{"id":60159358,"date":"2026-11-11T11:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T11:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?post_type=opinion&#038;p=60159358"},"modified":"2026-11-11T11:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T11:06:30","slug":"mama-aleta-dont-wait-for-permission-to-protect-mother-nature","status":"publish","type":"opinion","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/mama-aleta-dont-wait-for-permission-to-protect-mother-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Mama Aleta: Don\u2019t wait for permission to protect Mother Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We Mollo women stood up against mining companies to protect Mother Nature in Timor Island, eastern Indonesia. We did this because we believe that Mother Earth is not just a dead rock and soil, but a living body. The land is our flesh (<em>Afu fani on nesa<\/em>), the water is our blood (<em>Oel fani on na<\/em>), the rock is our bones (<em>Fatu fani on nuif<\/em>) and the forest is our hair and lungs (<em>Nasi fani on nafua<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you hurt the Earth, you hurt our bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Being on the frontlines, I feel an urgency, more than ever before, to stand up against those hurting our Earth. For generations, Mollo people have read the skies and the winds to determine the harvest. But climate change has made predictions more difficult. In Timor, sudden excessive rains and prolonged dry seasons have confused people on when to plant their crops for the past three years. They are worried this will lead to a food crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#eff9fc\"><em>Why Aleta Baun: In Indonesia, she is called many things. They call her Mama Aleta, one of the country\u2019s most prominent Indigenous leaders and grassroots activists. She is called the Indonesian Avatar, because in 2006 she led Mollo Indigenous women to the peaceful \u201cweaving protests\u201d against marble mining operations in the sacred forests of Mutis Mountain on Timor Island. She is the recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the Green Nobel, and she still defends her village from destructive mining and protects the environment through the Mama Aleta Fund. Two decades on, her message remains urgent. Defending nature means defending our lives, and leadership means standing up for it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nowadays, they all talk about solving issues such as stunting in children. But only in terms of food policy or programmes. True health comes from fertile soil. If you destroy our natural resources, rob Indigenous lands and turn them into large-pit mines or agricultural plantations, how are you supposed to grow these nutrients? I think stunting is not just about a lack of nutrition, but how damaged the environment is. You cannot heal the people while continuing to poison the land that sustains them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We do not reject development. We still need it. But not development that destroys nature and strips away rights of Indigenous peoples. They build hotels, allow mining extraction, while Indigenous peoples guard water resources and protect the ecology. We, the people and the state, must re-evaluate how we consider this kind of development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-cd-did-you-know alignright block--did-you-know\"><p class=\"block--did-you-know__title\">The Earth Ahead<\/p><div class=\"block--did-you-know__content\"><p>To mark Dialogue Earth\u2019s 20th anniversary, this special series of essays brings together 20 globally recognised thinkers and practitioners from across continents, specialisations, and lived realities. Together, their very different perspectives map the forces shaping our world today. And the futures that may emerge from them.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/tag\/the-earth-ahead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read more from the series<\/a>.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People often look back at our movement in Mollo, where Indigenous women sat at the marble quarries for months, peacefully weaving cloth until the mining operations were forced to shut. Our struggle succeeded because women and men together united, sharing the view that ecological destruction means the death of our culture, health and future. I recall someone saying firmly: \u201cWe are not thieves, we are fighting for our rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I look at today \u2013 climate crisis, food crisis, drought \u2013 I feel upset. I feel exhausted, tired and fed up. It\u2019s like this country is deaf. It is frustrating that the state does not consider human lives, but focuses instead on money, or one-sided interests. Not development for us, but often simply personal business transactions that sacrifice the needs of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I never think about giving up. If we let things be, we are the ones who will suffer. They will destroy things and leave, because they have a secure life. Us? This is where we live. So we need to fight back and find new strategies to hold our ground and fight to save our Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you talk about nature, you are talking about mothers. Women have many strategies. They are capable, smart and resilient. Importantly, they refuse to back down and always find a way. When a woman says she is fighting for something deeply important, God and our ancestors shield and support her in breaking free from all oppression. But for these strengths to emerge, women have to step up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"wp-block-cd-related-news alignright block--related-news loading\" data-post-id=\"60153409\"><div class=\"block--related-news__image\"><\/div><div class=\"block--related-news__content\"><span class=\"block--related-news__heading\">Recommended<\/span><span class=\"block--related-news__title\"><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Being a female leader is about how to find new strategies to bring people together so they can collectively take action. I always think that is what real leadership is. Often, as women, we fall for the assumption that becoming a leader must mean waiting for people to choose us. This is wrong. We don\u2019t have to join a political party or be voted in to call ourselves leaders. If you can bring together 2 or 3 or 10 people to do work that is in public interests \u2013 that protects Mother Earth \u2013 that is leadership, right there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To the younger generation, don\u2019t waste your time doing unimportant things which don\u2019t protect Earth or save future generations. Learn about nature, which provides our economy, food, health and education. The future lies within the natural wealth that is available to us. For governments, my hope is that they reflect on their actions regarding the destruction of natural resources. There must be real, thorough assessments, and they must listen to the voices of the people. Without the people, the state wouldn\u2019t even exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Dialogue Earth celebrates 20 years of giving voice to environmental issues, my message to grassroots activists across Southeast Asia and the world remains simple: never wait for permission to defend your home. Stand united, listen to the land, and remember that when you protect nature, you are protecting your own body and the generations that are yet to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two decades after Mollo women resisted marble mining in Indonesia, the climate crisis brings new urgency to their struggle for nature, Indigenous rights and collective action<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":60159393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_has_post_settings":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[761],"tags":[50042432,555,50042420,50042437],"country":[50040717],"class_list":["post-60159358","opinion","type-opinion","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","tag-dialogue-earth-at-20","tag-indigenous-peoples","tag-opinion","tag-the-earth-ahead","country-indonesia"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - 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