Saving Natural Resources: Sasi in Indonesia.
Marking the sasi area Leave the pinang alone! Leave the coconuts alone! Leave the bananas alone! Leave the trochus there! From the mountains to the coast, Leave it all alone! Ritual chant, Saparua island, East Indonesia. Most societies which are dependent on the bounty of nature for their survival have community based systems which preserve these natural resources. The Eastern islands of Indonesia, particularly the Makalu group of islands (1029 in number) have such a community management system for natural resources. This is the practice of sasi, a traditional system that has protected the fish, coconuts and other natural sources from times immemorial. Sasi can be loosely described as a prohibition on the harvesting of certain natural resources in an effort to protect the quality and population of such resources whether it is plant or animal. It is also an effort to maintain the social structure of the society by equally distributing among all local inhabitants the benefits from the ...