Papuan women's mangrove forest in Indonesia is increasingly threatened by development and pollution

JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — On the southeastern coast of the city of Jayapura, Petronela Merauje walked from house to house in her floating village inviting women to join her the next morning in the surrounding mangrove forests.

Merauje and the women of her village, Enggros, practice the tradition of Tonotwiyat, which literally means "working in the forest." For six generations, women from the 700-strong Papuan population there have worked among the mangroves collecting clams, fishing and gathering firewood.

“The customs and culture of Papuans, especially those of us in Enggros village, is that women are not given space and place to speak in traditional meetings, so the tribal elders provide the mangrove forest as our land," Merauje said. It's “a place to find food, a place for women to tell stories, and women are active every day and earn a living every day.”

The forest is a short 13 kilometers (8 miles) away from downtown Jayapura, the capital city of Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost province. It's been known as the women's forest since 2016, when Enggros' leader officially changed its name. Long before that, it had already been a space just for women. But as pollution, development and biodiversity loss shrink the forest and stunt plant and animal life, those in the village fear an important part of their traditions and livelihoods will be lost. Efforts to shield it from devastation have begun, but are still relatively small.

One early morning, Merauje and her 15-year-old daughter took a small motor boat toward the forest. Stepping off on Youtefa Bay, mangrove trees all around, they stood chest-deep in the water with buckets in hand, wiggling their feet in the mud to find bia noor, or soft-shell clams. The women collect these for food, along with other fish.

“The women’s forest is our kitchen,” said Berta Sanyi, another woman from Enggros village.

That morning, another woman joined the group looking for firewood, hauling dry logs onto her boat. And three other women joined on a rowboat.

Women from the next village, Tobati, also have a women's forest nearby. The two Indigenous villages are only 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) apart, and they're culturally similar, with Enggros growing out of Tobati's population decades ago. In the safety of the forest, women of both villages talk about issues at home with one another and share grievances away from the ears of the rest of the village.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series of on how tribes and Indigenous communities are coping with and combating climate change.

Alfred Drunyi, the leader of Drunyi tribe in Enggros, said that having dedicated spaces for women and men is a big part of the village's culture. There are tribal fines if a man trespasses and enters the forest, and the amount is based on how guilty the community judges the person to be.

“They should pay it with our main treasure, the traditional beads, maybe with some money. But the fines should be given to the women,” Drunyi said.

But Sanyi, 65, who's been working in the forest since she was just 17, notes that threats to the space come from elsewhere.

Development on the bay has turned acres of forest into large roads, including a 700-meter (2,300-foot) bridge into Jayapura that passes through Enggros' pier. Jayapura's population has exploded in recent decades, and around 400,000 people live in the city — the largest on the island.

In turn, the forest has shrunk. Nearly six decades ago, the mangrove forest in Youtefa Bay was about 514 hectares (1,270 acres). Estimates say it’s now less than half that.

“I am so sad when I see the current situation of the forest," Sanyi said, "because this is where we live.” She said many residents, including her own children, are turning to work in Jayapura instead of maintaining traditions.

Youtefa Bay, where the sea's brackish water and five rivers in Papua meet, serves as the gathering bowl for the waste that runs through the rivers as they cross through Jayapura.

Plastic bottles, tarpaulin sheets and pieces of wood are seen stuck between the mangrove roots. The water around the mangrove forest is polluted and dark.

After dozens of years being able to feel the clams on the bay with her feet, Sanyi said she now often has to feel through trash first. And once she removes the trash and gets to the muddy ground where the clams live, there are many fewer than there used to be.

Paula Hamadi, 53, said that she never saw the mangrove forest as bad as it is now. For years, she's been going to the forest almost every day during the low tide in the morning to search for clams.

“It used to be different," Hamadi said. “From 8.00 a.m. to 8:30 in the morning, I could get one can. But now, I only get trash.”

The women used to be able to gather enough clams to sell some at the nearest village, but now their small hauls are reserved for eating with their families.

A study in 2020 found that high concentrations of lead from waste from homes and businesses were found at several points in the bay. Lead can be toxic to humans and aquatic organisms, and the study suggests its contaminated several species that are often consumed by the people of Youtefa Bay.

Other studies also showed that populations of shellfish and crab in the bay were declining, said John Dominggus Kalor, a lecturer on fisheries and marine sciences at Cenderawasih University.

“The threats related to heavy metal contamination, microplastics, and public health are high," Kalor said. “In the future, it will have an impact on health.”

Some of the mangrove areas have been destroyed for development, leading to degradation throughout the forest.

Mangroves can absorb the shocks of extreme weather events, like tsunamis, and provide ecosystems with the needed environment to thrive. They also serve social and cultural functions for the women, whose work is mostly done between the mangroves.

“In the future people will say that there used to be a women’s forest here" that disappeared because of development and pollution, said Kalor.

Various efforts to preserve it have been made, including the residents of Enggros village themselves. Merauje and other women from Enggros are trying to start mangrove tree nurseries and, where possible, plant new mangrove trees in the forest area.

“We plant new trees, replace the dead ones, and we also clean up the trash around Youtefa Bay," Merauje said. “I do that with my friends to conserve, to maintain this forest.”

Beyond efforts to reforest it, Kalor said there also needs to be guarantees that more of the forest won't be flattened for development in the future.

There is no regional regulation to protect Youtefa Bay and specifically the women's forests, but Kalor thinks it would help prevent deforestation in the future.

“That should no longer be done in our bay,” he said.

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Martha Tjoe sits on a boat through a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A man walks past plastic waste strewn along at Enggros village beach in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A plastic container and rubbish is stuck in mangrove trees at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje works on her mangrove seeds for planting in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A woman carries fish in plastic bags to a market at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje prepares to cook at her house at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje prepares clams to cook at her house at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje prepares clams to cook at her house at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Martha Tjoe walks near her floating wooden house at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Enggros village is visible in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Paula Hamadi cleans up trash as she collects clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A woman on her boat collects firewood in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Debora Sanyi stands chest deep in water as she collects clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje sits in a boat as Paula Hamadi, right, stands chest deep in water as she collects clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Berta Sanyi stands chest deep in water as she collects clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Berta Sanyi and Paula Hamadi, left, stand chest deep in water as they collect clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alabama on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to use a congressional map favoring Republicans in this year's elections, despite a lower court's ruling that the redistricting plan intentionally discriminates against Black people.

The state's Republican leadership filed an emergency appeal with the justices a day after a three-judge court refused to let the state use a map it adopted three years ago that has a majority Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts.

The judges instead required Alabama to continue using a court-ordered map that was put in place for the 2024 elections that includes two districts where Black residents comprise a majority or close to it.

Attorney General Steve Marshall told the court that the state did not intentionally discriminate against Black residents and should be allowed to hold elections this year under a map chosen by lawmakers, not judges.

The appeal is the latest development in the fallout from last month's Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

The redistricting frenzy is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to Republicans’ slim House majority in the November elections.

The Alabama cases stretches back several years. The three-judge panel in 2023 ruled that a map drawn by Republican state lawmakers intentionally diluted the voting power of Black citizens. The court said the state, which is about 27% Black, should have two districts where Black voters are the majority or close to it. The court-selected map was used in 2024.

After the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Louisiana case, Alabama officials moved to implement the 2023 state-drawn map. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed to lift the injunction that had blocked the map’s use and sent the case back to the three-judge panel for reconsideration in light of the Louisiana ruling.

In the meantime, voters cast ballots in Alabama’s May 19 primaries, and Republican Gov. Kay Ivey set new special primaries for Aug. 11 in four congressional districts affected by the map switch.

Upon further review, the judicial panel said it was standing behind its initial finding that there was “undisputed evidence” of intentional racial discrimination, a holding that was independent of and unaffected by the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act.

It said the special congressional primaries should instead proceed under the previous court-approved districts.

The use of the court-ordered map led to the 2024 election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. State Republicans are seeking to use a map that would give the GOP an opportunity to reclaim the south Alabama seat.

The state is asking for Supreme Court action by Monday as it makes preparations for the special vote in August.

This story has been corrected to show the Alabama primaries were May 19, not May 11.

Associated Press writer Kim Chandler contributed to this report from Montgomery, Ala.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

FILE - Shomari Figures, who is running for Alabama's 2nd Congressional District, speaks during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

A statue titled the "Authority of Law" sits in front of the Supreme Court on Friday, May 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Monday, May 18, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)