When it comes to big problems
like climate change,
we tend to like big solutions:
new technologies, global policies.
But many of the most important solutions
are rooted on the ground
by actors that don’t walk
the corridors of power,
by actors that might not speak
the scientific language of climate change
but who are dealing
with its impact every day.
I am a forest conservationist
from the Leuser Ecosystem
in Sumatra, Indonesia.
You might have never heard
of this landscape.
But it’s the last place on Earth
where the critically
endangered Sumatran rhino,
tiger, elephant and orangutan
still roam together in the wild.
Meet Sumini.
Sumini is the leader of Indonesia's first
women-led ranger team
and a mother,
a conservationist whose action
is rooted in her community
on the edge of the Leuser Ecosystem.
In the patriarchal society
where she operates,
a woman is expected to be
quiet and subservient.
During a village meeting,
the ladies tend
to congregate in the kitchen
while the men discuss
village policies and budget.
And oftentimes,
even if she is present
in the meeting room,
she is expected to not voice her opinion,
rather letting a male relative
answer [questions] addressed to her
without consulting her first.
When I asked Sumini why she chose
to protect and conserve the forests,
she said, "We are mothers
and grandmothers.
We are responsible for everything.
From the moment we wake up,
we have to wash clothes, cook
and make coffee for our family.
More than anything, we need water
in every aspect of our life.
And the only thing
that protects our water source
is the forest up the mountain."
The path for Sumini to lead these rangers
is anything but straightforward.
She became familiar with the forest
when she began accompanying
her husband trekking.
During these trips, they witnessed
encroachment and logging.
They saw people taking out timber
and encroaching into the forest.
When they would try
to warn off the loggers,
they were met with a challenge.
"Who are you and what are
your authorities to tell us off?
Go away!"
Logging an encroachment
that happened upstream
soon turned into disasters downstream.
A heavy rainfall
that lasted for a few days
turned into flash floods and landslides,
destroying the village
and its essential infrastructure.
After the disaster,
Sumini and other villagers
had to take refuge
in a shelter for a while.
"Being a refugee is hard.
You don't have privacy and security.
You don’t even have access
to clean flowing water.
It's hard to even keep
yourself safe and clean.
I don't want that kind
of disaster to happen again,"
she said to me.
For Sumini and her team,
the first part of becoming a ranger
was not putting on a uniform
but creating a map of the forest.
You see, in Indonesia,
access to land and forest
are often contested,
and one couldn't simply walk
into a patch of forest
and declare that they
will protect this patch.
No, no.
The government needs to acknowledge
that you are the legal guardian
of the particular forest.
And then they will give you
the paperwork to affirm your role.
In order to obtain this permit,
the community needs to create
a proposal with a map.
So they get the work.
Of course, they know
where things are in the forest:
where the water and the waterfall [are],
where the orchid is
and where the bear sleeps.
But putting this knowledge on paper
is something else.
Climbing up into the forest with her crew,
they learn to read the GPS,
orient around a map
and take note of important
flora and fauna
as well as signs of wildlife.
They begin to plant trees
and restore parts that were degraded.
Up to this day, In Indonesia,
there were only a few patches of forest
formally managed by groups of women.
And Sumini led one of them.
It might sound awesome,
but the work is not done.
The conservation work is never done.
Sumini and her team still face
many challenges every day.
And sometimes they are still being
patronized and undermined.
But the power of these women
is patience and persistence.
They're embedded in the community,
so they learn to navigate the tricky path
of being a strong female leader
in a conservative patriarchal society.
Unlike a conservation expert
that parachutes in from outside,
Sumini and her team are here to stay.
So their approach is instantly different.
At this point,
we know that tropical forests
are a stabilizing force for climate.
And protecting tropical forests
is one of the most cost-efficient ways
to avert climate disaster
and biodiversity collapse.
But the conservation world
needs an overhaul.
We need more women
in the position of leadership --
women from the grassroots,
women like Sumini.
Women make up half
of the world's population,
yet only a fraction sits
at the decision-making table.
Women in the communities
are the guardians of environmental wisdom,
yet they are often an untapped
source of knowledge,
underappreciated
and therefore underresourced.
Community based alone is not enough.
A study by WRI showed
that most community forestry initiatives
benefit elite village leaders,
usually men,
and worsen gender equality
on the grassroots.
So how do we change this?
First, we need to acknowledge
that the problem is complex.
There are close to 85,000
villages in Indonesia,
about 25,000 of them
are located in and around forests.
Each have their own
complexities and challenges,
but each of them also has its own Sumini.
It is up to us to find them,
work with them
and invest in them.
Thank you.