From Mangrove Conservation to Economic Sovereignty of Tiwoho Village

The location of Tiwoho Village, North Sulawesi, is flanked by Bunaken National Park (TNB) and Gunung Tumpa Forest Park (Tahura). The existence of the two conservation areas limits the activities of the Tiwoho Village community, both on land and at sea, to meet their living needs. Deforestation in the upper part of the hills in the last two years has caused flash floods that have made life even more difficult for residents.

In the 2000s, many people in Tiwoho Village raised goats. However, the goats liked to eat mangrove leaves so that the community was willing to stop raising goats so that the 62,5-hectare mangrove forest would remain sustainable. Therefore, the Nusantara Fund Direct Funding was utilized to encourage the discovery of alternative income for the community.

Production will utilize the existence of mangrove forests without damaging their sustainability. There are several products selected. The community will make chips, crackers, and tea from shrub plants, jeruju (Acanthus ilicifolius). Another product is coffee from mangrove tree seeds. Rhizopora sp. and Sonneratia alba and palm sugar from nipah. Sam Ratulangi University and De La Salle University Manado sent resource persons to train the people of Tiwoho Village. The capacity building activity was carried out four times with materials covering the production, packaging, and marketing stages. Participants in the activity were dominated by women or wives of fishermen and young people from Tiwoho Village.

During the implementation of the program, there were several problems or challenges that they had to face. First, they faced difficulties in managing permits from BPOM and halal product permits. For the NIB of the Sarimunte Women's Group and Rhizophora Karya Muda and the PIRT Permit for crackers, chips, and coffee, the permits have been passed. Meanwhile, the halal certification of the Sarimunte Group is still in process.

Second, mangrove trees bear fruit seasonally, while production needs require it continuously. Therefore, they plan to harvest mangrove seeds from neighboring areas and store them (stocking). The third challenge is related to the paradigm or habits in the Tiwoho Village community. So far, the Tiwoho Village community has often been involved in mangrove planting activities carried out by both the private sector and the government. Usually, when involved in activities, they are paid. That is the most difficult challenge found by community facilitators during the implementation of the program, how to change the way of thinking of the community from involvement because of personal material gain to a way of thinking about collective economic development that requires self-reliance and volunteerism and can fail in the middle of the journey.

However, there are also positive changes in the efforts made by the Tiwoho Village Community. The first change lies in the practice of preservation or conservation. So far, conservation has always been interpreted as an effort to keep nature and its inhabitants pure, untouched by human hands, so that the existence of nature and humans is separate. Meanwhile, the management of mangroves carried out by the Tiwoho Village Community illustrates something else. They can increase collective economic sovereignty from what nature provides without having to destroy its sustainability. 

Second, there is a change in mindset, especially women's groups, regarding organizing in collective economic actions. The third change is in their awareness of facing the market. The demand to face the market is a necessity if they want the collective business to survive. Until now, they have offered and marketed the products in various ways, including utilizing networks in the local government that have been formed. The benefits of this program can be felt directly by the 85 people involved in the activity. And it is not impossible that the practices they do will influence or be emulated by communities in nearby villages in North Sulawesi that have similar ecology.