Research suggests that children who grow up closely connected to their surroundings can develop sophisticated understandings of their local environment.A recent children’s book reading was part of a gathering of Indigenous communities in Arborek that brought together representatives from 20 Indigenous subtribes in Raja Ampat, as well as Indigenous people from other parts of Indonesia and abroad.The book turns the biodiversity of Indonesia into a visual story about what could be lost if mining damages the environment.The author and illustrator hope that seeing their home, animals and stories represented in a book will encourage the children to tell more stories of their own.
ARBOREK, West Papua, Indonesia — “Rockhead fish, salamander fish, starfish and coral.”
That’s what dozens of children from Arborek, a small island in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, said when asked what they see in nature that is yellow and orange.
The children rattled off the fish and other marine life they encounter when they play in the sea, during a reading of a children’s book about Raja Ampat and the threat of nickel mining.
A coral reef and marine life in the waters off Raja Ampat in Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Econusa.
