How indigenous prosperity can save the planet | Bustar Maitar | TEDxAmazônia

Quick Overview

Bustar Maitar advocates for defending paradise by empowering indigenous communities in Indonesia's Papua and Maluku regions to sustainably manage their forests, proving that their prosperity and traditional ways of life are essential for global climate stability and biodiversity protection, exemplified by the KoBumi cooperative's successful market access and land protection efforts.

Key Points: The Indonesian government agreed to a moratorium on deforestation for palm oil and paper production between 2009 and 2013, which was later revoked, showing ongoing challenges. Indonesia's rainforests, particularly in Papua and Maluku (home to 15 million indigenous people), store massive amounts of carbon vital for global climate stability. The KoBumi cooperative, an indigenous-led trading company, connects indigenous communities to national and international markets for non-timber forest products. Key achievements by 2022 included revoking 17 palm oil concession permits, preventing deforestation equivalent to 2.5 times the size of Los Angeles, and avoiding 160,000 one-way jumbo jet flight emissions. The cooperative model focuses on 'The Right Support,' including financing small infrastructure, paying transparent prices, and offering on-site product pickup. The goal for 'Next Year' (from the time of presentation) was expanding to 15 cooperatives across 10 provinces, increasing international market presence to 25% across 6 countries, and protecting an additional 100,000 hectares of indigenous land.

Context: Bustar Maitar presents at TEDxAmazônia about the critical role of indigenous communities, specifically in Indonesia's Papua and Maluku islands, in protecting the world's remaining tropical forests, which are crucial carbon sinks. He introduces KoBumi, an indigenous-led trading cooperative established in 2016, designed to create economic prosperity for these communities through sustainable trade of non-timber forest products, thereby providing an economic incentive for forest preservation against threats like mining, logging, and palm oil expansion.