tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/sulawesi-32345/articlesSulawesi – The Conversation2024-03-08T16:21:36Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2242842024-03-08T16:21:36Z2024-03-08T16:21:36ZRestored coral reefs can grow as fast as healthy reefs after just four years – new study<p>The coral reefs of south Sulawesi are some of the most diverse, colourful and vibrant in the world. At least, they used to be, until they were <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/rec.12866">decimated by dynamite fishing</a> in the 1990s. </p>
<p>As part of a team of coral reef ecologists based in Indonesia and the UK, we study the reefs around Pulau Bontosua, a small Indonesian island in south Sulawesi. Thirty years on, what were once large areas of thriving coral are now degraded sites are still devoid of colour, fish and other marine life. Broken skeletons of dead corals roll around on the seabed, crushing and killing any new coral larvae that try to settle and preventing the reefs from recovering naturally. </p>
<p>In many places around the world, damage like this might be described as irreparable. But at Pulau Bontosua, the story is different. Here, efforts by the <a href="https://www.buildingcoral.com/">Mars coral restoration programme</a> have brought back the coral and important ecosystem functions, as outlined by our new study, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.009">published in Current Biology</a>. We found that within just four years, restored reefs grow at the same rate as nearby healthy reefs. </p>
<p>The Mars coral restoration programme is one of the world’s largest restoration projects and has collaborated with local communities for more than a decade. Healthy coral fragments are attached to hexagonal, sand-covered steel frames called “reef stars”. These reef stars are installed on damaged reefs, where they stabilise the loose rubble, support growth of new coral and provide habitat for reef animals to move in.</p>
<h2>Speedy recovery</h2>
<p>The transplanted corals grow remarkably quickly. Within a year, fragments have developed into proper colonies. After two years, they interlock branches with their neighbours. After just four years, they completely overgrow the reef star structures and restoration sites are barely distinguishable from nearby healthy reefs.</p>
<p>The combined growth of many corals generates a complex limestone (calcium carbonate) framework. This provides habitat for marine life and protects nearby shorelines from storm damage by <a href="https://theconversation.com/coral-reefs-work-as-natures-sea-walls-it-pays-to-look-after-them-26655">absorbing up to 97% of coastal wave energy</a>. </p>
<p>We measured the overall growth of the reef framework by calculating its <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/projects/geography/reefbudget/">carbonate budget</a>. That’s the balance between limestone production (by calcifying corals and coralline algae) and erosion (by grazing sea urchins and fishes, for example). A healthy reef produces up to 20kg reef structure per square metre per year, while a degraded reef is shrinking rather than growing, as erosion exceeds limestone production. Therefore, overall reef growth gives an indication of reef health.</p>
<p>At Pulau Bontosua, our survey data shows that in the years following restoration, coral cover, coral colony sizes and carbonate production rates tripled. Within four years, restored reefs were growing at the same speed as healthy reefs, and thereby provided the same important ecosystem functions.</p>
<p>This success is encouraging, but challenges still remain. The corals used to construct these restored reefs are predominantly branching coral types, chosen by the restoration team because they are easier to attach to the reef stars. This means that restored reefs have a lower diversity of coral types than healthy reefs, which host an abundance of boulder-like and encrusting corals as well as branching types. </p>
<p>These structural differences may affect the species of marine life that inhabit the reef. Branching corals are also notoriously sensitive to <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coral-bleaching-and-how-we-can-stop-it">bleaching</a>, which happens when warmer water temperatures cause stress to corals and turn them white. Differences in the types of coral making up the reef ecosystem may therefore affect the reef’s ability to survive future heat waves. </p>
<h2>A warming world</h2>
<p>Marine heat waves are becoming <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-barrier-reef-has-been-bleaching-for-at-least-400-years-but-its-getting-worse-101691">more frequent and severe</a> and pose a huge threat to coral reefs and restoration efforts worldwide. Recently, thousands of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-heroic-effort-to-save-floridas-coral-reef-from-extreme-ocean-heat-as-corals-bleach-across-the-caribbean-210974">nursery corals had to be rescued</a> when water temperatures spiked in the Florida Keys.</p>
<p>It’s imperative that coral reef restoration strategies include plans for warming waters. In some cases, efforts can be prioritised in areas where transplanted corals are less likely to encounter lethal conditions in the near future. In other cases, projects can enhance coral heat tolerance through <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-barrier-reef-can-repair-itself-with-a-little-help-from-science-85182">assisted evolution</a>. </p>
<p>There is some evidence that coral heat tolerance can also <a href="https://theconversation.com/remote-pacific-coral-reef-shows-at-least-some-ability-to-cope-with-ocean-warming-new-study-211852">increase naturally</a>. Whether this coral adaptation can keep pace with ocean warming will depend on global action to cut carbon emissions.</p>
<p>Outcomes of any reef restoration project will depend on environmental conditions, natural coral larvae supply, restoration techniques and the effort invested in maintaining the project. This Indonesian project shows that when conditions are right and efforts are well placed, success is possible. Hopefully, this inspires further global efforts to restore functioning coral reefs and to recreate a climate in which they can thrive.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ines Lange receives funding from the Bertarelli Program in Marine Science. Logistical research support for this study was provided by Mars Sustainable Solutions.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Lamont receives funding from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and the Fisheries Society of the British Isles. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tries Blandine Razak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Artificial reef stars have been added to damaged coral reefs in Sulawesi, Indonesia. A new study shows that within just four years, restored reefs are thriving as much as healthy reefs.Ines Lange, Senior Research Fellow in Coral Reef Ecology, University of ExeterTim Lamont, Research Fellow, Lancaster UniversityTries Blandine Razak, Researcher, IPB UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2140702023-10-26T22:55:00Z2023-10-26T22:55:00ZBringing a shark to a knife fight: 7,000-year-old shark-tooth knives discovered in Indonesia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555981/original/file-20231026-37260-5cxl3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C31%2C5083%2C3414&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tiger-shark-jaw-showing-teeth-343934774">Matthew R McClure/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Excavations on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have uncovered two unique and deadly artefacts dating back some 7,000 years – tiger shark teeth that were used as blades.</p>
<p>These finds, reported in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.144">Antiquity</a>, are some of the earliest archaeological evidence globally for the use of shark teeth in composite weapons – weapons made with multiple parts. Until now, the oldest such shark-tooth blades found were less than 5,000 years old.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550157/original/file-20230926-23-g9d5se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photos of two bone shards with a serrated edge and holes along the bottom" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550157/original/file-20230926-23-g9d5se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550157/original/file-20230926-23-g9d5se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550157/original/file-20230926-23-g9d5se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550157/original/file-20230926-23-g9d5se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550157/original/file-20230926-23-g9d5se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550157/original/file-20230926-23-g9d5se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550157/original/file-20230926-23-g9d5se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Modified tiger shark teeth found in 7,000-year-old layers of Leang Panninge (top) and Leang Bulu’ Sipong 1 (bottom) on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">M.C. Langley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our international team used a combination of scientific analysis, experimental reproduction and observations of recent human communities to determine that the two modified shark teeth had once been attached to handles as blades. They were most likely used in ritual or warfare.</p>
<h2>7,000-year-old teeth</h2>
<p>The two shark teeth were recovered during excavations as part of a joint Indonesian-Australian archaeological research program. Both specimens were found in archaeological contexts attributed to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-were-the-toaleans-ancient-womans-dna-provides-first-evidence-for-the-origin-of-a-mysterious-lost-culture-166565">Toalean culture</a> – an enigmatic foraging society that lived in southwestern Sulawesi from around 8,000 years ago until an unknown period in the recent past.</p>
<p>The shark teeth are of a similar size and came from <a href="https://oceana.org/marine-life/tiger-shark/">tiger sharks</a> (<em>Galeocerda cuvier</em>) that were approximately two metres long. Both teeth are perforated.</p>
<p>A complete tooth, found at the cave site of Leang Panninge, has two holes drilled through the root. The other – found at a cave called Leang Bulu’ Sipong 1 – has one hole, though is broken and likely originally also had two holes.</p>
<p>Microscopic examination of the teeth found they had once been tightly fixed to a handle using plant-based threads and a glue-like substance. The adhesive used was a combination of mineral, plant and animal materials.</p>
<p>The same method of attachment is seen on modern shark-tooth blades used by cultures throughout the Pacific.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555969/original/file-20231026-32800-1mgf8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up photo of a pointy yellow tooth tooth with scratches clearly visible" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555969/original/file-20231026-32800-1mgf8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555969/original/file-20231026-32800-1mgf8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555969/original/file-20231026-32800-1mgf8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555969/original/file-20231026-32800-1mgf8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555969/original/file-20231026-32800-1mgf8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555969/original/file-20231026-32800-1mgf8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555969/original/file-20231026-32800-1mgf8c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scratches and a ground section on the tip of the Leang Panninge shark tooth indicate its use by people 7,000 years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">M.C. Langley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Examination of the edges of each tooth found they had been used to pierce, cut and scrape flesh and bone. However, far more damage was present than a shark would naturally accrue during feeding.</p>
<p>While these residues superficially suggest Toalean people were using shark-tooth knives as everyday cutting implements, ethnographic (observations of recent communities), archaeological and experimental data suggest otherwise.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555970/original/file-20231026-30-epfmyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A brownish yellow bone close up with holes and grooves clearly visible" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555970/original/file-20231026-30-epfmyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555970/original/file-20231026-30-epfmyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555970/original/file-20231026-30-epfmyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555970/original/file-20231026-30-epfmyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555970/original/file-20231026-30-epfmyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555970/original/file-20231026-30-epfmyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555970/original/file-20231026-30-epfmyw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grooves and traces of red resin along the base of the Leang Panninge tooth show how the teeth were attached using threads.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">M.C. Langley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why use shark teeth?</h2>
<p>Not surprisingly, our experiments found tiger shark-tooth knives were equally effective in creating long, deep gashes in the skin when used to strike (as in fighting) as when butchering a leg of fresh pork.</p>
<p>Indeed, the only negative aspect is that the teeth blunt relatively quickly – too quickly to make their use as an everyday knife practical.</p>
<p>This fact, as well as the fact shark teeth can inflict deep lacerations, probably explains why shark-tooth blades were restricted to weapons for conflict and ritual activities in the present and recent past.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/evolution-of-a-smile-400-million-year-old-spiny-fish-overturns-shark-theory-of-tooth-origins-160563">Evolution of a smile: 400 million year old spiny fish overturns shark theory of tooth origins</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Shark-tooth blades in recent times</h2>
<p>Numerous societies across the globe have integrated shark teeth into their material culture. In particular, peoples living on coastlines (and actively fishing for sharks) are more likely to incorporate greater numbers of teeth into a wider range of tools.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550163/original/file-20230926-28-azgt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three serrated implements with neat rows of pointy teeth attached" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550163/original/file-20230926-28-azgt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550163/original/file-20230926-28-azgt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550163/original/file-20230926-28-azgt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550163/original/file-20230926-28-azgt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=667&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550163/original/file-20230926-28-azgt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550163/original/file-20230926-28-azgt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550163/original/file-20230926-28-azgt97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shark teeth are widely used to edge deadly combat weapons or powerful ritual blades in the Pacific. Left: a knife from Kiribati; centre and right: weapons from Hawai'i.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?keyword=shark&keyword=tooth&keyword=knife">The Trustees of The British Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Observations of present-day communities indicate that, when not used to adorn the human body, shark teeth were almost universally used to create blades for conflict or ritual – including ritualised combat.</p>
<p>For example, a fighting knife found throughout north Queensland has a single long blade made from approximately 15 shark teeth placed one after the other down a hardwood shaft shaped like an oval, and is used to strike the flank or buttocks of an adversary. </p>
<p>Weapons, including lances, knives and clubs armed with shark teeth are known from mainland New Guinea and Micronesia, while lances form part of the mourning costume in Tahiti. </p>
<p>Farther east, the peoples of Kiribati are renowned for their shark-tooth daggers, swords, spears and lances, which are recorded as having been used in highly ritualised and often fatal conflicts.</p>
<p>Shark teeth found in Maya and Mexican archaeological contexts are widely thought to have been used for ritualised bloodletting, and shark teeth are known to have been used as tattooing blades in Tonga, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Kiribati. </p>
<p>In Hawai‘i, so-called “shark-tooth cutters” were used <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20702769">as concealed weapons and for</a> “cutting up dead chiefs and cleaning their bones preparatory to the customary burials”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550167/original/file-20230926-18-o9w9uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A wooden weapon with a rounded handle and jagged tooth attachments at the other end" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550167/original/file-20230926-18-o9w9uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550167/original/file-20230926-18-o9w9uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550167/original/file-20230926-18-o9w9uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550167/original/file-20230926-18-o9w9uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550167/original/file-20230926-18-o9w9uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550167/original/file-20230926-18-o9w9uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550167/original/file-20230926-18-o9w9uq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A shark-tooth knife from Aua Island, Papua New Guinea. Red arrows highlight wear and damage caused by fighting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">M. Langley and The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Other shark tooth archaeological finds</h2>
<p>Almost all shark-tooth artefacts recovered globally have been identified as adornments, or interpreted as such.</p>
<p>Indeed, modified shark teeth have been recovered from older contexts. A solitary tiger shark tooth with a single perforation from Buang Merabak (New Ireland, Papua New Guinea) is dated to around 39,500–28,000 years ago. Eleven teeth with single perforations from Kilu (Buka Island, Papua New Guinea) are dated to around 9,000–5,000 years ago. And an unspecified number of teeth from Garivaldino (Brazil) is dated to around 9,400–7,200 years ago.</p>
<p>However, in each of these cases the teeth were likely personal ornaments, not weapons.</p>
<p>Our newly described Indonesian shark tooth artefacts, with their combination of modifications and microscopic traces, instead indicate they were not only attached to knives, but very likely linked to ritual or conflict.</p>
<p>Whether they cut human or animal flesh, these shark teeth from Sulawesi could provide the first evidence that a distinctive class of weaponry in the Asia-Pacific region has been around much longer than we thought.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Langley is an Associate Professor of Archaeology in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University, Brisbane. She receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Brumm receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adhi Oktaviana is a PhD Candidate at Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Gold Coast and Researcher at Research Centre of Archaeometry, The National Research and Innovation Agency, Jakarta</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lecturer in the archeology study program, Hasanuddin University and Chair of the Sulawesi Archaeological Research Collaboration Center. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Basran Burhan is a PhD student at Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution at Griffith University, Brisbane. </span></em></p>Archaeologists have discovered two 7,000-year-old tiger shark teeth that were once part of ritual or fighting blades on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.Michelle Langley, Associate Professor of Archaeology, Griffith UniversityAdam Brumm, Professor, Griffith UniversityAdhi Oktaviana, PhD Candidate, Griffith UniversityAkin Duli, Professor, Universitas HasanuddinBasran Burhan, PhD candidate, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1665652021-08-25T20:05:24Z2021-08-25T20:05:24ZWho were the Toaleans? Ancient woman’s DNA provides first evidence for the origin of a mysterious lost culture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417306/original/file-20210823-19-1bucpl0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C45%2C7596%2C5030&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stone arrowheads (Maros points) and other flaked stone implements from the Toalean culture of South Sulawesi.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shahna Britton/Andrew Thomson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2015, <a href="https://arkeologi.unhas.ac.id/archeology-department/?lang=en">archaeologists</a> from the University of Hasanuddin in Makassar, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, uncovered the skeleton of a woman buried in a limestone cave. Studies revealed the person from Leang Panninge, or “Bat Cave”, was 17 or 18 years old when she died some 7,200 years ago.</p>
<p>Her discoverers dubbed her Bessé’ (pronounced <em>bur-sek</em>¹) — a nickname bestowed on newborn princesses among the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bugis">Bugis</a> people who now live in southern Sulawesi. The name denotes the great esteem local archaeologists have for this ancient woman. </p>
<p>She represents the only known skeleton of one of the Toalean people. These enigmatic hunter-gatherers inhabited the island before Neolithic farmers from mainland Asia (“<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austronesian_peoples">Austronesians</a>”) spread into Indonesia around 3,500 years ago. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417311/original/file-20210823-27-1xmauxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417311/original/file-20210823-27-1xmauxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417311/original/file-20210823-27-1xmauxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417311/original/file-20210823-27-1xmauxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417311/original/file-20210823-27-1xmauxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417311/original/file-20210823-27-1xmauxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417311/original/file-20210823-27-1xmauxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417311/original/file-20210823-27-1xmauxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Burial of a Toalean hunter-gatherer woman dated to 7,200 years ago. Bessé’ was 17-18 years old at time of death. She was buried in a flexed position and several large cobbles were placed on and around her body. Although the skeleton is fragmented, ancient DNA was found preserved in the dense inner ear bone (petrous).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Hasanuddin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our team <a href="https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/phV2C6X1LmSr6rk8Yfp2hJb?domain=nature.com">found</a> ancient DNA that survived inside the inner ear bone of Bessé’, furnishing us with the first direct genetic evidence of the Toaleans. This is also the first time ancient human DNA has been reported from Wallacea, the vast group of islands between Borneo and New Guinea, of which Sulawesi is the largest. </p>
<p>Genomic analysis shows Bessé’ belonged to a population with a previously unknown ancestral composition. She shares about half of her genetic makeup with present-day Indigenous Australians and people in New Guinea and the Western Pacific. This includes DNA inherited from the now-extinct <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/enigmatic-human-relative-outlived-neanderthals">Denisovans</a>, who were distant cousins of Neanderthals. </p>
<p>In fact, relative to other ancient and present-day groups in the region, the proportion of Denisovan DNA in Bessé’ could indicate the main meeting point between our species and Denisovans was in Sulawesi itself (or perhaps a nearby Wallacean island).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/evolutionary-study-suggests-prehistoric-human-fossils-hiding-in-plain-sight-in-southeast-asia-157587">Evolutionary study suggests prehistoric human fossils 'hiding in plain sight' in Southeast Asia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The ancestry of this pre-Neolithic woman provides fascinating insight into the little-known population history and genetic diversity of early modern humans in the Wallacean islands — the gateway to the continent of Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417309/original/file-20210823-19-1oadhuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417309/original/file-20210823-19-1oadhuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417309/original/file-20210823-19-1oadhuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417309/original/file-20210823-19-1oadhuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417309/original/file-20210823-19-1oadhuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417309/original/file-20210823-19-1oadhuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417309/original/file-20210823-19-1oadhuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417309/original/file-20210823-19-1oadhuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sulawesi is the largest island in Wallacea, the zone of oceanic islands between the continental regions of Asia and Australia. White shaded areas represent landmasses exposed during periods of lower sea level in the Late Pleistocene. The Wallace Line is a major biogeographical boundary that marks the eastern extent of the distinctive plant and animal worlds of Asia. The Toalean cave site Leang Panninge (where Bessé’ was found) is located in Sulawesi’s southwestern peninsula (see inset panel). Toalean archaeological sites have only been found in a roughly 10,000 km² area of this peninsula, south of Lake Tempe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kim Newman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Toalean culture</h2>
<p>The archaeological story of the Toaleans began more than a century ago. In 1902, the Swiss naturalists Paul and Fritz Sarasin excavated several caves in the highlands of southern Sulawesi. </p>
<p>Their digs unearthed small, finely crafted stone arrowheads known as <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0251138">Maros points</a>. They also found other distinctive stone implements and tools fashioned from bone, which they attributed to the original inhabitants of Sulawesi — the prehistoric “Toalien” people (now spelled Toalean). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417310/original/file-20210823-15-1wn4h00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417310/original/file-20210823-15-1wn4h00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417310/original/file-20210823-15-1wn4h00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417310/original/file-20210823-15-1wn4h00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417310/original/file-20210823-15-1wn4h00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417310/original/file-20210823-15-1wn4h00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417310/original/file-20210823-15-1wn4h00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417310/original/file-20210823-15-1wn4h00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Toalean stone arrowhead, known as a Maros point. Classic Maros points are small (roughly 2.5cm in maxiumum dimension) and were fashioned with rows of fine tooth-like serrations along the sides and tip, and wing-like projections at the base. Although this particular stone technology seems to have been unique to the Toalean culture, similar projectile points were produced in northern Australia, Java and Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shahna Britton/Andrew Thomson.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some Toalean cave sites have since been excavated to a higher scientific standard, yet our understanding of this culture is at an early stage. The oldest known Maros points and other Toalean artefacts date to about 8,000 years ago. </p>
<p>Excavated findings from caves suggest the Toaleans were hunter-gatherers who preyed heavily on wild endemic <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/wildpigspecialistgroup/home/Sus-celebensis">warty pigs</a> and harvested edible shellfish from creeks and estuaries. So far, evidence for the group has only been found in one part of southern Sulawesi.</p>
<p>Toalean artefacts disappear from the archaeological record by the fifth century AD — a few thousand years after the first Neolithic settlements emerged on the island. </p>
<p>Prehistorians have long sought to determine who the Toaleans were, but efforts have been impeded by a lack of securely-dated human remains. This all changed with the discovery of Bessé’ and the ancient DNA in her bones.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417312/original/file-20210823-19-1thz0l0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417312/original/file-20210823-19-1thz0l0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417312/original/file-20210823-19-1thz0l0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417312/original/file-20210823-19-1thz0l0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417312/original/file-20210823-19-1thz0l0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417312/original/file-20210823-19-1thz0l0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417312/original/file-20210823-19-1thz0l0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417312/original/file-20210823-19-1thz0l0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toalean stone arrowheads (Maros points), backed microliths (small stone implements that may have been hafted as barbs) and bone projectile points. These artefacts are from Indonesian collections curated in Makassar and mostly comprise undated specimens collected from the ground surface at archaeological sites.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Basran Burhan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ancestral story of Bessé’</h2>
<p>Our results mean we can now confirm existing presumptions the Toaleans were related to the first modern humans to enter Wallacea some <a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">65,000 years ago</a> or more. These seafaring hunter-gatherers were the ancestors of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. </p>
<p>They were also the earliest inhabitants of Sahul, the supercontinent that emerged during the Pleistocene (ice age) when global sea levels fell, exposing a land bridge between Australia and New Guinea. To reach Sahul, these pioneering humans made ocean crossings through Wallacea, but little about their journeys is known. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/island-hopping-study-shows-the-most-likely-route-the-first-people-took-to-australia-93120">Island-hopping study shows the most likely route the first people took to Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It is conceivable the ancestors of Bessé’ were among the first people to reach Wallacea. Instead of island-hopping to Sahul, however, they remained in Sulawesi.</p>
<p>But our analyses also revealed a deep ancestral signature from an early modern human population that originated somewhere in continental Asia. These ancestors of Bessé’ did not intermix with the forebears of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans, suggesting they may have entered the region after the initial peopling of Sahul — but long before the Austronesian expansion. </p>
<p>Who were these people? When did they arrive in the region and how widespread were they? It’s unlikely we will have answers to these questions until we have more ancient human DNA samples and pre-Neolithic fossils from Wallacea. This unexpected finding shows us how little we know about the early human story in our region.</p>
<h2>A new look at the Toaleans</h2>
<p>With funds awarded by the Australian Research Council’s Discovery <a href="https://www.arc.gov.au/grants/discovery-program/discovery-projects">program</a> we are initiating a new project that will explore the Toalean world in greater detail. Through archaeological excavations at Leang Panninge we hope to learn more about the development of this unique hunter-gatherer culture. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417313/original/file-20210823-21-1y8qu2m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417313/original/file-20210823-21-1y8qu2m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417313/original/file-20210823-21-1y8qu2m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417313/original/file-20210823-21-1y8qu2m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417313/original/file-20210823-21-1y8qu2m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417313/original/file-20210823-21-1y8qu2m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417313/original/file-20210823-21-1y8qu2m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417313/original/file-20210823-21-1y8qu2m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Excavations at Leang Panninge cave, Mallawa, South Sulawesi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leang Panninge Research Team.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also wish to address longstanding questions about Toalean social organisation and ways of life. For example, some scholars have inferred the Toaleans became so populous that these hitherto small and scattered groups of foragers began to settle down in large sedentary communities, and possibly even domesticated wild pigs.</p>
<p>It has also recently been <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X16300694">speculated</a> Toaleans were the mysterious Asian seafarers who visited Australia in ancient times, introducing the dingo (or more accurately, the domesticated ancestor of this now-wild canid). There is clearly much left to uncover about the long island story of Bessé’ and her kin. </p>
<hr>
<p>¹<em>The “bur” syllable is pronounced as in the English word “bursary”. The “k” is essentially a strangulated stop in the throat, akin to the “t” in the Cockney “bo'ol”, for bottle. (With thanks to Professor Campbell Macknight).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Brumm receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adhi Agus Oktaviana is a PhD candidate in Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit, Griffith University, Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Akin Duli receives funding from Universitas Hasanuddin and Universiti Sains Malaysia. He is affiliated with Archaeology Department, Universitas Hasanuddin. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Basran Burhan is a PhD student at Griffith University</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Selina Carlhoff receives funding from the European Research Council and the Max Planck Society. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cosimo Posth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The first ancient human DNA from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi — and the wider Wallacea islands group — sheds light on the early human history of the region.Adam Brumm, Professor, Griffith UniversityAdhi Oktaviana, PhD Candidate, Griffith UniversityAkin Duli, Professor, Universitas HasanuddinBasran Burhan, PhD candidate, Griffith UniversityCosimo Posth, Junior Professor, University of TübingenSelina Carlhoff, Max Planck Institute of GeoanthropologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626792021-07-26T22:28:17Z2021-07-26T22:28:17ZHow scientists and communities can build partnerships to deal with floods: learning from Indonesia<p>Millions of people in Indonesia, a vast low-lying archipelago in Southeast Asia with the second-longest coastline in the world, live in flood-prone river and coastal areas. Floods and storms are the most common type of disaster affecting Indonesian cities, according to a <a href="https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210054478/read">UN report</a>. </p>
<p>Current attempts to manage these disasters rely heavily on investing in flood walls and canals. These measures seem to be insufficient, as the disasters continue every year, hurting the economy. </p>
<p>Our latest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2021.100171">research</a> shows citizen science can contribute to finding solutions by helping scientists understand the impacts of floods. </p>
<p>Citizen science is a way for communities to collaborate with researchers. This approach has been gaining traction in fields such as ecology, environmental planning and hydrology. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Flood gauges in Makassar" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408796/original/file-20210629-26-1qt444h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408796/original/file-20210629-26-1qt444h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408796/original/file-20210629-26-1qt444h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408796/original/file-20210629-26-1qt444h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=269&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408796/original/file-20210629-26-1qt444h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408796/original/file-20210629-26-1qt444h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408796/original/file-20210629-26-1qt444h.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Community members participating in the RISE program collected photos of floods between 2018 and 2020 in Makassar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rise Program. Photographer: volunteer community members</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Engaging with community</h2>
<p>After <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2021.100171">reviewing 40 publications</a> from the past five years, we found scientists have been increasingly interested in involving communities in flood studies.</p>
<p>In Australia, for example, scientists analysed photos posted on social media during the 2010 Queensland floods to map water levels. Similarly, scientists in Argentina used community measurements from the 2014 Buenos Aires floods to model the local hydrology.</p>
<p>Most of these projects, however, only involve citizens as data collectors. They offer limited opportunities for scientists to work closely with, and learn from, communities.</p>
<p>Some examples show communities can participate more directly as interpreters and central stakeholders in the process of understanding, managing and responding to floods. </p>
<p>In Indonesia, for example, the <a href="https://petabencana.id/">PetaBencana project</a> is a phone application that allows citizens to contribute to flood studies by sharing information about water levels. This information is available to other users and can inform emergency services and government activities.</p>
<p>This example shows the application of citizen science to study floods, beyond collecting data, can help risk communication and involve these communities in technical discussions.</p>
<h2>Learning from Makassar</h2>
<p>In Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, we partnered with community members to collect photos of floods throughout the past two years. </p>
<p>This citizen science project was developed as part of the <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanplh/PIIS2542-5196(18)30114-1.pdf">Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) program</a>. The program is testing innovative infrastructure systems in 12 settlements in Makassar and 12 settlements in Fiji. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410091/original/file-20210707-17-1tn17br.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="RISE Infrastructure" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410091/original/file-20210707-17-1tn17br.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410091/original/file-20210707-17-1tn17br.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410091/original/file-20210707-17-1tn17br.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410091/original/file-20210707-17-1tn17br.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410091/original/file-20210707-17-1tn17br.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410091/original/file-20210707-17-1tn17br.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410091/original/file-20210707-17-1tn17br.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The RISE program is implementing and testing the effects of nature-based infrastructure in Makassar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RISE program, photograph by Peter Breen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The designers in RISE soon realised that understanding floods in particular sites was essential to ensure the infrastructure would work well.</p>
<p>Partnering with volunteers from six settlements in Makassar, RISE has documented floods throughout the rainy seasons of 2018, 2019 and 2020. </p>
<p>So far, it has received more than 2,800 photos from local communities in Makassar. These images have allowed scientists to better understand floods and design more resilient infrastructure. </p>
<figure class="align- centre zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407298/original/file-20210619-35149-oo1tq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt=" Flood levels in Kampung Baru" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407298/original/file-20210619-35149-oo1tq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407298/original/file-20210619-35149-oo1tq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407298/original/file-20210619-35149-oo1tq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407298/original/file-20210619-35149-oo1tq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407298/original/file-20210619-35149-oo1tq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407298/original/file-20210619-35149-oo1tq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407298/original/file-20210619-35149-oo1tq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The results of the RISE program’s citizen science project allowed researchers to better understand water levels in Kampung Baru, Makassar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rise Program. Illustration by Erich Wolff.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The experiences of RISE and other citizen science initiatives indicate that this kind of project can positively transform the relationship between scientists and communities.</p>
<p>Beyond supporting data collection, citizen science allows researchers to work more directly with communities while creating opportunities for science to connect with local knowledge and adaptation strategies.</p>
<p>It is important to highlight that communities should not be held <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2021.695329">responsible</a> for managing floods alone. Citizen science is not a substitute but a complement to evidence-based policy and infrastructure planning.</p>
<h2>Local wisdom</h2>
<p>On the peripheries of the largest Indonesian cities, the residents of <em>kampungs</em> and informal settlements close to canals and rivers rely on local wisdom to coexist with floods. </p>
<p>Our research shows the residents of <em>kampungs</em> in Makassar often work with neighbours to protect valuable assets or to evacuate the elderly and the children. </p>
<p>They have also developed important strategies to protect their houses, such as using sandbags and building on stilts. </p>
<p>How can scientists learn from them?</p>
<p>Access to the internet and social media has shown people can collect information about floods, but the example from the RISE program shows how this can be done by connecting scientists and local communities. </p>
<p>The long-term effects of the project are still being studied, but participants have told us RISE’s citizen science project helped them better understand floods in their neighbourhoods. It also provided a platform for them to share experiences and knowledge. </p>
<p>While we are still learning how scientists can work with communities, the lessons from the RISE program show citizen science can be a powerful ally in building resilience and supporting local knowledge and agency in Indonesian cities.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The article is made possible due to contributions from the RISE program’s researchers and staff members as well as volunteers.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162679/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erich Wolff is currently developing his doctoral studies within the RISE program and receiving a scholarship from Monash University.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Ramirez-Lovering is Professor of Architecture at Monash University and part of the Executive team for the RISE Program.</span></em></p>Residents of flood-prone areas have been counting on local knowledge and community support to deal with floods for centuries. Can scientists work with them to better understand floods?Erich Wolff, PhD researcher on Infrastructure and Disaster Risk Reduction, Monash UniversityDiego Ramírez-Lovering, Head of the Department of Architecture, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1599292021-05-13T19:56:06Z2021-05-13T19:56:06ZHow climate change is erasing the world’s oldest rock art<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400229/original/file-20210512-18-1f30o5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C817%2C544&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This Warty Pig is part of a panel dated to more than 45,500 years in age.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Basran Burhan/Griffith University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, ancient peoples marked the walls with red and mulberry hand stencils, and painted images of large native mammals or <a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesian-cave-paintings-show-the-dawn-of-imaginative-art-and-human-spiritual-belief-128457">imaginary human-animal creatures</a>. </p>
<p>These are the oldest cave art sites yet known — or at least the oldest attributed to our species. One painting of a Sulawesi warty pig was recently dated as at least <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-found-the-oldest-known-cave-painting-of-animals-in-a-secret-indonesian-valley-153089">45,500 years old</a>.</p>
<p>Since the 1950s, archaeologists have observed these paintings appear to be blistering and peeling off the cave walls. Yet, little had been done to understand why. </p>
<p>So our research, <a href="http://nature.com/articles/s41598-021-87923-3">published today</a>, explored the mechanisms of decay affecting ancient rock art panels at 11 sites in Sulawesi’s <a href="https://www.worldheritagesite.org/tentative/id/5467">Maros-Pangkep</a> region. We found the deterioration may have gotten worse in recent decades, a trend likely to continue with accelerating climate change.</p>
<p>These Pleistocene (“ice aged”) cave paintings of Indonesia have only begun to tell us about the lives of the earliest people who lived in Australasia. The art is disappearing just as we’re beginning to understand its significance.</p>
<h2>Australasia’s rock art</h2>
<p>Rock art gives us a glimpse into the ancient cultural worlds of the artists and the <a href="https://youtu.be/3OLaNtKoJFk">animals</a> they may have hunted or interacted with. Even rare clues into early people’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesian-cave-paintings-show-the-dawn-of-imaginative-art-and-human-spiritual-belief-128457">beliefs in the supernatural</a> have been preserved.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mNiqamYP3Sc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Climate change could erase ancient Indonesian cave art.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We think humans have been creating art of some kind in Australasia — which includes northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia — for a very long time. <a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">Used pigments</a> are among the earliest evidence people were living in Australia more than 60,000 years ago. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">Buried tools and pigments tell a new history of humans in Australia for 65,000 years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Tens of thousands of distinctive rock art sites are scattered across Australasia, with Aboriginal people creating many <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/first-rock-art">styles of rock art</a> across Australia. </p>
<p>Until as recently as 2014, scholars thought the earliest cave art was in Europe — for example, in the Chauvet Cave in France or <a href="https://cuevas.culturadecantabria.com/el-castillo-2/">El Castillo</a> in Spain, which are 30,000 to 40,000 years old. We now know people were painting inside caves and rockshelters in Indonesia at the same time and even earlier. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400487/original/file-20210513-21-ie5v2q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400487/original/file-20210513-21-ie5v2q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400487/original/file-20210513-21-ie5v2q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400487/original/file-20210513-21-ie5v2q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400487/original/file-20210513-21-ie5v2q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400487/original/file-20210513-21-ie5v2q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400487/original/file-20210513-21-ie5v2q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400487/original/file-20210513-21-ie5v2q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hand stencils in one of the study sites at Leang Sakapao cave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linda Siagian</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ongoing surveys throughout Australasia turn up new rock art sites every year. To date, more than 300 painted sites have been documented in the limestone karsts of Maros-Pangkep, in southern Sulawesi. </p>
<p>Cave paintings in Sulawesi and <a href="https://theconversation.com/borneo-cave-discovery-is-the-worlds-oldest-rock-art-in-southeast-asia-106252">Borneo</a> are some of the earliest evidence we have that people were living on these islands.</p>
<p>Tragically, at almost every new site we find in this region, the rock art is in an advanced stage of decay. </p>
<h2>Big impacts from small crystals</h2>
<p>To investigate why these prehistoric artworks are deteriorating, we studied some of the oldest known rock art from the Maros-Pangkep region, scientifically dated to between at least 20,000 and 40,000 years old.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400234/original/file-20210512-17-1811e0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400234/original/file-20210512-17-1811e0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400234/original/file-20210512-17-1811e0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400234/original/file-20210512-17-1811e0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400234/original/file-20210512-17-1811e0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400234/original/file-20210512-17-1811e0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400234/original/file-20210512-17-1811e0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400234/original/file-20210512-17-1811e0t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Expanding and contracting salt crystals are causing rock art to flake off the cave walls.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linda Siagian</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given these artworks have survived over such a vast period, we wanted to understand why the painted limestone cave surfaces now appear to be eroding so rapidly. </p>
<p>We used a combination of scientific techniques, including using high-powered microscopes, chemical analyses and crystal identification to tackle the problem. This revealed that salts growing both on top of and behind ancient rock art can cause it to flake away. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesian-cave-paintings-show-the-dawn-of-imaginative-art-and-human-spiritual-belief-128457">Indonesian cave paintings show the dawn of imaginative art and human spiritual belief</a>
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</p>
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<p>Salts are deposited on rock surfaces via the water they’re absorbed in. When the water solution evaporates, salt crystals form. The salt crystals then swell and shrink as the environment heats and cools, generating stress in the rock. </p>
<p>In some cases, the result is the stone surface crumbling into a powder. In other instances, salt crystals form columns under the hard outer shell of the old limestone, lifting the art panel and separating it from the rest of the rock, obliterating the art. </p>
<p>On hot days, geological salts can grow to more than three times their initial size. On one panel, for example, a flake half the size of a hand peeled off in under five months.</p>
<h2>Climate extremes under global warming</h2>
<p>Australasia has an <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027737911200529X?via%3Dihub">incredibly active atmosphere</a>, fed by intense sea currents, seasonal trade winds and a reservoir of warm ocean water. Yet, some of its rock art has so far managed to survive tens of thousands of years through major episodes of climate variation, from the cold of the last ice age to the start of the current monsoon.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400437/original/file-20210513-23-abkixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Limestone karsts in a field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400437/original/file-20210513-23-abkixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400437/original/file-20210513-23-abkixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400437/original/file-20210513-23-abkixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400437/original/file-20210513-23-abkixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400437/original/file-20210513-23-abkixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400437/original/file-20210513-23-abkixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400437/original/file-20210513-23-abkixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Limestone karsts of Maros and Pangkep Regencies, in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, famous European cave art sites such as Altamira in Spain and Lascaux in France are found in deep caves, in more stable (temperate) climates, so threats to rock art are different and generally weathering is less aggressive. </p>
<p>But now greenhouse gases are magnifying climatic extremes. In fact, global warming can be up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-will-the-tropics-eventually-become-uninhabitable-145174">three times higher in the tropics</a>, and the wet-dry phases of the monsoon have become stronger in recent decades, along with more numerous La Niña and El Niño events.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-will-the-tropics-eventually-become-uninhabitable-145174">Climate explained: will the tropics eventually become uninhabitable?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The net effect is that temperatures are higher, there are more hot days in a row, droughts are lasting longer, and other extreme weather such as storms (and the flooding they cause) are more <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/chapter/spm/">severe and frequent</a>. </p>
<p>What’s more, monsoonal rains are now captured in rice fields and aquaculture ponds. This promotes the growth of art-destroying salt crystals by raising humidity across the region and especially in nearby caves, prolonging the shrink and swell cycles of salts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400446/original/file-20210513-17-ahrr86.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three people hold a torch to cave wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400446/original/file-20210513-17-ahrr86.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400446/original/file-20210513-17-ahrr86.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400446/original/file-20210513-17-ahrr86.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400446/original/file-20210513-17-ahrr86.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400446/original/file-20210513-17-ahrr86.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400446/original/file-20210513-17-ahrr86.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400446/original/file-20210513-17-ahrr86.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Makassar’s culture heritage department, Balai Pelestarian Cagar Budaya, undertaking rock art monitoring in Maros-Pangkep.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rustan Lebe/Griffith University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What happens now?</h2>
<p>Apart from the direct threats associated with industrial development — such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">blasting away archaeological sites</a> for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/feb/21/worlds-oldest-art-under-threat-from-cement-mining-in-indonesia-sulawesi">mining and limestone quarrying</a> — our research makes it clear global warming is the biggest threat to the preservation of the trpoics’ ancient rock art.</p>
<p>There’s a pressing need for further research, monitoring and conservation work in Maros-Pangkep and across Australasia, where cultural heritage sites are under threat from the destructive impacts of climate change.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rio-tinto-just-blasted-away-an-ancient-aboriginal-site-heres-why-that-was-allowed-139466">Rio Tinto just blasted away an ancient Aboriginal site. Here’s why that was allowed</a>
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<p>In particular, we urgently need to document the remaining rock art in great detail (such as with 3D scanning) and uncover more sites before this art disappears forever.</p>
<p>If humans are ultimately causing this problem, we can take steps to correct it. Most importantly, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-1-5-global-warming-limit-is-not-impossible-but-without-political-action-it-soon-will-be-159297">we need to act now</a> to stop global temperature increases and drastically cut emissions. Minimising the impacts of climate change will help preserve the incredible artworks Australasia’s earliest people left to us.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesian-cave-paintings-show-the-dawn-of-imaginative-art-and-human-spiritual-belief-128457">Indonesian cave paintings show the dawn of imaginative art and human spiritual belief</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159929/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Huntley receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Brumm receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adhi Oktaviana is a PhD student at Griffith University and researcher at Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, Indonesia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Basran Burhan is a PhD student at Griffith University</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maxime Aubert receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Geographic Society.</span></em></p>The ancient cave paintings have only begun to tell us about the lives of the earliest people who lived in Australasia. The art is disappearing just as we are beginning to understand its significance.Jillian Huntley, Research Fellow, Griffith UniversityAdam Brumm, Professor, Griffith UniversityAdhi Oktaviana, PhD Candidate, Griffith UniversityBasran Burhan, PhD candidate, Griffith UniversityMaxime Aubert, Professor, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1530892021-01-13T19:12:19Z2021-01-13T19:12:19ZWe found the oldest known cave painting of animals in a secret Indonesian valley<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378226/original/file-20210112-17-bcb7xi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=370%2C726%2C3634%2C2106&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adhi Oktaviana</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The dating of an exceptionally old cave painting of animals that was found recently on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is reported in our <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abd4648" title="Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi">paper</a> out today.</p>
<p>The painting portrays images of the Sulawesi warty pig (<em>Sus celebensis</em>), which is a small (40-85kg) short-legged wild boar endemic to the island. </p>
<p>Dating to at least 45,500 years ago, this cave painting may be the oldest depiction of the animal world, and possibly the earliest figurative art (an image that resembles the thing it is intended to represent), yet uncovered.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b-wAYtBxn7E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Ice age art in Indonesia</h2>
<p>Sulawesi is host to abundant cave art, the existence of which was first reported in the 1950s.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesian-cave-paintings-show-the-dawn-of-imaginative-art-and-human-spiritual-belief-128457">Indonesian cave paintings show the dawn of imaginative art and human spiritual belief</a>
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<p>Until recently, the prevailing view was this art was the handiwork of Neolithic farmers who arrived around 4,000 years ago from southern China rather than the hunter-gatherers who had lived on Sulawesi for tens of thousands of years.</p>
<p>We now know that this is not correct.</p>
<p>In 2014, we <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13422" title="Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia">reported</a> the first dates for the South Sulawesi rock art.</p>
<p>Based on uranium-series analysis of mineral deposits (calcite) that formed naturally on the art we showed that a stencilled image of a human hand found in one cave was created at least 40,000 years ago. This is compatible in age with the famous ice age cave art in Europe.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZVEqkVDn6Y4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ice age art in the tropics.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then, in 2019, we <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1806-y" title="Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art">dated</a> a spectacular painting at another cave that portrays hybrid human-animal figures hunting Sulawesi warty pigs and dwarf buffalos (anoas). This hunting scene is at least 43,900 years old and it features what may be the oldest depictions of supernatural beings.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gx8ohlEAfy4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our latest study we push the age of Sulawesi’s rock art a little deeper into the past. </p>
<h2>The secret valley</h2>
<p>In December 2017 we conducted the first survey of an isolated valley set in mountainous terrain a stone’s throw from one of Indonesia’s largest cities, Makassar. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378222/original/file-20210112-13-12qnkdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A lush green valley landscape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378222/original/file-20210112-13-12qnkdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378222/original/file-20210112-13-12qnkdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=203&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378222/original/file-20210112-13-12qnkdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=203&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378222/original/file-20210112-13-12qnkdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=203&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378222/original/file-20210112-13-12qnkdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378222/original/file-20210112-13-12qnkdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378222/original/file-20210112-13-12qnkdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The limestone karst valley in which Leang Tedongnge is located.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David P McGahan</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite its proximity to a major urban centre, there is no road to this valley. The small community of local Bugis farmers live a secluded existence, although they are widely reputed for the sublime quality (and potency) of their palm wine (ballo). </p>
<p>According to them no Westerner had ever set foot in their valley before.</p>
<p>This secret valley is a pristine environment and a place of resplendent natural beauty. There is hardly any rubbish in the tiny village in the centre of the valley. Being there feels like stepping back in time.</p>
<p>The valley harbours a limestone cave known as Leang Tedongnge and inside it we found a rock painting the locals claimed they had never noticed before.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378444/original/file-20210112-15-b12tdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Inside the cave is a painting of warty pigs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378444/original/file-20210112-15-b12tdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378444/original/file-20210112-15-b12tdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378444/original/file-20210112-15-b12tdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378444/original/file-20210112-15-b12tdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378444/original/file-20210112-15-b12tdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378444/original/file-20210112-15-b12tdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378444/original/file-20210112-15-b12tdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adhi Agus Oktaviana in front of the Leang Tedongnge rock art panel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adhi Agus Oktaviana</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The painting was produced using a red mineral pigment (ironstone haematite, or ochre). It depicts at least three Sulawesi warty pigs engaged in social interaction of some kind.</p>
<p>We interpret the surviving elements of this artwork as a single narrative composition or scene, a mainstay of how we tell stories using images today but an uncommon feature of early cave art.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378223/original/file-20210112-13-1d6fvd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Leang Tedongnge rock art panel enhanced to make the artwork clearer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378223/original/file-20210112-13-1d6fvd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378223/original/file-20210112-13-1d6fvd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378223/original/file-20210112-13-1d6fvd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378223/original/file-20210112-13-1d6fvd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378223/original/file-20210112-13-1d6fvd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378223/original/file-20210112-13-1d6fvd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378223/original/file-20210112-13-1d6fvd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=661&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The top image has been enhanced (in DStretch) to make the artwork clearer. The bottom image shows a tracing of the art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adhi Agus Oktaviana</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Unlocking the age of the art</h2>
<p>Dating rock art is very difficult at the best of times. But at Leang Tedongnge we were fortunate to identify a small calcite deposit (known as “<a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/what-is-cave-popcorn.htm">cave popcorn</a>”) that had formed on top of one of the pig figures (pig 1).</p>
<p>We sampled the calcite and analysed it for uranium-series dating. Amazingly, the dating work returned an age of 45,500 years ago for the calcite, meaning the painting on which it formed must be at least this old. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378220/original/file-20210112-21-18klrdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A closer image of one of the wild pigs and two hand stencils" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378220/original/file-20210112-21-18klrdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378220/original/file-20210112-21-18klrdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378220/original/file-20210112-21-18klrdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378220/original/file-20210112-21-18klrdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378220/original/file-20210112-21-18klrdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378220/original/file-20210112-21-18klrdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378220/original/file-20210112-21-18klrdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A close up of the dated warty pig painting at Leang Tedongnge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxime Aubert</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Early art in Wallacea</h2>
<p>Our discovery underlines the global importance of Sulawesi, and the wider Indonesian region, for our understanding of where and when the first cave art traditions developed by our species arose.</p>
<p>The great antiquity of this artwork also offers hints at the potential for other significant findings in this part of the world.</p>
<p>Sulawesi is the largest island in Wallacea, the zone of oceanic islands located between mainland Asia and the ice age continental landmass of Australia-New Guinea.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-pocket-sized-artworks-from-ice-age-indonesia-show-humanitys-ancient-drive-to-decorate-132187">First pocket-sized artworks from Ice Age Indonesia show humanity's ancient drive to decorate</a>
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<p>Modern humans are said to have crossed through Wallacea by watercraft at least <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22968" title="Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago">65,000 years ago</a> in order to reach Australia by that time. </p>
<p>But the Wallacean islands are poorly explored and presently the earliest excavated archaeological evidence from this region is much younger. </p>
<p>We believe further research will uncover much older rock art in Sulawesi or on other Wallacean islands, dating back at least 65,000 years and possibly earlier.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Brumm receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Geographic Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adhi Agus Oktaviana is a researcher at Indonesia's Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (National Archaeological Research Center), Ministry of Education and Culture, and is a PhD student at Griffith University. Research focus on prehistory and rock art in Indonesia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Basran Burhan is a freelance researcher currently pursuing his PhD at Griffith University</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maxime Aubert receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Geographic Society.</span></em></p>The painting of pigs at least 45,500 years ago on a cave wall in Sulawesi may be the earliest figurative rock art ever found.Adam Brumm, Professor, Griffith UniversityAdhi Oktaviana, PhD Candidate, Griffith UniversityBasran Burhan, PhD candidate, Griffith UniversityMaxime Aubert, Professor, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1471892020-10-23T02:15:52Z2020-10-23T02:15:52ZDeforestation on Indonesian island of Sulawesi destroys habitat of endemic primates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362932/original/file-20201012-19-1rwyzig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4262%2C2843&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Crested macaque (_Macaca tonkeana_), an endemic creature of Sulawesi island</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ANTARA FOTO/Fiqman Sunandar/Asf/nz/15.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Intensified illegal logging and expansions of palm oil plantations and farms have destroyed rain forests on Indonesia’s fourth-largest island, Sulawesi, threatening the biodiversity of a world-renowned laboratory of evolutionary biology. </p>
<p>Sulawesi is part of a biodiversity hotspot – a region with at least 1,500 endemic plants, specifically those with developed tissues. Less than 30% of the original primary vegetation cover remains. </p>
<p>The island is known as the Wallacea hotspot, referring to British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. </p>
<p>Although not yet as severe or dramatic as in the country’s larger islands of Sumatra/Sumatera and Kalimantan, my recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989420307460">research</a> reveals deforestation in Sulawesi has reached an alarming rate, destroying the habitats of endemic macaques and tarsiers.</p>
<p>My research finds Sulawesi lost 10.89% of its forest cover, or 2.07 million hectares, between 2000 and 2017, based on data from <a href="https://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest/download_v1.5.html">Global Forest Change Maps</a> and the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry. </p>
<p>West Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi suffered the highest rates of deforestation, losing 13.41% and 13.37% of forest cover during that period.</p>
<p>The average rate of deforestation on the island’s provinces ranged from 0.42% to 0.85% each year, still lower than the national average rate of <a href="https://orangutan.org/rainforest/rainforest-facts/">1%</a> per year.</p>
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<h2>The impact on endemic primates</h2>
<p>The increasing rate of deforestation in Sulawesi has taken its toll on the local primates, which account for almost a third of all primates in Indonesia. </p>
<p>Sulawesi has only two primate genera, Tarsius and Macaques, but these have diversified into more species than those same genera on other islands of Indonesia. </p>
<p>Hybrids and back-crosses of Sulawesi macaques are also renowned, making Sulawesi an important field laboratory for the study of genetics and primate evolution. </p>
<p>Sulawesi is also a home for 17 endemic primates that are of particular interest to primatologists due to their importance for Sulawesi’s highly distinctive biota. The island is an important habitat for endemic primates that is similar in kind, though not in scale, to that of Madagascar. </p>
<p>These primates are very good umbrella indicators of change in other species because they disperse the seeds of many trees, helping to maintain diversity and healthy populations of those forest species. </p>
<p>The current extent and rates of deforestation in Sulawesi have impacted hybrid zones and contact zones of all primates.</p>
<p>Hybrid zones are areas where different species of macaques breed or hybridise. Contact zones are areas of interaction among different species, where hybrids may arise between macaques.</p>
<p>As forest loss has continued to proceed at a high rate, primate habitat is highly affected.</p>
<p><em>Macaques ochreata</em>, or booted macaque, in Southeast Sulawesi and <em>Tarsius pelengensis</em>, or Peleng tarsier, in Central Sulawesi have lost the most habitat at 14%, followed by <em>M. hecki</em>, known as Heck’s macaque, and <em>M.tonkeana</em>, or Tonkeana macaque.</p>
<p>Forest loss has occurred in all macaque contact zones. Another newly described species, <em>Tarsius supriatnai</em>, known as Jatna’s tarsier, is also facing threats due to deforestation. The research results show the species has lost 12% of its habitat.</p>
<p>The extent of deforestation in the hybrid zones is alarming, with the greatest loss of forest occurring in the zones between <em>M. tonkeana</em> and <em>M. ochreata</em>. </p>
<p>In Central Sulawesi, road construction threatens the zone between <em>M. tonkeana</em> and M. <em>hecki</em>. Corn, cocoa and coffee plantations are replacing the forests of Enrekang region, which are in the hybrid zones between <em>M. maura</em>, or Moor macaque, and <em>M. tonkeana</em>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362936/original/file-20201012-15-1axv4a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362936/original/file-20201012-15-1axv4a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362936/original/file-20201012-15-1axv4a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362936/original/file-20201012-15-1axv4a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362936/original/file-20201012-15-1axv4a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362936/original/file-20201012-15-1axv4a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362936/original/file-20201012-15-1axv4a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Macaques maura</em>, or Moor macaques.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ANTARA FOTO/Darwin Fatir/kye/16</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Changes for human needs</h2>
<p>Overall, we concluded that conflict between the need for human livelihoods and the need to protect primates would continue as deforestation rates have increased in the habitats of all Sulawesi primates. </p>
<p>The remaining habitat of the primates is not enough for them to survive unless the forest remnants become protected and carefully managed. </p>
<p>The two provinces with the highest rates of deforestation, West and Southeast Sulawesi, have had their forests turned into agricultural land for oil palm, maize and cocoa, as well as nickel mining.</p>
<p>Illegal logging also causes deforestation in the area, even in protected areas and national parks. </p>
<p>This problem is made worse by the fact that a significant proportion of the population relies on farming for survival. Population pressure and the lack of non-agricultural employment lead to demands for more agricultural land, which can only come at the cost of forests. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is published with the support of <a href="https://splicebetafund.com/">Splice Beta Fund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147189/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jatna Supriatna tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>Research shows the clearing of forests on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island threatens the existence of endemic primates.Jatna Supriatna, Professor of Conservation Biology, Universitas IndonesiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1054752018-11-26T22:37:55Z2018-11-26T22:37:55ZThe impact of climate change on language loss<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247098/original/file-20181125-149338-14w5sk4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The coastline of Sulawesi, Indonesia, where languages and cultures are threatened by climate change.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anastasia Riehl</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Images of extreme weather and alarming headlines about climate change have become common. Last month, dire predictions about our warming planet from the United Nation’s <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)</a> were reported as distressing scenes from a devastating <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/30/world/asia/indonesia-tsunami.html">tsunami in Sulawesi, Indonesia</a> were still in the news. </p>
<p>As residents of Sulawesi villages mourn their losses and rebuild their neighbourhoods, scientists and policy makers seek to better understand and prepare for the effects of climate change. Often overlooked are the effects on the world’s languages. </p>
<h2>Global loss of languages</h2>
<p>While approximately 7,000 languages are spoken in the world today, <a href="https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-endangered-language">only about half are expected to survive</a> this century. A number of factors contribute to this loss: increasing globalization, which pushes countries and individuals to shift to national or international languages for economic reasons; lack of support for regional languages in educational systems and mass media; persecution of minority linguistic groups by governments and disruption of communities during war and emigration. </p>
<p>It is difficult to predict the future for any particular language. While some minority languages will thrive for generations to come, many of the world’s languages are moving towards extinction within a generation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/would-a-better-tsunami-warning-system-have-saved-lives-in-sulawesi-104223">Would a better tsunami warning system have saved lives in Sulawesi?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One stressor that may be the tipping point for some communities is <a href="https://grist.org/justice/as-ice-melts-and-seas-rise-can-endangered-languages-survive/">climate change</a>. Many small linguistic communities are located on islands and coastlines vulnerable to hurricanes and a rise in sea levels. Other communities are settled on lands where increases in temperature and fluctuations in precipitation can threaten traditional farming and fishing practices. </p>
<p>These changes will force communities to relocate, creating <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/02/climate-change-will-create-worlds-biggest-refugee-crisis">climate change refugees</a>. The resultant dispersal of people will lead to the splintering of linguistic communities and increased contact with other languages. These changes will place additional pressures on languages that are already struggling to survive.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247100/original/file-20181125-149332-og96uh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247100/original/file-20181125-149332-og96uh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247100/original/file-20181125-149332-og96uh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247100/original/file-20181125-149332-og96uh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247100/original/file-20181125-149332-og96uh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247100/original/file-20181125-149332-og96uh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247100/original/file-20181125-149332-og96uh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247100/original/file-20181125-149332-og96uh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harbour Market in Manado, North Sulawesi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anastasia Riehl</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sulawesi’s languages are disappearing</h2>
<p>I spent many months in Sulawesi in the early 2000s, recording languages of the northern and central regions. The island, shaped like a giant starfish with massive limbs unfurling in the Pacific Ocean, is home to <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/map/ID_sl_">dozens of distinct languages</a>, many of these spoken by only a few thousand people in a handful of villages each. </p>
<p>Moving from one bay or valley to another often means entering a different linguistic community. The people living at the mouth of the long, narrow bay, where the tsunami’s waves first began to gather force, speak a different language than the people living at the base of the bay, where those 20 foot waves stormed inland. </p>
<p>When people learned that I was in Sulawesi to study the languages, they would excitedly engage me in discussions of the languages of their region. This frequently happened when I was out for a walk in a village and had attracted a small group of residents curious about my presence. Inevitably someone would hold out their hands and use their fingers to list off the names of languages in the area. As I became better acquainted with an area’s languages, I would join others and call out the names along with them, a sing-song game that ended in laughter. </p>
<p>These conversations never took place in one of the local languages, however, but rather in the country’s national language, Indonesian. Despite the great pride in linguistic diversity that I witnessed, many of those eager to discuss the regional languages with me knew only a handful of words in their own community’s traditional language. Sulawesi’s languages, increasingly relegated to the oldest generations and most isolated communities, are disappearing.</p>
<p>Sulawesi’s story, both of linguistic diversity and of language endangerment, is the story of Indonesia more broadly, a country of over 600 languages, many of which are vulnerable. Indonesia’s story is, in turn, a global story. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247099/original/file-20181125-149323-3n5e26.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247099/original/file-20181125-149323-3n5e26.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247099/original/file-20181125-149323-3n5e26.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247099/original/file-20181125-149323-3n5e26.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247099/original/file-20181125-149323-3n5e26.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247099/original/file-20181125-149323-3n5e26.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247099/original/file-20181125-149323-3n5e26.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247099/original/file-20181125-149323-3n5e26.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A flooded market in Sulawesi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anastasia Riehl</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Loss of language, loss of data, identity</h2>
<p>When a language is lost, the result can be a loss of identity, one that may impact the health and vitality of a community for generations to come. The importance of the connection between language and identity can be seen here in Canada.</p>
<p>Indigenous communities are struggling to overcome decades of persecution and discrimination, the traumatic legacies of <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools">residential schooling</a> and, increasingly, environmental challenges. Alongside efforts to secure equal access to education, health care and infrastructure, communities are making substantial investments in the <a href="https://curio.ca/en/collection/indigenous-language-revitalization-2599/">revitalization of their languages</a>, viewed as a critical part of healing the past and securing the future. </p>
<p>The loss of a language is also a loss of data needed to better understand human cognition, as happens when a language disappears before its structures and patterns have been documented. It is a loss of knowledge about the world as well, as when descriptive names for plants or practices — still unknown outside a local area — are forgotten. </p>
<p>Some of climate change’s effects are easy to see and to fear: homes destroyed by a wildfire, people swept away in flooded streets, crops withering in a drought. Other effects, like language loss, are less tangible and more complicated but also devastating. </p>
<p>As I read the harrowing forecasts of the consequences of rising temperatures, and as I fear for the fate of friends in villages overtaken by the tsunami’s mudflows, I also worry about the future of Sulawesi’s languages — and of the world’s languages more generally. </p>
<p>The IPCC report warns us that if the world does not come together to prevent a projected global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees, the future will be one of loss: loss of land, of food and water supplies, of lives and livelihoods.</p>
<p>It will also be a loss of languages, of the knowledge and cultures they embody, and of the diversity and richness of human experience that they represent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Funding for the fieldwork in Sulawesi was provided by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship.</span></em></p>Approximately 7,000 languages are spoken in the world today, but only about half are expected to survive this century. One factor contributing to this loss is climate change.Anastasia Riehl, Director, Strathy Language Unit, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048802018-10-21T13:02:48Z2018-10-21T13:02:48ZWhy some earthquakes are so deadly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241305/original/file-20181018-67179-9l1ppi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this Oct. 10, 2018, photo, a man walks past a boat swept ashore by a tsunami in Wani village on the outskirt of Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The 7.5 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 28, triggered a tsunami and mudslides.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You feel a jolt. Was that … no, it couldn’t be. Wait, it <em>is</em> an earthquake. </p>
<p>Now the whole house is shaking. What do you do? </p>
<p>The answer depends less on the magnitude of the earthquake than you’d think. What matters more is what country you live in and how close you are to water.</p>
<p>Take, for example, the biggest earthquake you’ve never heard of. It happened on Feb. 27, 2010, <a href="https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/official20100227063411530_30/executive">off the coast of Chile</a>. It was the sixth largest ever recorded, with a magnitude of 8.8.</p>
<p>It didn’t exactly go unnoticed. It caused three minutes of intense <a href="http://www.unavco.org/highlights/2010/M8.8-Chile.html#data">shaking</a> in Chile and Argentina. <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2010/03/28/national/fisheries-took-6-billion-hit-from-chile-tsunami/#.W8bRl_YnZPY">The tsunami it generated caused damage as far away as Japan</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Chile-earthquake-of-2010">Yet only 550 people died</a> in this earthquake, 150 of those in the resulting tsunami, and it hasn’t lingered in the public awareness.</p>
<p>Compare it to <a href="https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usp000h60h/executive">what happened in Haiti just a month earlier</a>, on Jan. 12, 2010. That one you definitely remember because it was awful, and you and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-rushes-aid-to-haiti/article4303301/">countless others donated to the rescue and recovery effort</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241303/original/file-20181018-67176-166cqat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241303/original/file-20181018-67176-166cqat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241303/original/file-20181018-67176-166cqat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241303/original/file-20181018-67176-166cqat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241303/original/file-20181018-67176-166cqat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241303/original/file-20181018-67176-166cqat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241303/original/file-20181018-67176-166cqat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this Jan. 14, 2010 file photo, a couple looks over hundreds of earthquake victims at the morgue in Port-au-Prince.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>No one knows for sure how many died: 160,000? 220,000? But this earthquake was only a magnitude 7.0. In the world of logarithmic scaling, that means the one in Chile was 500 times more powerful. So why was the Haiti earthquake so devastating?</p>
<h2>Blind fault</h2>
<p>The classic saying among geologists is that earthquakes don’t kill people — buildings do. Or bridges. Or failing dams. Or fires from ruptured gas lines. </p>
<p>Or a cholera outbreak that follows from the lack of clean drinking water.</p>
<p>Nothing makes a bigger difference in an earthquake’s death toll than infrastructure, especially when population is dense. Chile has a long history of earthquakes. <a href="https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/official19600522191120_30/executive">The largest ever recorded, a magnitude 9.5, struck in 1960</a>. It also has the building codes to show for it. Haiti didn’t have the resources to adequately prepare or respond.</p>
<p>Another difference is expectation. The earthquake in Haiti happened on what is called a blind fault, meaning it was buried, so we didn’t know it existed. </p>
<p>The fault in Chile pops all the time. And countries throughout the Pacific now know they can be hit anytime by a tsunami originating from Chile or any other number of locations. </p>
<p>After the devastating earthquake that struck off the coast of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004, generating <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/news/indian-ocean-tsunami-remembered-scientists-reflect-2004-indian-ocean-killed-thousands">the Boxing Day tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people</a>, an international effort ramped up <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-quake-idUSKCN0W41J2">deployment of a warning system of buoys in the Indian Ocean</a>. </p>
<h2>The unexpected in Sulawesi</h2>
<p>So what went so wrong on Sept. 28, 2018, in Sulawesi, Indonesia? The magnitude 7.5 quake was large, but not giant. The real killer, and the surprise, was the tsunami. <a href="https://ahacentre.org/situation-update/situation-update-no-12-sulawesi-earthquake-15-october-2018/">So far, about 2,100 deaths have been reported</a>, but the number continues to rise. </p>
<p>Tsunamis are devastating — inescapable and nearly unsurvivable if you’re in their path. They usually occur by changing the shape of the ocean floor during the earthquake. </p>
<p>But the Sulawesi earthquake didn’t happen under water. Instead, the tsunami may have been a secondary effect — the earthquake triggered an underwater landslide, and the landslide triggered the tsunami.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241301/original/file-20181018-67167-1w59n6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241301/original/file-20181018-67167-1w59n6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241301/original/file-20181018-67167-1w59n6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241301/original/file-20181018-67167-1w59n6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241301/original/file-20181018-67167-1w59n6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241301/original/file-20181018-67167-1w59n6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241301/original/file-20181018-67167-1w59n6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this Oct. 11, 2018, file photo, rescue workers watch as a heavy machine digs through rubble searching for earthquake victims at Balaroa neighborhood in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Would an early warning system have helped? Possibly, but because we weren’t expecting this kind of tsunami, even if a network of buoys had been functional, they wouldn’t have been in the right place because the tsunami was so local.</p>
<p>They also wouldn’t have given locals much warning, as the tsunami followed so quickly on the heels of the earthquake — in this situation the earthquake itself was the best early warning system.</p>
<h2>What should you do?</h2>
<p>Don’t think we’re immune to large or unexpected earthquakes in Canada. Vancouver is poised for “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one">the big one</a>.” There are occasional rumblings in Québec and Ontario along ancient tectonic scars — earthquakes along faults like this are the hardest to predict because they occur so rarely.</p>
<p>Learning to accurately predict and prepare for earthquakes is a long game. They’re so seldom that it’s difficult to see the pattern, and therefore difficult to predict the future.</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://eos.org/editors-vox/earthquake-precursors-processes-and-predictions">promising work on “precursor” earthquakes that give days to minutes of warning</a>. Unfortunately, most of the time the best we can do is make pronouncements about the chance of an earthquake of a certain size occurring in a certain area in the next certain number of years. And that sounds anything but certain.</p>
<p>Scientists are working on extending what we know about past earthquakes beyond recorded human history. This helps. But accurately predicting earthquakes and their impact requires money, time and lots of excruciatingly detailed work.</p>
<p>So what do you do when you feel the jolt of an earthquake? In Chile, dive for cover; your building will probably stay standing. In Haiti, get out in the open. If you’re anywhere near water, like Sulawesi, don’t wait for warning sirens, head for the hills as fast as you can.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lindsay Schoenbohm receives funding from NSERC in Canada and the US NSF. </span></em></p>Last month’s earthquake in Sulawesi, Indonesia was large, but not huge. It was the aftereffects that made it so devastating.Lindsay Schoenbohm, Associate Professor, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1044712018-10-16T10:41:12Z2018-10-16T10:41:12ZThe mosques that survived Palu’s tsunami and what that means<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240442/original/file-20181012-109222-15y5ijq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Floating Mosque of Palu that survived after the earthquake.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Indonesia-Earthquake/0e2d8ee2f4884356b817d356e224d943/10/0">AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the <a href="http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2018/10/07/missing-toll-soars-5000-engulfed-indonesia-quake-neighbourhoods">devastation</a> that followed the earthquake and resulting tsunami in the Indonesian city of Palu in Central Sulawesi, many Muslim religious sites were destroyed. </p>
<p>Two mosques, however, survived, with little to no damage to their structure. </p>
<p>In a province where <a href="http://ardi-lamadi.blogspot.com/2013/07/jumlah-penduduk-berdasarkan-agama-di_5795.html">85 percent</a> of the <a href="https://sulteng.bps.go.id">3 million residents</a> are Muslims, the survival of these particular mosques and not others has started a discussion about the very nature of Islam. </p>
<h2>Mosques of Palu</h2>
<p>I came to know Palu well while doing fieldwork in Central Sulawesi in 1984 as part of my research <a href="https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1117&context=bookshelf">on “traditional rituals.”</a> Palu is the administrative and cultural hub for the whole Sulawesi province.</p>
<p>Of the 24 mosques, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO8IPYkluaU">20 were severely damaged in the tsunami</a>. The worst hit was the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BoTP2oqBMWS/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1j6x68chxh7vw">Baiturrahman Mosque</a>, where 300 people were killed during evening prayers. </p>
<p>However, the <a href="http://alkhairaat.sch.id/sejarah-alkhairaat/">Alkhairaat Mosque,</a> and the Arkham Babu Rahman Mosque, known locally as the <a href="http://bangka.tribunnews.com/2018/09/30/gempa-dan-tsunami-palu-donggala-allahuakbar-masjid-terapung-ikon-kota-palu-tetap-berdiri-kokoh">Floating Mosque</a> survived. The Floating Mosque dominated the Palu Beach with its dramatic walkway from the shore to mosque. After the tsunami, the mosque’s access from the shore has been cut off and it is now literally floating in Palu Bay. </p>
<p>Though partially submerged, its structure remains intact. Palu residents, commenting on Facebook in the first few days after the tsunami, noted how “it remained miraculously untouched.” </p>
<p>At a time when people are trying to make sense of the death and destruction, the survival of Alkhairaat and Arkham Babu Rahman is seen to be a sign of saintly power and the mercy of Allah. Thousands have turned up to pray at Alkhairaat Mosque and walk reverently past the mosque floating in water.</p>
<h2>The mosques that survived</h2>
<p>The history of the Floating Mosque is dedicated to the 17th-century founder of Islam in Palu, <a href="http://www.nu.or.id/post/read/54501/tracing-datuk-karama-the-first-islamic-preacher-in-palu">Datuk Karama</a>. Karama came from the western island of Sumatra and preached Islam to the people of Palu. </p>
<p>The Alkhairaat mosque was erected by a Yemeni merchant
<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/28176852">Sayyid Idrus Al-Jufri</a> in 1930. Al-Jufri also founded religious schools after discovering upon his arrival that many people did not have basic education. The first school eventually became the Alkhairaat University. </p>
<p>The tombs of Al-Jufri and Datuk Karama are located near their mosques, where people come to seek <a href="https://jurnalharmoni.kemenag.go.id/index.php/harmoni/article/view/245">spiritual guidance</a>. The street where Alkhairaat Mosque is located as well as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiara_SIS_Al-Jufrie_Airport">airport in Palu</a> have been named after Al-Jufri. </p>
<h2>What it means to Palu survivors</h2>
<p>In private comments on Facebook’s instant messenger, people have asserted that the Alkhairaat Mosque and the <a href="http://bangka.tribunnews.com/2018/09/30/gempa-dan-tsunami-palu-donggala-allahuakbar-masjid-terapung-ikon-kota-palu-tetap-berdiri-kokoh">Floating Mosque</a>
survived because of the mystical power of the saints who “guard” these mosques. </p>
<p>These comments have revealed tensions between what people refer to as <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/14/indonesias-moderate-islam-is-slowly-crumbling/">“old Islam” and “reformist Islam.”</a> In Palu, <a href="http://science.jrank.org/pages/8030/Islamic-Reform.html">reformist Islam</a> includes beliefs of Salafis and Wahhabis, who want to go back to a purer form of Islam. They see the belief in saints as a <a href="https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=socanth-faculty-publications">“recent” addition</a> to the original Islam that was <a href="http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e207">revealed to Prophet Muhammad</a> in the 7th century A.D. </p>
<p>In fact, during the early 2000s, some of the more <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/06/04/suicide-bombing-hits-restive-poso.html">radical Wahabi and Salafist</a> sects used extreme, violent methods to convince Central Sulawesians to change their beliefs in the mystical power of saints or “old Islam.” </p>
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<p>The educational institutions led by the <a href="https://alkhairaat.com/">Alkhairaat Foundation</a> have played a considerable role in fostering the old Islamic beliefs. The foundation runs 43 boarding schools, and 1,700 religious schools across Eastern Indonesia and a large university in Palu. All emphasize tolerance. However, Salafi and Wahabi schools, promoted by Saudi funding in the 1990s, argue that the tolerance taught by <a href="https://jurnalharmoni.kemenag.go.id/index.php/harmoni/article/view/245">Alkhairaat was the “wrong kind of Islam.”</a>“ </p>
<p>In 2000, Alkhairaat students at a school in Poso, a port town near the southern coast of Central Sulawesi <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3351481?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">were targeted by terrorists</a>. The region’s 14 percent minority Christians have also been under attack. </p>
<p>Since 2010 there has been no violence, but even as recently as 2016, the Indonesian government has been searching for <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/08/26/peace-process-ongoing-poso.html">terrorist cells</a> in the mountain jungles of Central Sulawesi.</p>
<h2>Palu’s future</h2>
<p>Despite the reformists’ activity, Alkhairaat’s influence in Palu remains strong. As a major philanthropic organization in Palu and beyond, with many graduates of Alkhairaat University serving in government and private sectors, Alkhairaat has helped counter hate rhetoric and actions. </p>
<p>Some of the comments on Facebook reveal survivors’ loyalty to <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/28176852">Alkhairaat values</a>. Post-tsunami, however, Alkhairaat’s resources are likely strained, as graduates say in private conversations on Facebook with me. </p>
<p>The question is will this tragedy bring outside funds that once again disturb the internal harmony among Muslims? If so, will Palu sustain its spirit of tolerance? </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Nourse receives funding from Fulbright and the University of Richmond Faculty Research Committee. </span></em></p>A majority of the over 24 mosques spread over Palu were damaged in the tsunami. Two of them survived, though one of them is gradually sinking.Jennifer Nourse, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1044702018-10-09T10:45:22Z2018-10-09T10:45:22ZAn Indonesian city’s destruction reverberates across Sulawesi<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239802/original/file-20181008-72103-gkh1tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A bridge in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, was destroyed in the recent earthquake and tsunami.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/The-Week-That-Was-in-Asia-Photo-Gallery/22521825e2b749239f94ba97a2005d1b/318/0">AP Photo/Aaron Favila</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’ve been visiting the city of Palu in <a href="https://sulteng.bps.go.id/">Central Sulawesi</a>, a province in Indonesia, for the past 38 years as part of <a href="https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/122/">my anthropological fieldwork</a>.</p>
<p>So it was particularly harrowing for me to read about the <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/multimedia/2018/09/28/video-shows-tsunami-hitting-palu-after-7-7-magnitude-quake.html">7.7 magnitude earthquake</a> and tsunami <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/09/photos-from-the-deadly-earthquake-and-tsunami-in-indonesia/571765/">that decimated the city</a> on Sept. 28. </p>
<p>The full scope of the devastation hasn’t come into focus, <a href="http://time.com/5417970/death-toll-indonesia-natural-disasters/">but thousands have been displaced, died or gone missing</a>. </p>
<p>What we do know is that it will take years for Palu, the region’s capital city, <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/10/01/chaos-in-palu-after-quake-as-survivors-deal-with-hunger-thirst.html">to recover and rebuild</a>. But while the devastation might be most visible in Palu, the province’s rural areas could ultimately end up suffering the most.</p>
<h2>The hub of Sulawesi</h2>
<p>Indonesia, a country made up of 13,000 islands populated by <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/indonesia/overview">263 million people</a>, has over 300 different ethnic groups in 34 provinces. </p>
<p>Sulawesi Island, once known as the Celebes, has <a href="https://sulteng.bps.go.id/">18 million residents</a> spread over six provinces in an area that’s roughly the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=Florida+square+miles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1">size of Florida</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239801/original/file-20181008-72110-13lfyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239801/original/file-20181008-72110-13lfyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239801/original/file-20181008-72110-13lfyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239801/original/file-20181008-72110-13lfyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239801/original/file-20181008-72110-13lfyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=662&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239801/original/file-20181008-72110-13lfyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239801/original/file-20181008-72110-13lfyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239801/original/file-20181008-72110-13lfyf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=832&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sulawesi has six provinces, one of which is Central Sulawesi, where Palu is located.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Sulawesi_map.PNG">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because of its unique shape – it looks like a lopsided spider with thin tendrils shooting off in various directions – travel to various parts of the island can be difficult, and many regions are isolated.</p>
<p>When I first arrived in Palu in 1980, it was a quaint city of only 30,000 people. White picket fences surrounded residents’ homes, and colonial-era architecture lined the main thoroughfares. Situated on the shimmering, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/a_dit/2676282177">emerald-colored waters of Palu Bay</a>,
the city was flanked by <a href="https://foursquare.com/user/345506516/list/rekomendasi-tempat-wisata-di-kota-palu">a U-shaped curve of steep mountains</a>. </p>
<p>It was stunning. </p>
<p>As I searched for a field site, it became quickly apparent that Palu was one of the few cities in the region with paved roads, running water and electricity. Much of this development had occurred since the federal government designated Palu the administrative center for a newly created province of Central Sulawesi in 1978. Using a <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/indonesia">World Bank loan</a>, the federal government was able to fund the construction of roads and government buildings, while expanding the city’s electrical and communication grids. </p>
<p>I eventually decided to focus my anthropological research on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229504039_Who's_Exploiting_Whom_Agency_Fieldwork_and_Representation_among_Lauje_of_Indonesia">the Lauje</a>, one of Central Sulawesi’s 32 ethnic groups. The Lauje live in woven bamboo houses deep in the mountains above Tinombo, a region seven hours from Palu by car. For the next two years, I lived in one of these houses studying the Lauje language and conducting fieldwork. </p>
<p>During that period, I only made three or four forays into “modern” Palu. But even back then, it was clear that the city played a vital role in the day-to-day life of the region’s remote villages.</p>
<p>The Palu administrators decided where clinics and schools would be built and how they would be funded and staffed. They helped build and maintain the vital roads and bridges that coastal elites used to access the lucrative ebony, bamboo, cloves, coffee and chocolate farmed by upland peasants. </p>
<h2>Steady – but fragile – growth</h2>
<p>Over the years, I’ve watched Palu grow. What was once a sleepy little administrative capital where it seemed like everyone knew one another had become, by 2016, <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/03/23/analysis-sulawesi-an-island-opportunity-amid-economic-slowdown.html">a bustling city</a> of <a href="https://palukota.bps.go.id/statictable/2017/06/13/599/jumlah-penduduk-menurut-kabupaten-kota-di-provinsi-sulawesi-tengah-ribu-2012-2016.html">375,000 residents</a>
with palatial mansions, gridlocked traffic, rock concerts and shopping malls.</p>
<p>As Central Sulawesi’s capital city, Palu serves not only its residents, but those throughout the province.</p>
<p>It’s where middle-class people living in more rural areas send their kids to university, where they travel to buy computers or automobiles and where they go for serious medical procedures. It’s where administrators from far-flung counties go to attend training workshops, file government reports or request funding for local projects. </p>
<p>While Palu became more prosperous during the 31-year rule of former President <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/24/world/fall-suharto-overview-indonesia-struggles-find-new-reasons-stay-intact.html">Suharto</a>, most of the Lauje and the province’s other ethnic communities continued to live in poverty, surviving off subsistence farming. </p>
<p>Change came when President Suharto left office in 1998 and a new democratic government took power. </p>
<p>For decades, Suharto’s family <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/07/23/indonesia-still-has-too-much-corruption-says-soehartos-son.html">had unfairly controlled the prices</a> of lucrative crops such as coffee, cloves and <a href="https://sulteng.antaranews.com/berita/39485/parigi-moutong-produksi-kakao-69704-ton">chocolate</a>, pocketing government-imposed costs and fees for themselves.</p>
<p>Now, with fairer costs and prices in place, farmers can profit more from their labor – and can then pay for the books and uniforms required to send their children to middle and high schools. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, more equitable distribution of federal resources funded new schools and health clinics in rural regions. The Palu government also built motorcycle trails that bypassed the rivers, allowing farmers to more easily transport their produce to markets.</p>
<p>In 2017, Central Sulawesi’s economy <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/02/07/central-sulawesi-records-economic-growth-of-7-14-in-2017.html">grew at a rate of 7.14 percent</a>. Much of that has taken place in Palu, but the province’s other regions have slowly <a href="https://www.indonesia-investments.com/finance/macroeconomic-indicators/poverty/item301?">been inching out of poverty</a>, too.</p>
<h2>Life on pause</h2>
<p>This fragile economic growth has now been completely upended; the region’s infrastructure is in ruins. </p>
<p>“The air here in Palu smells like rotting corpses,” a friend recently told me over Facebook. “It’s unhealthy and aftershocks still rumble and <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/10/05/police-arrest-over-90-alleged-looters-in-c-sulawesi.html">looters</a> are everywhere.”</p>
<p>With Palu’s bureaucrats, business people and teachers fleeing, no one knows how county governments will be able to function. Life isn’t just on hold for city dwellers; everything in the province, it seems, has come to a standstill.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239808/original/file-20181008-72117-cr4bjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239808/original/file-20181008-72117-cr4bjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239808/original/file-20181008-72117-cr4bjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239808/original/file-20181008-72117-cr4bjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239808/original/file-20181008-72117-cr4bjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239808/original/file-20181008-72117-cr4bjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239808/original/file-20181008-72117-cr4bjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man surveys the damage after the earthquake and tsunami.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Indonesia-Earthquake-Photo-Gallery/4a87cf0c734f419cab99a57dbc3eff51/15/1">AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My friends in several Central Sulawesi communities have told me over Facebook that even though bottled water is scarce, they’re afraid to boil river water still cloudy with debris from the earthquake.</p>
<p>Many rural families receive scholarships to private schools in Palu that train their children to be midwives, pharmacists or medical technicians. What will happen to those already enrolled, whose schools are now shuttered or destroyed?</p>
<p>What will happen to the pregnant women in remote areas who can’t access doctors or midwives because they have all been sent to Palu? </p>
<p>What will happen to the flow of goods that once entered the Port of Palu and were then transported via truck across Central Sulawesi’s mountains? </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/14/natural-disasters-poverty-world-bank-climate-change">rural poor</a> often end up suffering the most after <a href="https://www.indonesia-investments.com/finance/macroeconomic-indicators/poverty/item301?">natural disasters</a>.</p>
<p>In Central Sulawesi, I fear this will be the case as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104470/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Nourse receives funding from the Fulbright Program and has received a University of Richmond Faculty Research grant.
</span></em></p>The devastation of the recent earthquake and tsunami might be most visible in Palu, the capital city of Central Sulawesi. But the province’s rural areas could ultimately suffer the most.Jennifer Nourse, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1042132018-10-03T06:43:54Z2018-10-03T06:43:54ZPalu earthquake and tsunami swept away some of Indonesia’s most important human rights activism<p>When the earthquake and tsunami hit the city of Palu, Central Sulawesi, last Friday, they not only brought wreckage and death. The twin disasters also swept away efforts by activists and the municipal administration to support the survivors of Indonesia’s violent anti-communist purges in 1965-1966. In the rest of the country, such survivors are still very marginalised. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://palukota.bps.go.id/linkTabelStatis/view/id/10">Palu</a>, a city of some 350,000 inhabitants and the capital of Central Sulawesi province, activists had convinced local government leaders to work with them in helping these survivors. Palu is the only place in Indonesia where a government leader has made an official apology to the victims of the anti-communist violence in the area. Some five days after the devastating natural disaster, the fate of some of those activists is still unknown. </p>
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Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-indonesias-1965-1966-anti-communist-purge-remade-a-nation-and-the-world-48243">How Indonesia's 1965-1966 anti-communist purge remade a nation and the world</a>
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<h2>An apology</h2>
<p>Indonesian people lived under Soeharto’s New Order authoritarian regime between 1968 and 1998, when the president was forced to resign. From 1965-66, the army, under Soeharto, spearheaded anti-communist operations that killed half a million people and led to the detention of hundreds of thousands. </p>
<p>The army blamed Indonesia’s Communist Party (PKI) for the murder of seven army officers on the night of 30 September and in the early hours of 1 October, 1965, by a group calling itself <a href="https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/3938.htm">the Thirtieth September Movement</a>. The 53rd anniversary of these events coincided with the terrible disaster in Central Sulawesi.</p>
<p>In 2012, the Palu mayor, Rusdy Mastura, apologised to the victims of the anti-communist violence. He pledged to provide assistance to them and their families in the interests of <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/10/25/rusdy-mastura-the-mayor-who-said-sorry-1965.html">“equality, openness and humanitarian considerations”</a>. In his speech, Mastura recalled how, as a boy scout in 1965, he had been tasked with guarding leftist detainees. </p>
<p>Mastura was speaking at an event organised by local human rights group, SKP-HAM (Solidaritas Korban Pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia, Solidarity with Victims of Human Rights Abuses). </p>
<p>SKP-HAM was founded in 2004. Its best-known leader is the dynamic secretary, <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/12/17/nurlaela-ak-lamasitudju-truth-and-justice-1965-victims.html">Nurlaela Lamasitudju</a>, the daughter of local Islamic cleric, Abdul Karim Lamasitudju. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238823/original/file-20181002-195278-1cdjnld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238823/original/file-20181002-195278-1cdjnld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238823/original/file-20181002-195278-1cdjnld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238823/original/file-20181002-195278-1cdjnld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238823/original/file-20181002-195278-1cdjnld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238823/original/file-20181002-195278-1cdjnld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238823/original/file-20181002-195278-1cdjnld.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Palu mayor Rusdy Mastura (middle) and SKP-HAM leader Nurlaela Lamasitudju (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Still from short documentary on SKP-HAM </span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2012, ‘Year of Truth Telling’</h2>
<p>SKP-HAM is part of the national Coalition for Truth and Justice (Koalisi Pengungkapan Kebenaran dan Keadilan, KKPK). </p>
<p>In 2012, the KKPK held several public events and community “hearings”, dubbed the “Year of Truth Telling”, to pressure the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to rehabilitate the victims of the violence. In April 2012, Yudhoyono was <a href="http://news.detik.com/read/2012/04/25/141406/1901196/10/sby-akan-minta-maaf-pada-korban-pelanggaran-ham-berat-di-masa-lalu">reported as having expressed his intention to apologise</a> to victims of human rights abuses committed during the Suharto New Order regime. </p>
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<em>
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Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-should-indonesia-resolve-atrocities-of-the-1965-66-anti-communist-purge-57885">How should Indonesia resolve atrocities of the 1965-66 anti-communist purge?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Yudhoyono’s promised apology never materialised. However, the “Year of Truth Telling” events yielded some important gains in Palu. </p>
<p>Following his apology, the SKP-HAM lobbied Mastura to deliver on his promises by providing healthcare and scholarships. A mayoral regulation and a <a href="http://referensi.elsam.or.id/2014/10/peraturan-walikota-palu-nomor-25-tahun-2013-tentang-rancana-aksi-nasional-hak-asasi-manusia-daerah/">Regional Action Plan for Human Rights</a> (Rencana Hak Asasi Manusia, Ranham) were promulgated to enable this. These local government instruments have been made possible through Indonesia’s regional autonomy laws.</p>
<p>The mayoral regulation also established a committee to oversee human rights protection and restoration of victims’ rights. On May 20, 2013, Palu was declared a “Human Rights Aware City”. Each year, the city holds a series of human rights-related events. In May 2015, the Palu City Regional Planning Body oversaw the process of checking and verifying the identity of victims and their needs, using the <a href="http://www.skp-ham.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Ringkasan-Eksekutif-Penelitian-dan-Verifikasi-Korban-Peristiwa-1965-1966-di-Kota-Palu-Rev-Ebook.pdf">information compiled by human rights groups</a> as a base. </p>
<h1>A trailblazing city</h1>
<p>SKP-HAM had collected 1200 testimonies about the 1965-66 violence from victims in the area. From these testimonies, it had created and uploaded to YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsuRnOiDOq4kv8fzcLPuY6A">short films of survivors’ testimonies</a>. <a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/10/17/sulawesi-testifies-reveals-rare-perspective-1965-massacre.html">It had also published a book about the 1965-66 events in Sulawesi</a>, in collaboration with Indonesian author, Putu Oka Sukanta. Mastura wrote the book’s preface. The group supported weaving cooperatives involving women survivors and ran a café and meeting space, Kedai Fabula, at its office in Palu. In partnership with religious groups and the municipal administration, members of the group organised social activities to involve abuse survivors in the life of the city. </p>
<p>The activities of SKP-HAM Palu is a reminder of what has been lost. It was a trailblazing city whose achievement in human rights advancement provided a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/world/asia/a-city-turns-to-face-indonesias-murderous-past.html">model for the rest of the country</a>. </p>
<p>The people of Palu, with a great deal of assistance, will rebuild, but we still wait for more news from the city. SKP-HAM leader, Lamasitudju, survived the earthquake and tsunami. With a sprained ankle and having lost several family members in the disaster, she is volunteering to collect and provide information regarding the situation in Palu. Indonesia needs groups like SKP-HAM that campaign for inclusiveness and equal rights to survive into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vannessa Hearman is a member of the Asian Studies Association of Australia council.</span></em></p>Palu, the capital city of Central Sulawesi province in Indonesia, recently devastated by an earthquake and tsunami, is a trailblazing city with progressive human rights initiatives.Vannessa Hearman, Lecturer in Indonesian Studies, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/856022017-10-15T16:15:51Z2017-10-15T16:15:51ZWallacea: a living laboratory of evolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190257/original/file-20171015-3532-1ls3sq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sulawesi, part of the biogeographical region of Wallacea, is home to tarsiers -- tiny, goggle-eyed creatures look more like mammalian tree frogs than monkeys. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ondrej Prosicky/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>To mark <a href="https://www.eventbrite.sg/e/wallace-wallacea-indonesia-wallacea-week-2017-public-lecture-tickets-37719657511">Wallacea Week</a>, a series of public lectures and exhibition on the Wallacea region of Indonesia, The Conversation presents a series of analysis on biodiversity and history of science in Indonesia. This is the first article of the series.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>The central islands of Indonesia - between Java, Bali and Kalimantan (also known as Borneo) on the west and Papua at the eastern end of the country - is a place of wonder, a living laboratory for the study of evolution. </p>
<p>It’s called Wallacea, named after Alfred Russel Wallace, the 19th century English explorer and naturalist. On his exploration in the Indonesian archipelago (then known as the Malay archipelago) Wallace developed his <a href="http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_14">theory of natural selection</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190258/original/file-20171015-3542-1fak7j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190258/original/file-20171015-3542-1fak7j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190258/original/file-20171015-3542-1fak7j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190258/original/file-20171015-3542-1fak7j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190258/original/file-20171015-3542-1fak7j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1231&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190258/original/file-20171015-3542-1fak7j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1231&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190258/original/file-20171015-3542-1fak7j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1231&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alfred Russel Wallace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He noticed that the islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi as well as Bali and Lombok have very distinct animals even though the islands are next to each other. He proposed an invisible line runs between Kalimantan and Sulawesi and Bali and Lombok separating the faunas. </p>
<p>In Kalimantan and Bali live animals such as tiger, rhinos and elephants, which now, due to human population expansion, are endangered. In Sulawesi and Lombok to the east of the small Mollucas islands, we find marsupials, a variety of peculiar looking monkeys, and interesting endemic animals. Endemic animals means they are native or restricted to an area. </p>
<p>The invisible line is now known as Wallace’s Line and the region between it and the island of New Guinea has come to be called Wallacea. </p>
<p>Scientists today know that Kalimantan and Bali were connected as part of <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16021657-200-where-it-all-began/">Sundaland</a>, a large landmass that includes the Malay Peninsula on the Asian mainland as well as Java and Sumatra. This landmass was exposed for 2.6 million years until ice caps started to melt around 14,000 years ago, submerging part of the landmass and creating the Indonesian archipelago.</p>
<h2>Creatures of Wallacea</h2>
<p>Wallacea includes the large island of Sulawesi, the Mollucas - the various small to medium-sized islands to the east of Sulawesi and the “Banda Arc” islands - and the Lesser Sundas or Nusa Tenggara, south of Sulawesi and the Moluccas. </p>
<p>Wallacea is a transition zone between the great Indo-Malayan and Australasian biogeographical realms. Millions of years of relative geographical isolation have allowed fascinating and highly endemic fauna to evolve here. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190261/original/file-20171015-3545-8w6sus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190261/original/file-20171015-3545-8w6sus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190261/original/file-20171015-3545-8w6sus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190261/original/file-20171015-3545-8w6sus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190261/original/file-20171015-3545-8w6sus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190261/original/file-20171015-3545-8w6sus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190261/original/file-20171015-3545-8w6sus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wallacea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wallacea_Hotspot_2005_Print.tif">Conservation International/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Wallacea is home to <a href="http://www.bird-stamps.org/books/77.htm">697 bird species</a>, of which 249 (36%) are endemic. The rate of endemism rises to a more impressive 44% if only the resident birds, or those that don’t migrate, are considered. </p>
<p>On Sulawesi and its satellite islands, there are 328 bird species, 230 of them resident and 97 species are endemic, among them the maleo bird. </p>
<p>Wallacea has a total of 201 native mammal species (excluding whales and dolphins), 123 of which are endemic. If we exclude the 81 bat species with their greater capacity for dispersion, the rate of endemism increases to a very high 93%.</p>
<p>Sulawesi, the largest island in Wallacea, has the highest number of mammals, with 132 species, of which 83 (63%) are endemic. </p>
<p>It holds important flagship species such as the anoas (<em>Bubalus depressicornis</em>), diminutive buffaloes that live in the forests of Sulawesi, and the babirusa (<em>Babyrousa babyrussa</em>), an unusual, enigmatic pig with long, recurved upper tusks that penetrate through the skin of the upper lip. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190264/original/file-20171015-3520-le1zbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190264/original/file-20171015-3520-le1zbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190264/original/file-20171015-3520-le1zbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190264/original/file-20171015-3520-le1zbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190264/original/file-20171015-3520-le1zbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190264/original/file-20171015-3520-le1zbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190264/original/file-20171015-3520-le1zbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The enigmatic pig of Sulawesi, babirusa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Artush/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sulawesi’s primates are also special. At least seven species of macaques are unique to the island. Sulawesi also has several species of tarsiers - tiny, goggle-eyed creatures that look more like mammalian tree frogs than monkeys. </p>
<p>Reptile diversity is also quite high, with 188 species, of which 122 (65%) are endemic. The best known reptile in Wallacea, and one of Indonesia’s most famous species, is the Komodo dragon (<em>Varanus komodoensis</em>) or “<em>ora</em>” in local language. </p>
<p>Komodo is the heaviest lizard in the world (males can reach about 2.8 m in length and weigh about 50 kg). They live only in the tiny island of Komodo, the neighbouring islands of Padar and Rinca to the west, and the western end and north coast of Flores. </p>
<p>Most of the 210 freshwater fish species recorded from the rivers and lakes in Wallacea are tolerant of both fresh and salt water to some extent. </p>
<p>We still need more research in fish species. In the Moluccas and Lesser Sundas, the fish fauna is poorly known. But there appear to be around six island endemics. On Sulawesi, there are 69 known species, of which 53 (77%) are endemic. </p>
<p>At the northeastern corner of South Sulawesi lies the Malili Lakes, a complex of deep lakes, rapids and rivers. Here, at least 15 endemic beautiful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telmatherinidae">telmatherinid</a> fishes have evolved. </p>
<p>The plants of Wallacea is not as well known as that of its neighbours. Fewer botanical specimens per-unit-area are collected than on any other major islands in Indonesia. </p>
<p>We also don’t know much of the invertebrate fauna of Wallacea. However, some groups, such as the enormous birdwing butterflies are better known. </p>
<p>Wallacea also has the world’s largest bee (<em>Chalocodoma pluto</em>) in the northern Moluccas. The females can grow to 4 cm in length. They are also remarkable because they nest communally in inhabited termite nests in lowland forest trees.</p>
<h2>Human impact</h2>
<p>As elsewhere, things have changed dramatically in Wallacea during the course of the past century. The human population has nearly quadrupled. Development has grown tremendously in Indonesia in general. </p>
<p>The first commercial logging operation in Wallacea began in the early part of the century, and forests have been cleared for agricultural programs, for industrial timber plantations, and for land settlement schemes that resettled hundreds of thousands of people from densely populated Java to other less inhabited (but much less productive) corners of Indonesia. </p>
<p>This has greatly reduced the amount of forest habitat, particularly in the lowlands, and has caused dramatic and severe declines in the populations of many forest species (many as much as 90%). </p>
<p>Much of the remaining forest is now given out in timber concessions of various kinds. </p>
<p>Furthermore, forest and land fires continues to be a problem. It is now greatly exacerbated by increased drying because of logging and plantation agriculture, and sometimes by intentional burning as well.</p>
<p>Overall, about 45% of Wallacea still has some forest cover; however, if one considers forest that is still in more or less pristine condition, the percentage drops to only 15%, or about 50,774 square kilometer.</p>
<p>At this point in time, forest protection in Wallacea is moderate at best. Protected area coverage is around 24,387 square kilometer, or 7% of original extent. </p>
<p>Of course, establishment of protected areas is only a beginning. Once created, they need management and the cooperation of local people, the government, and the private sector in order to be successful in conserving biodiversity. For millions of years, fascinating creatures have managed to diversify and evolve over millions of years. We have a moral obligation to protect this wonder.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85602/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jatna Supriatna is a member of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI) and sits in the governing board of Yayasan The Conversation Indonesia. </span></em></p>The central islands of Indonesia, also known as Wallacea, is a place of wonder, a living laboratory for the study of evolution.Jatna Supriatna, Professor of Conservation Biology, Universitas IndonesiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/671642016-10-19T06:47:14Z2016-10-19T06:47:14ZBehind the beauty of Indonesia’s Raja Ampat islands lie poverty and neglect<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142155/original/image-20161018-16173-iii3j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/trekpedition/22609466166/">Trekpedition.Com/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the month of October, people walking past Times Square in New York City will see a large billboard with a picture of Indonesia’s Raja Ampat islands, accompanied with the tagline “escape to a magical place”. But the appeal of the image hides the abject poverty of the people living on the islands.</p>
<p>A cluster of islands in the Bird’s Head peninsula of West Papua in Indonesia, Raja Ampat is one of the <a href="http://www.cntraveller.com/recommended/amazing-journeys/raja-ampat-islands-indonesia">best diving spots in the world</a>. It’s a pristine and biodiverse marine environment where you can see colourful tropical fish with the naked eye from above the water. </p>
<p>Formerly known as Irian Jaya, the western half of the island of Papua was claimed by Indonesia in 1961. The people of West Papua voted to become a part of Indonesia in a widely disputed plebiscite in 1969 and in 2003 the territory was divided into two provinces – West Papua and Papua. But they are generally referred to together as West Papua. </p>
<p>There is a pro-independence movement across Papua, especially in the highlands, and the police and military frequently crack down on separatists. But the coastal areas, including Raja Ampat, is politically stable and safe.</p>
<p>The islands have abundant natural beauty that make them look like an earthly paradise. But of the more than 45,000 residents, around 20% <a href="https://rajaampatkab.bps.go.id/website/pdf_publikasi/Kabupaten-Raja-Ampat-Dalam-Angka-2016.pdf">live below the poverty line</a> with poor access to education, health care, and markets. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"783842722335498242"}"></div></p>
<p>Data shows that in 2015, a household of four to five people in Raja Ampat spent an average of <a href="https://rajaampatkab.bps.go.id/website/pdf_publikasi/Kabupaten-Raja-Ampat-Dalam-Angka-2016.pdf">US$65 a month on food and other consumables</a>. That’s 10% higher than the <a href="https://www.bps.go.id/linkTabelStatis/view/id/966">national average</a> because the cost of living on the islands is so high. </p>
<h2>Relative isolation</h2>
<p>It takes around eight hours to reach Raja Ampat from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta. From Jakarta, you either get a direct flight to Sorong, or have to stop in Makassar, on the island of Sulawesi between Java and Papua, and then continue the flight to Sorong, on the northwest tip of Papua. </p>
<p>Then you get on a ferry to Waigeo island (also known as Amberi, or Waigiu), one of the four main islands of the 1,800 that make up <a href="http://regional.coremap.or.id/downloads/cerita_sukses_coremap_II_rajaampat4.pdf">Raja Ampat</a>.</p>
<p>Waisai, the capital of Raja Ampat, is located on Waigeo, the largest island in the group. It houses several cottages, mostly owned by local elites. Most of Raja Ampat’s government and administration activities are centred in Waisai. But the population is scattered across many islands.</p>
<p>For my doctoral research, I stayed on Mainyafun island, four hours by boat from Waisai, in April 2016. Mainyafun is home to 55 households, with each family having between nine and 12 members. </p>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=19x-mMdpPO8lpCIY1v9ORlit7l5A" width="100%" height="480"></iframe>
<p>Like in many towns in Raja Ampat, Mainyafun doesn’t have a water treatment facility. Clean drinking water is transported from Waisai either twice a month or once every two months depending on the season. Villagers also collect rainwater for drinking. Water from the mountain is piped into the village centre, but it has very high mineral content.</p>
<p>There’s no electricity and no phone signal. Most people refer to education as “prestigious goods”, and only study to the end of elementary school – the highest level available on the island. </p>
<p>To continue schooling beyond elementary level, students in Manyaifun have to go to Waisai. The journey costs US$100 one way and takes four hours by fibreglass boat, often without safety equipment.</p>
<h2>Scraping a living</h2>
<p>Being in an area abundant with fish, most people on the island earn their living as fishers. But a lot of them still live in extreme poverty. Most families are indebted to the local mini store owner who sells staple goods.</p>
<p>The price for the fish they sell is so low that even if they catch ten kilograms of fish every day, they still lose money. Fishers need five litres of fuel a day to operate their small boats. But fuel is scarce and very expensive, and five litres costs US$12.50. </p>
<p>The fishers sell to a collector in Mainyafun who processes them into salted fish. The maximum selling price in Mainyafun is US$0.20 for a kilogram, so ten kilograms of fish gets around US$2. After the cost of fuel, that’s a loss of US$10.50. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142153/original/image-20161018-16176-1nkyqoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142153/original/image-20161018-16176-1nkyqoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142153/original/image-20161018-16176-1nkyqoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142153/original/image-20161018-16176-1nkyqoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142153/original/image-20161018-16176-1nkyqoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142153/original/image-20161018-16176-1nkyqoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142153/original/image-20161018-16176-1nkyqoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most people on the islands earn their living as fishers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/puppydogbites/5598919391/">Adam Howarth/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The price of fish in Waisai is ten times higher, and it’s 20 times higher in Sorong. But fishers in Mainyafun have to sell their fish right away because there’s no electricity to power cold storage. </p>
<p>People need bigger boats, cheaper fuel and access to Waisai or Sorong markets to get a better price for their fish. But a decent boat with an engine that can carry a larger volume of fish costs more than US$10,000, which is impossible for them to afford. </p>
<h2>Lack of health care</h2>
<p>There’s a small public community clinic in Manyaifun. The one doctor and four nurses who work there serve seven sub-districts scattered on neighbouring islands. </p>
<p>Working conditions are hard. Many of their patients are the fishers who leave their house at five in the morning and return at five in the afternoon. Health workers have to be on standby all the time. </p>
<p>The most common issues are malaria, skin infections and respiratory diseases. Death in childbirth is common for women. Only basic and generic medicines are available in the clinic, and sometimes stock is scarce. </p>
<p>Living on an isolated island with no phone signal jeopardises both health workers and the people they serve. Patients needing emergency care, such as chronic malaria, often die. The only hospital with decent equipment is located in the mainland city Sorong, 135 kilometres away.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141616/original/image-20161013-31308-1xm5urg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141616/original/image-20161013-31308-1xm5urg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141616/original/image-20161013-31308-1xm5urg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141616/original/image-20161013-31308-1xm5urg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141616/original/image-20161013-31308-1xm5urg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141616/original/image-20161013-31308-1xm5urg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141616/original/image-20161013-31308-1xm5urg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A nurse in Mainyafun searches for phone signal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The health workers sometimes have to go to neighbouring islands for health emergencies on small boats. They have to ignore the fact that sometimes the waves reach up to three metres. It’s worse if they have to go at night time because there are no modern navigation tools or any information about the expected weather. </p>
<p>Health workers are only able to meet their families once or twice a year. Most of them come from Sorong and South Sulawesi, which is 1,532 kilometres away. <a href="http://www.gajimu.com/main/gaji/gaji-pejabat-negara-ri/gaji-pns">The basic salary of health workers</a> as civil servants or contract workers is US$150 a month. This is the same all over Indonesia, but that’s very small compared to the demands on the health workers on Manyaifun, who are also sometimes paid late.</p>
<h2>Getting better services</h2>
<p>While Indonesia promotes Raja Ampat to the world, local people and health workers feel abandoned. They rarely see government officials in their district. According to my interviews with the local doctor and nurses, bureaucrats in Waisai, especially from the health agency, don’t care about their lives, safety or emotional needs. </p>
<p>The local government officials I interviewed told me they tried to improve welfare by teaching people how to build homestays for tourists and how to promote them online. But locals and health workers said they had never met any official who’d visited their district.</p>
<p>The poverty in Raja Ampat is a reflection of the vital role of the state in the development process. Only through proper attention from the elites in Raja Ampat, and supervision from the central government, can change come to the impoverished people in the area. Until then, Indonesia may want to think twice about advertising Raja Ampat as paradise on Earth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67164/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asmiati Malik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Raja Ampat is one of the richest in bio-marine life in the world. But many inhabitants of the cluster of islands in West Papua, Indonesia live in poverty.Asmiati Malik, Doctoral Reseacher, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.