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On plastic, we need local concern
Lamalera village in East Nusa Tenggara has been prominent for traditional whale hunting, a suspense-packed action between May and July that has for decades attracted tourists from near and far
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span>Lamalera village in East Nusa Tenggara has been prominent for traditional whale hunting, a suspense-packed action between May and July that has for decades attracted tourists from near and far. Few would know, however, the centuries-old ritual has shaped a local culture that will contribute much to the country’s fight against marine debris, particularly plastics.
Long before the government called for concerted efforts to combat plastic waste, the Lamalera people have for generations learned how to keep their sea clean. In the current context, they deem plastics as modern trash that will damage their marine environment.
The local tradition, called ola nu', perceives the sea as a sacred mother. The sea has the ability to nurture, protect and provide life to villagers who depend on it. In return, the local people try to keep the sea happy by not sullying it with trash, including plastic waste. The locals respect their sea and accept its bounty.
While hunting for whales, the sanctity of the sea must be kept intact. Hunting itself is considered a sacred activity, as the people take gifts from their sacred mother. That’s the reason why Lamalera people stick to traditional equipment.
No plastic is involved in the hunting, to be precise. They use harpoons made of bamboo and ropes woven from Gebang leaf and hibiscus tree bark.
The tradition demands all Lamalera whale hunters to obey the rules. If any of the whalers, for example, breaks the customs there will be consequences. He might get tangled in the rope or be squeezed between the whale and tena (wooden boat).
In 1973, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as cited by the anthropologist Robert Barnes, sent a whaling ship and a Norwegian whaler to modernize the hunt in Lamalera, located 190 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Kupang.
[...] an international treaty on single-use plastics [...] seems to be a spectacular breakthrough, but it might be blunt on the local level.
This effort, however, was short-lived because the local people deemed the modern method of whaling only harmed the social order and culture.
Lamalera customary leaders, along with Catholic Church leaders, then asked the local government to pull the foreign ship out. The ship has been parked in Besa Beach in Larantuka, 56 km west of Lamalera.
Traditions, as the Lamalera people have shown, are really contributive in the fight against plastic, but have often been overlooked.
Governments tend to resort to a top-down approach through international treaties, legislation and regulations, which turn out to be unenforceable in many parts of the world due to a lack of sanctions imposed on offenders.
Environmental initiatives that spring from the ground up and emerge from local concerns can collectively result in a powerful global impact, even without fanfare.
Many assume that such rapid and widespread shifts in environmental policies around the world can only be the product of an international treaty or, at the very least, the outcome of a highly organized international campaign by leading environmental organizations. But, in the case of plastic use, the movement appears to be largely local and largely ad hoc.
In the fight against plastic, strengthening local concerns is more effective than any top-down approach. Community-based movements or locality-based concerns should be a starting point for solving the plastic waste problem in Indonesia and around the world.
For instance, the student admissions committee at SMP 1 state junior high school in Jogonalan in the Central Java town of Klaten advocates for reducing plastic waste, running the Plastic Diet Program.
The Plastic Diet Program is an example of how to solve the plastics problem based on community initiatives.
So, enacting an international treaty on single-use plastics or tightening regulations on importing plastic waste seems to be a spectacular breakthrough, but it might be blunt on the local level.
Saying “no” to plastic based on local context is relevant and significant right now. In regard to that, dealing with local communities, indigenous people, their wisdom and traditions, including local activists should be an important agenda to anchor our environmental concerns globally.
Indonesia’s rich cultures and traditions are fertile ground for the campaign against plastic waste. The government’s protection of and respect for the cultures will enable transfer of values about environmental preservation to children from an early age.
Children in Lamalera learn from their parents how to respect the sea, while kids of Boti, Insana, Tetum and other tribes in the East Nusa Tenggara island of Timor watch adults hold rituals to ask for sustainability of their land and lives.
People in the country’s outlying regions did not take part in the many fancy parades to raise public awareness of the need to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic, but they know how to deal with it.
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The writer is a member of the Forum for Coastal Customary People (FORMAT-P) and a social researcher for the Detukeli Research Center in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara.
