This study examines the fire regime and its driving factors in Wasur National Park, Indonesia. This study employs a MODIS hotspot time-series analysis to examine the relationship between hotspot detections and climatic variables, supported by in-depth interviews with key informants from Kanume, an indigenous people living in Wasur NP. The findings reveal that the monsoonal climate, with its distinct dry and wet seasons, is strongly associated with annual variations in hotspot detection. From 2000 to 2023, hotspot detections were concentrated in the dry season, beginning in May-July, peaking in September-October, and declining in November-December when the wet season began. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that rainfall, number of rainy days, wind speed, and relative humidity are all associated with hotspot detections, whereas temperature shows a negligible relationship. El Niño and La Niña anomalies are linked to interannual variations in hotspot detections. Beyond climatic factors, Indigenous fire-use practices tied to local livelihoods provide a plausible anthropogenic pathway for burning. Based on Kanume's seasonal calendar, traditional burning commonly occurs during Tebrasaro and Sep-Sep; however, changes in burning practices and environmental conditions may increase the likelihood of less controlled fires. Beyond proximate climatic and human fire -use practices, fire activity patterns in Wasur NP reflect broader socio-ecological processes shaped by political-economic transformations and governance systems. These findings highlight the importance of fire governance approaches that recognize Indigenous fire governance systems and strengthen collaboration between state and customary institutions.
Dominant marine conservation and blue economy paradigms systematically prioritize biophysical metrics, such as biodiversity or carbon sequestration, frequently rendering the cultural and subsistence values of coastal communities invisible. This study contests these biophysically-centered frameworks by applying a holistic valuation approach to seagrass meadows at the Selayar Archipelago, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Utilizing the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) framework as an instrument for recognition of cultural values, we applied participatory methodologies to evaluate the relational values embedded in traditional gleaning—the small-scale, intertidal harvesting of marine invertebrates (a'sulo/ngatti-ngatti). The findings reveal a socio-economic and cultural reality that contradicts formal market assessment: 52.2% of harvested biomass bypasses formal cash economies, serving as a crucial non-monetary safety net. Moreover, results from a participatory Token Allocation Game suggest that local inhabitants prioritize non-extractive cultural services (social cohesion and healing, 52%) over direct economic extraction (48%). While we apply the Replacement Cost method to illustrate the ecosystem's crucial role as an active ``Natural School'' for intergenerational knowledge transfer, we argue these monetary estimates serve as tactical, illustrative proxies rather than functional substitutes. Rather than merely presenting alternative economic metrics, this study asserts that these relational values are not simply undervalued, they cannot be fully captured through the dominant metric driving global blue economy and carbon agendas. As Indonesia rapidly advances its blue economy, we contend that relying exclusively on carbon-centric legibility risks enclosing the marine commons, disenfranchising local populations and overlooking intangible, critical values coastal ecosystems provide. Coastal governance and national policies must urgently evolve to incorporate these structurally invisible socio-cultural dimensions.
This article examines pelimau dapur, a Malay post-confinement ritual practised by some families in Kampung Alor Limbat, Terengganu. It investigates how ritual knowledge is transmitted, how natural and processed materials acquire cultural, spiritual, and perceived therapeutic meanings, and how the practice is reshaped by religious, social, healthcare, and material change. The study employed a focused ethnographic case study design involving semi-structured interviews with eight purposively selected participants (two traditional midwives and six women with direct experience of the ritual), together with participant observation, field notes, and visual documentation. The data were analysed thematically. The findings show that pelimau dapur functions as a culturally recognised form of pelepas that marks the conclusion of postpartum confinement and the mother's reintegration into everyday family and community life. Its continuity depends on the embodied authority of the bidan, intergenerational transmission, family support, and access to trusted practitioners. The ritual has nevertheless changed through the replacement of coconut fronds with flour or talcum powder, the transition from well water to tap water, and the use of Qur'anic recitations in place of earlier ritual formulas. These changes demonstrate that ritual resilience is achieved through selective adaptation rather than the unchanged preservation of tradition. The study contributes to debates on rites of passage, medical pluralism, and socio-ecological transformation by showing how Malay postpartum knowledge is renegotiated across religion, infrastructure, mobility, markets, and maternal healthcare.
How are the moral relations between communities and the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) being reconfigured as forests fragment and land-use change accelerates across Sumatra's conservation landscape? This article addresses that question ethnographically, drawing on forty semi-structured interviews conducted in Agam and Pasaman Regencies (West Sumatra) between April and June 2026 and interviews with Yayasan SINTAS Indonesia. The article documents the three animistic category of the tiger, comprising Datuk/ancestor, harimau jadi-jadian, and harimau tandang, and traces how it is being reshaped by habitat fragmentation, commodity-driven land expansion, generational interruption of customary authority, and state translocation protocols. Cases from Agam and Pasaman show that the same kind of sighting yields divergent outcomes, a buried relative, cattle predator, a rehabilitated administrative subject, or a marketable carcass, depending on which institution (pawang, BKSDA, NGO, or illegal-trade collector) retains operational authority at the moment of conflict. Conservation programmes in Indonesia frequently treat sacred values and ``local wisdom'' as stable cultural inheritances; the material presented here shows instead that these moral relations are conditional and subject to transformation. Using a cosmopolitical-frontier framework, the article argues that effective conservation must engage the plural forms of human–tiger relation simultaneously at work and the political-economic forces that recalibrate them, rather than treating community engagement as the recovery of a stable cultural inheritance.
The catastrophic forest and peatland fires of 2015 served as a critical juncture for Indonesia, catalyzing an unprecedented wave of policy reforms aimed at fire prevention and ecosystem restoration. Despite this, major fire events recurred in 2019 and 2023, exposing a persistent gap between policy ambition and on-the-ground reality. This article investigates the underlying reasons for this continued policy failure. This study employs a qualitative, interpretive approach, drawing on 25 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders across government, the corporate sector, civil society, and local communities conducted between 2023 and 2024. The analysis reveals that Indonesia's fire crisis is not merely a technical or enforcement problem but a political one, rooted in deep-seated policy contention. This contention is driven by the clash of four powerful, competing institutional logics: state-led developmentalism, corporate profit-seeking, community livelihood security, and transnational environmental conservation. These conflicting logics create policy incoherence, paralyze effective governance, and enable powerful actors to subvert conservation-oriented regulations. Technical solutions such as reforestation and peatland rewetting are insufficient without addressing the structural political-economic conflicts that fuel the fires. Meaningful progress requires enhancing policy coherence, reforming corporate accountability mechanisms, and empowering local communities.
