LUANG ISLAND: COASTAL ECOLOGY SYSTEM IN OUTERMOST SMALL ISLANDS (ESCAOSD), MALUKU-INDONESIA

Abstract

Coastal communities and their ecology are inseparable units, connected to one another. The Luang Island community is one of the coastal communities on the outermost islands in Indonesia-Maluku Province-Southwest Maluku Regency. Understanding the ecological system of the people of Luang Island is inseparable from how they live their daily lives, which then accumulates into knowledge, habits as well as patterns to regulate their life order through a long historical process of interaction with nature. This knowledge and habits depend on the geographical environment in which they live, in other words, the natural environment also influences the way they act and think. This pattern then plays a role in realizing the harmonization of their lives, to create unique social and cultural conditions which then become their spirit. This spirit can be seen in their daily lives. This study uses ethnographic research with an ecological anthropological approach. Data was collected through literature study techniques, interviews, FGDs, and participatory observation. The data analysis technique used in this research is ethnoecology. The results of this study indicate that the influence between community relations and nature on Luang Island is reflected in the use of everyday language in communication, the ability to express sea areas based on local knowledge, and presenting natural elements into the social culture of the people of Luang Island. The results of this study are useful for ecological studies in the outermost small islands in Indonesia and as a comparison among the forty-eight archipelagic countries in the world, both tropical and non-tropical.