Manawari Sago Forest, Last Bastion of Hope for Yerisiam People

Sagu Manawari hamlet is not only a place where people make their livelihood, but also a cultural identity for the Yerisiam tribe, with sago extraction having been done by their ancestors for hundreds of years.

Kompas/Bahana Patria Gupta

Alfrida Maniburi carries sago powder in the Manawari Sago Forest, Sima Village, Yaur District, Nabire Regency, Monday (26/4/2021). The Manawari Sago Forest is the remaining sago forest in Kampung Sima, after many customary forests were turned into oil palm plantations.

After their customary forest was turned into oil palm plantations, the people of Kampung Sima in Nabire regency, Papua, have staunchly defended the remaining forest area. The forest contains a stretch of sago palms they live on.

Monday (26/4/2021) at around 1 p.m. Eastern Indonesia Time, the atmosphere in an enclave of the sago palm forest in Sima village, Yaur district, Nabire regency, was very quet. Only the sound of chirping birds, buzzing insects and cracking sago trunks being pounded by local people could be heard.