Samuel Mansmor policing nature

Tantri Yuliandini, Jakarta

One of the winners of this year's annual Kalpataru environmental award, is Samuel Mansmor, a former policeman from Saba Warwe village, East Biak in the Biak Numfor regency of West Papua, who won the category of Environmental Pioneer.

Samuel received the Kalpataru for his role in stopping the use of chemicals and explosives in fishing, for initiating the mapping of his region and getting his community to participate in protecting the environment.

Born 63 years ago, this father of six began his environmental crusade in the 1980s when he worked as an East Biak subdistrict chief of police. His appointment in the police force in 1960 -- at the time still under the Dutch government -- Samuel attributed to "a call from God".

At the time, overfishing through unsustainable fishing practices, the use explosives and chemical substances around the islands of Padaido in Biak Numfor, and the resulting destruction of coral reefs caused Samuel great concern.

The islands of Padaido, just off the shore of East Biak, are home to 197 species of coral fish, 26 species of birds, 14 species of reptiles, seven species of mammals, and four species of insects. The islands are also famous for their beautiful coral reefs, of which the percentage of live coral ranges between 42 and 78 percent.

The waters around the islands are also home to fish stocks with high economic value such as the napoleon fish, snapper, grouper, tuna, emperor fish, rabbitfish, and the spanish mackerel. They are also home to 34 species of ornamental fish.

"I know that should they (the reefs) be destroyed by explosives and potassium cyanide, the livelihood of the people today and for generations to come would also be destroyed," he said in an interview at the office of the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (Kehati) in Jakarta shortly after the award ceremony at the State Palace on June 7.

Samuel said most of the explosives used to bomb reefs came from leftover ammunition from World War II found underwater, "fishermen take this (ammunition) and use the materials inside to make bombs," he said, explaining one of his jobs was to take into custody these errant fishermen.

Using rowboats and sailboats, Samuel would also visit villages four to eight hours away in North Padaido, South Padaido, and East Biak, to educate them about the dangers of overfishing and the importance of environmental conservation.

His environmental conservation work only intensified when Samuel retired from the police force in 1990. His last official rank was sergeant major.

Already a respected public figure in East Biak, the villagers of Saba Warwe appointed Samuel as their village leader.

"This gave me an even bigger opportunity to make villagers aware of the importance of conservation and teach them to protect the ocean's biodiversity," Samuel, accompanied by his wife, Esterlina Iraria, said.

Environmental organizations such as Kehati, which came on the scene in 1992, provided Samuel with the conservation training he needed.

"We created programs with Kehati on how to secure our natural resources so they wouldn't diminish and become extinct," he said, explaining that the organizations also helped the people of Saba Warwe to identify the boundaries of their region and get the community to participate in their protection and conservation.

The Saba Warwe village originally was comprised of many floating houses on the Yapen Straits until a tidal wave in 1996 destroyed it and the community was forced to move to their traditionally held land.

"I helped the people move from their floating houses to land, and I made roads," Samuel said.

This drastic move was one of the reasons why the community -- whose livelihood before then had depended so much on ocean resources -- had many difficulties in adapting to life on land.

To give the community food alternatives, with the help of an agriculturalist from Malang's Brawijaya University, Samuel experimented in growing crops such as cassava, sweet potato, taro, and corn.

"I now own 200 coconut trees in Numfor, and because I tested every crop myself, I have many kinds of crops, including areca nuts," he said. Seeing his success, Samuel's neighbors followed suit.

In preaching about the importance of environmental conservation, Samuel often draws on his people's traditional wisdom, punctuating his teachings with sayings like swan fan mangundi (the sea provides food) and declaring nasinen or sasi -- taboos that forbid people from exploiting a resource for a period of time.

With the help of environmental organizations, Samuel and the people of his community successfully integrated this ancient knowlege into a set of village regulations, which Samuel hopes will eventually be formalized in a decree by the regional administration.

"It is forbidden to fish using bombs and potassium (cyanide), and fishing tools that are allowed include three- or four-inch purse seine (nets), but not one-inch seine because small fishes will also get caught," Samuel said, explaining the agreed sanction between the village elders was a maximum of Rp 10 million (about US$1,064) and antique Dutch plates.

With outside help, the people of Saba Warwe have completed more detailed maps of their region's natural resources.

"We now have eight kinds of maps, including boundaries, soil types, family land, residential area, land use, and sea maps," Samuel said.

Conservation training continues in the area and Samuel can now boast that most of the younger generation in his village can conduct surveys and understand conservation and mapping techniques.

"They can now teach people from other villages," he said proudly. With village elections in August, Samuel is confident his successor will continue his conservation mission.