Nigel Sizer reflects on the slow recovery of Aceh Province in the wake of the tsunami.

Years of civil war has had the ironic side effect of leaving large swaths of Aceh’s forests relatively intact. Rebels used the forests as a hideout, and villagers were not able to go into the forests for fear of being seen by the Indonesian military as rebel sympathizers. This all changed with the peace accord signed soon after the tsunami. Now locals are once again able to think about long-term development, including expanding their farms and seeking means to benefit directly from the forests.

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Local community members can now return to the forest. 

Fortunately, Aceh is also unusual in Indonesia in having a relatively well preserved tradition of village-based regulation (adat) of forest, land, and water use. Rare’s local partners in Aceh—Mapayah, YEL, and PeNA—will all focus their Pride campaigns on strengthening the traditional community-based management systems. Where the tsunami hit hardest, almost all the elders were killed and the village institutions have to rebuild from scratch.

As I readied to leave Aceh after a week and head home to Bali, I was delighted to see our partners and campaign leaders confidently present their Pride plans to the local office of USAID’s Environmental Services Program, which is funding the efforts.

I’ll be back again in April to plan a suite of new campaigns with other partners. I can’t wait to see this first round of partnerships hit the ground running. Over the coming weeks, there will be puppet shows, local musical and cooking competitions, radio shows, and a host of other social-marketing activities that will bring prestige to adat traditions and highlight the links between forests, water, and health. Serious stuff, but also great fun, and so desperately needed, as the province embraces peace and sustained growth after years of civil war, the tsunami, and earthquakes.

Related posts:

1. Bringing Hope to Aceh Province Rare Pride campaign manager Tisna Nando, working with partner Fauna...
2. After the Tsunami Nigel Sizer’s tour of Pride campaign sites in Aceh Province...
3. Who Will Guard the Guards? Nigel Sizer finds that it’s sometimes the authorities who are doing...
4. Driven to Distraction Nigel Sizer makes his way to the airport in Medan,...