Petronela Merauje, an environmental activist from Jayapura City, Papua Province, has received the Kalpataru award from the Minister of Environment and Forestry (LHK), Siti Nurbaya, on Wednesday (7/6/2023). The award was given personally by the Minister to Petronela at the Manggala Wanabakti, Jakarta.
Kalpataru is an award given to individuals or groups for their services in preserving the environment in Indonesia. The word Kalpataru itself originated from the Sanskrit language and means tree of life.
Petronela was given this award because of her outstanding service to environmental conservation in Jayapura City. She was officially selected as the recipient of Kalpataru 2023 in the category of environmental coaches, because she is considered an influential figure in the protection of women’s forests (Tonotwiyat) and Youtefa Bay.
“I am very happy and touched to receive the Kalpataru award, but most importantly my work over the past 10 years can be seen in the Mangrove Forest in Enggros Village which has returned to a beautiful state,” Petronela said to Tribun-Papua.com in Jayapura, Wednesday (12/4/2023).
“At that time, I was included in the category of environmental coaches because they saw that I had established a Mangrove nursery group since 2019 and there were other groups that I fostered to make various positive efforts,” she explained.
Looking back, Petronela said she started focusing on efforts to save the mangrove forest ecosystem 10 years ago in 2013.
“At that time, I saw that development was accelerating, the expansion was real, and the more years passed, the more potentially destructive development was almost unavoidable,” she explained.
From there, Petronela began to devote much thought regarding the sustainability of the Mangrove Forest which is still a source of livelihood for the local population.
“Through the groups that I foster, related to mangrove nurseries, the mangroves can be utilised to make syrup, ice cream, coffee, and soap while the leaves can be processed into hand sanitizers,” she said.
She said that all the knowledge she has gained from training is always applied to Enggros Village and has invited others to join her. Not only to children undergoing early childhood education, she also provides education related to mangrove planting to Sunday school children in Enggros Village.
“It doesn’t have to be a lot of people, 5 to 6 people are enough and hopefully through them it can spread to others to participate in planting mangroves,” she said.
The spirit that Petronela built for the children of Enggros Village is that as the young generation, of course we cannot expect others from outside to help.
“Because if we are the children of our own village who play a role, it is much better, to protect this place, other people only come for profit but do not think about sustainability,” she added.
Petronela Merauje, a resident of Enggros Village, Jayapura City, possesses a magical touch in both hands. This housewife is able to turn rubbish into valuable Papuan handicrafts.
According to Petronela’s story, it initially began as a whim to utilise objects of craft value around the environment where she lives, on the coast of Ciberry Beach, South Jayapura District.
“At first I was just trying to make a hanger craft from tree fruit that usually falls on the beach,” explained Petronella.
From there, Petronela began making various other crafts, including key chains. The mother of six admitted that her passion for handicrafts began in 2010. She then joined the Mangrove Forest Protection Community, where she was heavily involved in waste recycling activities. From that community, Petronella saw with her own eyes the amount of waste in the mangrove forest, and from there, her motivation to make something valuable from waste was born. Her early creations were lanterns, decorative flowers and tablecloths made from used straws. Later, she began using sea shells found on the shoreline.
“With a small amount of capital, I started to think about making money from the crafts I made,” she said.
Petronela is very painstaking with what she does. In pioneering the local Papuan handicraft business, Petronela claimed to be self-taught following tutorials from Youtube, after which she tried to make them.
“I was curious, so I tried watching videos on how to make crafts on Youtube, after that I just started learning,” she said.
Seeing the profitable results of her efforts motivated Petronela to continue to innovate. She ventured into Noken handicrafts that were beautified with shell decorations and recycled waste materials.
Petronela said that with the momentum of the National Sports Week (PON), she thought of creations with Papuan characteristics. That way, it can be a souvenir for athletes, officials, and visiting tourists. A typical Papuan crown became the icon of the craft chosen by Petronela.
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