Why Timor-Leste communities excel in marine protection

Integrating tradition into modern day life can be hard at the best of times, but in Timor-Leste the people have developed a model where tradition and contemporary world go hand in hand.Tradition and culture in Timor-Leste has... [ view full abstract ]

Integrating tradition into modern day life can be hard at the best of times, but in Timor-Leste the people have developed a model where tradition and contemporary world go hand in hand.

Tradition and culture in Timor-Leste has not been easy to maintain, especially through the years of struggle for independence. However, one part of the culture was kept strong, and that is the traditional law of tara bandu. The tara bandu ceremony is a culmination of the entire community’s decision to close an area for protection. This long held tradition has seen many primary forests and marine areas protected from any form of harvesting or interference. It is marked as prohibited by chefe, upon request from the community.

Another aspect of the Timorese culture which survived throughout the turmoil, was the protection of the spiritually significant animals such as the dugong and crocodile. The dugong population in Timor-Leste is small but significant to the people, who view them with a great deal of respect. Some families conduct rituals ceremonies to call on the ancestor’s spirit who live in the marine mammals, including the dugong, to protect the family for the coming time, while others hold similar ceremonies for the crocodile. This is one community’s story of how culture and tradition secured protection of their environment, the marine biodiversity, improved livelihoods, and obtained food security. To capture this knowledge, a scoping study of the cultural significance of the dugong and their seagrass habitats was conducted at selected sites in Timor-Leste.