Learning from the grassroots: The indigenous knowledge on mangrove forest and the social economic barriers in fostering local green economy of Ujung Alang village dwellers in Segara Anakan lagoon territory of Indonesia

Abstract

The communities in mangrove ecosystem all around the world mostly have been undergoing the common condition as to environmental degradation that happens to their ecosystems. Community as a unit of people in specific boundary at least explains about the long way adaptation process of local dwellers in facing the local environmental changing. Those serial and repeating process afford indigenous knowledge as to how to survive, how their ecosystem to be as the present condition as well as how their ecosystem suppose to be. Their adaptation efforts should be given a special place to develop local economy based environment conservation, and those experiences can be an insertion for global development which has similar circumstances that local dwellers ought to be given a place to reveal their capacities to develop their self-ecosystem. Regarding to the considerations, this research was aimed to find the indigenous knowledge of Ujung Alang Village dwellers and social economic barriers related to the mangrove forest in fostering local green economy.The basic method of this research was analytical description. This research was carried out in Ujung Alang Village, Kampung Laut Sub-district, Cilacap District, Central Java Province, Indonesia that included in Segara Anakan Lagoon territory by involving 42 local dwellers as respondents that were taken randomly, and 6 dwellers as informants that were taken purposely. Ujung Alang Village settles in mangrove forest ecosystem of Segara Anakan Lagoon which has been undergoing environmental degradation. Data were collected through interview, observation and recording. Data about local indigenous knowledge were analyzed by using qualitative method, and data about social economic barriers were analyzed by using quantitative method as Cochrant-Q Test and Chi Square which were supported by using qualitative method.The research findings show that Ujung Alang dwellers obviously have knowledge about kinds of mangrove and its characteristics as well as have capacity as to the method in growing the mangrove crops based on each species characteristic nevertheless it is not yet applied and optimized well, and it is so much bad for the sustainability of their livelihood and environment which have strong interdependency each other that obviously conduces the diminishing of their incomes and waters landscape. Although their intensities in mangrove deforestation tend to decrease, yet they have been doing the deforestation in order to accomplish their needs of firewood and building material otherwise their needs of mangrove conversion to be brackish water ponds and woods trading have not been the prominent consideration at the present. The social economic barriers which hamper the involvement of the dwellers in replanting the mangrove crops are government support, financial support, dweller‟s spare time, local organization, empowerment program and supporting social system. The most hampering (weighting) factor to the dwellers in replanting the mangrove crops is financial support. Key words: indigenous knowledge, mangrove deforestation, green economy and replanting