Award celebrates Indigenous Papuan women’s fight to save the rainforest
Indonesia: The Akademi Jakarta has awarded its 2025 Culture Prize to the women of the Marind Anim people from Merauke in southern Papua, where the government is using military force to establish vast sugarcane and rice plantations. The large‑scale clearing threatens the forest – and with it, the lives of the Indigenous people. Women are at the forefront of the fight against this destruction.
“With great courage and tireless commitment, the women of the Marind Anim people are standing up for their land and forest. In doing so, they defend their rights to food, education, and health. They speak out against violence, discrimination, and militarization.” Professor Karlina Leksono, Indonesia’s only female astronomer, paid tribute to the women’s years of resistance against the National Strategic Project (PSN) Merauke at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Cultural Center. This project, said Karlina Leksono, forced through without public participation, destroys ecosystems and Indigenous culture and amounts to ethnocide.
Yasinta Moiwend, a representative of the women’s community, joined the event virtually. “We still live on our land, even though the National Strategic Project Merauke threatens our lives,” she said. “I speak for all the other women of the Marind Anim. We stand completely alone. Politicians neither listen to us nor defend us.”
“I have seen so much, faced so many challenges and threats, but I will not be defeated. I will not give up. I will keep fighting for our land and forests. For God has given us land and forests so we may eat, drink, and one day be buried in our soil.”
Yasinta Moiwend could not hold back her emotions. She said, “You must not discard us like cats or dogs. We are human beings. We struggle with many problems, including the loss of clean water. When they destroyed our forest and land, salty seawater seeped in. Now we must search hard to find clean water. We are grateful when it rains, for then at least we have fresh water. The companies that steal our land, and the government, do not care about us. But we are human beings; we raise our voices, yet there is never an answer.”
Yasinta Moiwend has already protested and spoken in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta. Being recognized by the Akademi Jakarta gives her new hope.
Since July 2024, large-scale logging has been taking place in Merauke despite the people’s clear opposition. Three million hectares of rainforest are at stake – for rice plantations, sugar, and bioethanol. Papua’s forests are vitally important for biodiversity, climate stability, and human rights. Yet, with military involvement, vast rainforest areas are being completely cleared, destroying the ancestral land of Indigenous peoples. The work of our partner organization Pusaka and their project Saving the rainforest in southern Papua and empowering Indigenous Papuans is also in danger.
Rainforest Rescue is supporting the resistance through the petition “Stop the destruction of Papua’s Marind forest”.
Here is the video of the award ceremony (in Indonesian)
This page is available in the following languages:
Indonesia: Stop the destruction of Papua’s Marind forest!
Indonesia is implementing a sugar and ethanol program in southern Papua under military protection. Two million hectares of rainforest and Indigenous land are at risk.
Defending rainforests in Southeast Asia
The forests of Southeast Asia are the last refuge and habitat of orangutans, Sumatran tigers, birds of paradise and Komodo dragons.
Saving the rainforest of southern Papua and empowering Indigenous Papuans
Where birds of paradise still dance, Indigenous defenders face bulldozers in a struggle over Papua’s future. Our partner Pusaka is in the front line.
The rainforest
A green sea of ferns, mosses, vines and ancient trees. Iridescent butterflies and colorful birds. Flowers in every hue of the rainbow. The “green lung” is a natural wonder of the world. Find out more about the world’s most diverse, fascinating and threatened ecosystem.