutions. What can they do that could make them a better living than now, which is also good for the environment and those possibilities are there, which is a lot of working together and not too easy. Roger Ampat is increasingly becoming, people are becoming more aware of Roger Ampat as the years go by and it's everything from the natural beauty, like the photographs are just amazing. And so the interest level is rising. I, from my perspective. So what would you say to people who are interested in visiting Roger Ampat, who've never been here before? No, it's a, I mean, it is a very beautiful place to visit. I can understand that. Be careful how you travel. Try to, like we say, in the diving industry, only leave bubbles, you know, not leave trash when you bring your garbage, take it away with you, don't, there's no way to recycle batteries and things like that, such things. And, and try to work with environmentally conscious companies. There are, I feel, I do feel that a lot of them promote it and I see not so much action. So find someone that has also action, not just talking. They call themselves biodes and whatever and I think. I don't see anything, man, I see nothing, yet I say they do beach cleaning up. Everyone clean up the beach. That's normal. That's not, that's not action. That's just, stand there. You sweep your floor, you clean your garden. So there's normal. That is not, we can't call that action, but that's what they call action. I mean, that's, that's silly. Everyone does that. But with people that employ local people, train local people, you know, environmentally try to work with the right boats, try to build in a way that is environmentally friendly and and has some other projects beside that they run a dive resort or something like that. And don't think, and that's a thing, something, some people are wrong about, they think that by definition traditional people will do things better. No, if you give them a bulldozer, they will build those are the forest down to. Sometimes they don't do it because they don't have the means. If you have the tool, if it changed or you got a tree down, if you don't have a, change or you need a, a wooden or you have a stone axe, it takes a long time to cut a tree down. You can do it, but it takes forever. So by definition, it's not only, sometimes I hear that, and it's made me feel a little bit bad because it's, oh, you're a foreigner, it's, it doesn't mean that we do things worse. We're very try to be environmentally conscious. And you can nowadays, through the internet, find out such things. So I think it makes sense to do some research and, and support organizations and even businesses and, and whatever that are serious with conservation, that take it, that try to do the right thing. And no one will do everything right, but at least make a serious effort. And that's the main thing. I will say. Max, thank you so much for joining us today. It was a pleasure having you on the show. Okay, thank you very much for coming over and you're welcome. Thank you. At long last, the day where I might get to see and hear not just one, but two birds of paradise arrived. And I awoke with much enthusiasm at four in the morning to prepare to head to Waigeo with the rest of the crew. Good morning, 4am. Start outside. We're going to go to see some birds. Our journey started by taking a boat to the island where we met up with a team of experienced local birdwatchers guided by Benny Mombersar, a renowned birding veteran with 30 years of experience. Upon reaching the trailhead, which was several kilometers up mountain, the anticipation grew as the sounds of the rainforest and the pitch black morning hours enveloped us. The bird you're hearing in the background is the hooded witcher bird. Up another 15-minute hike we came to a clearing with seats and netting that would obscure us from feathered onlookers. Benny fixed his telescope upwards at the canopy and we sat and waited as the sun rose. And then finally a red bird of paradise flew into our view. A male identified by its red plumage and corkscrew tail feathers was attempting to attract a mate. It was our hope that we could witness the famous courtship ritual where the bird fans its impressive feathers and literally struts back and forth on the branch to impress and gain the favor of a mate. Unfortunately there would be no opportunity for that today. Benny took us back down the path and we moved on to the second watch site where we hope to see Wilson's bird paradise. Fun fact its scientific name was given by Napoleon's nephew Charles. Incredibly this bird was not filmed until 1996 by David Attenborough. The bird reminded me almost of an ornate piece of jewelry. It's black with a light blue crown and tiny yellow mane, red wings and two curly cute feathers extending from its bottom that almost look like notes on a page. It was truly a sight to see. Our bird also very interested in attracting a mate, cleaned leaves and small twigs off the ground and purchased self on a branch waiting and calling. It felt surreal to sit in silence, simply listening to the call of these mythic birds that I came to know over two years ago and was certainly probably never seen. The reality is most people will never see these birds. But the fact that I could come to this island, stay in accommodations built by and run by local communities and merely take an hour-long journey into the forest to see a bird that used to take ornithologist days or weeks to catch a glimpse of gave me chills. Certainly more people will want to see and experience this incredible terrestrial and marine biodiversity of Roger Ampat. Before we said our goodbyes I got a chance to speak with our guide Benny with a little help from why you. Benny is from the village of Sapokren, just down the road from where we stood. So Benny thank you for speaking with me today so can you tell me how long have you been studying the birds of paradise and what brought you to this kind of work? I studied 2015 for a little bird, many many birds and also we did a forest for five to four birds, right? Birds of paradise and it wasn't Birds of paradise and then after that I built the hide, I built the hide for the Birds of paradise and I built the hide for the Birds of paradise. And have there been a lot of tourists that have that you've taken on on journeys through the forest? Yes, I have a lot of a lot of customer who bring to the forest for see the Birds of paradise. And do you employ any people here in the village? Yes, I did. And how many? Uh 15 people. Here why you helped me ask Benny if the increase in tourism translated into an increase in well-being and quality of life for his village? What do you mean by the increase in the quality of life here? Oh yes, our people in the village they really they have a benefit also for the tourism because they they really understand about the sustenable of the region. That's why now people in the village they really protect the area and also I work together with the people in the fields and then they really they realize about the tourism. While you told me through hunting or capturing Birds of paradise communities could earn 100,000 rupiah per bird which is the equivalent of six US dollars. But if the birds were left alone a single tourist visit could earn them 400,000 rupiah or roughly 25 US dollars. Before they didn't know the the price of the the bird by by taking the tourists to watch to see the birds mating to see the beautiful feeder that they have they just hunt in the bird and selling just only maybe one thousand rupiah, 100,000 rupiah. But now from the ecotourism one tourist they can pay more than 400,000 rupiah. They now can live and invest the ecotourism and the as their men left with right. While ecotourism has benefited local communities like Benny's and many others we visited in Raja Ampot many people are not happy about the region being split up into five provinces. Previously just one province Indonesian Papua was split into Papua and West Papua in the early 2000s. Raja Ampot isn't what used to be called West Papua but is now somewhat counterintuitively referred to as Southwest Papua even though it is in the northwest region of the island. There are a lot of layers to this story but to summarize the central government of Indonesia argues that splitting the region into five provinces will allow the country to expedite infrastructure development that would benefit local Papuans. However local Papuans didn't get a say in this matter even though they technically have the rights to their land they were not consulted on this issue. This lead to protests in 2022. Manga Bay's Hans Nicholeseong reported on it if you'd like more information. While much of Raja Ampot is a marine protected area the rest of Papua faces threats from potential development or jeopardizing the conservation plans to protect 70% of its forest cover under the 2018 manic-warry declaration. If you want more information on that the first episode in the third season of Manga Bay Explorers covers it suffice it to say nothing is for certain and plenty of reasons remain to be concerned about the long-term conservation of the largest expanse of intact forests in Southeast Asia. To that end why you had more to say about this referring to the controversial and imbattled trans Papua in highway as coin with two sides. So I just have one question left for you here um why you and that it has to do with I has to do with everything you've been mentioning about the positive effects of eucotourism. Obviously not not everyone can rely on eucotourism it's you know it's important but there are some people that are going to have to have alternative forms of livelihood. However a scientist I interviewed for the Manga Bay Explorers series on the whole island of New Guinea said the whole island you know Papua New Guinea and Papua are in a unique position because it is an island that is mostly still forested 80 80% forested and it has the it has the advantage of being able to develop without destroying nature and I just want to hear from your opinion do you do you see that happening do you see do you see Papua adopting and developing you know critical human infrastructure without destroying all that land. Yeah I see so many things here in Papua especially in the mainland how right now the The road building right now has spread out and it's make a positive I think for the Papuan to get more education because they're from Remot area can go to the city to take the higher education there and also they can bring their like natural resource and they can sell in the city it's the positive impact but that we must care and that we must be careful is how the how they're built with how they're starting the ecosystem with how they starting the forest area and thank you to the government of Papua West Papua and now I forget they have five new province so now Papua in Indonesian side have five provinces right now here we in Rajampat is South West Papua. South West Papua. South West Papua Provinces and West Papua Provinces and they have commitment to make the Manapuri Declaration that they must keep protect the 80% of their forests not this or the forest but still the the development still in tech with with the forest and what would you say what do you have an opinion on the transpop when highway do you think that that's going to be helpful or do you think that could possibly present a hindrance to achieving the goals of the Manapuri Declaration. Yeah I think it's like the transpop one it's like it's like to set off to set of coin you know to set of money yeah if we can the Papua and people will have to advantage from that but if the government not be careful with the development it will be a negative impact for the Papua and people so yeah the government must think and must uplift in the Papuan people can join and they can still have a positive impact from the development that government built here in Papua. I want to acknowledge the communities of Diane Kate Cree and Sapokrang special thanks to Edwin schools for helping to identify the hooded butcher bird heard in the audio of this podcast if you want to read more on Roger Ompot please see the related articles listed in the show notes of this podcast Manga Bay staff writers Boston Gokin and Hans Nicholis Young will have additional reporting in the coming weeks as always if you're enjoying the Manga Bay newscast or any of our podcast content like our sister series Manga Bay explores and you want to help us out we encourage you to spread the word about the work we're doing by telling a friend word of mouth is still the best way to help expand our reach but as always you can support us by becoming a monthly sponsor via our Patreon page at patreon.com/manga Bay. 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Thanks as always for listening.