A Vision for Life in Raja Ampat is the vision statement of the Association of Indigenous Community Entrepreneurship and Livelihood in Raja Ampat (PERJAMPAT), a community organisation dedicated to providing the economic basis for conservation and sustainable development in West Papua’s Raja Ampat islands. You can read more about the Association’s role and how you can contribute to conservation efforts in Raja Ampat in this article about the Association.
PERJAMPAT
A VISION FOR LIFE IN RAJA AMPAT
Fifty years into the future, we the people of Raja Ampat will have achieved the highest possible quality of life. We will have become wise. The homestay businesses that we are pioneering will have given us enough to live on. We will have passed the responsibility of leadership to our children, as our heirs, and we will have created opportunities for others in our villages.
Our people will be healthy and intelligent, with schools and hospitals in our villages. Our people will be able to meet all their needs for food, grown naturally and in our own gardens; for healthy homes built with local materials; for clothing; and for sufficient energy that we will produce ourselves and from renewable sources. Our people will continue to cultivate our gardens with care and only with organic fertilisers.
Our children, our families and other community members will live in support and care of each other, in peace, order and unity.
We and other community members are aware that we can achieve a high quality of life because of the very rich, intact and beautiful environment in which we live. Our forests will be protected so that there is no uncontrolled logging or poaching of wildlife. Our forests will continue to provide us with enough wood, clean water and other goods to meet our needs for free, so that we will not have to buy these things.
So it shall be with our marine resources. We will only catch fish sustainably and with environmentally friendly technology. There will be no environmental destruction and our environment will be free from waste.
Our environment is our identity as the people of Raja Ampat and we are proud to be from Raja Ampat. We, and all our people, will use our environment only to meet our needs and not wastefully. We will build with local and natural materials. Our settlements will be laid out according to our traditions. Our lives will be sustainable. Our environment will be secure, guaranteeing that all our future generations will enjoy a high quality of life, forever.