Religious Values in Environmental Conservation of Traditional Society in Wakatobi Island

Abstract

Wakatobi is one of the Bharata that belongs to the governance system of Buton Sultanate. Therefore, as an ex-Islamic kingdom, certainly, Buton has various local wisdom in the life its society. One of the local wisdom can be seen in the system of their environmental conservation. This study made use of ethnographic approach; so, the researcher would like to expect that society might access multiple information related to the values that had become the foundation of environmental conservation in Wakatobi through this study. With this approach, the researcher would also like to expect that he gathered the data regarding how the society of Wakatobi viewed the Islamic values in their environmental conservation. The results of the study show that the biosphere heritage in Wakatobi land has been a genuine artwork by the traditional society of Wakatobi, which has been based on the Islamic values. Some of these values are internalized through kangkilo doctrine that includes: (1) kangkiloawalu (early holiness); and (2) kangkiloakhiri (final holiness). These values then have implications for their actions toward the environment. Several conservation concepts that have been based on these Islamic values can be seen in the forest, the kaindea, the motika, the menani (Napoleon) fish, the environmental management, and the shell (rondora, untu, watu). Also, the values of rahmatan lil alamin can also be found in the prayers that these traditional society utter when they are planting a tree.