Papuan women's mangrove forest in Indonesia is increasingly threatened by development and pollution

JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — On the southeastern coast of the city of Jayapura, Petronela Merauje walked from house to house in her floating village inviting women to join her the next morning in the surrounding mangrove forests.

Merauje and the women of her village, Enggros, practice the tradition of Tonotwiyat, which literally means "working in the forest." For six generations, women from the 700-strong Papuan population there have worked among the mangroves collecting clams, fishing and gathering firewood.

“The customs and culture of Papuans, especially those of us in Enggros village, is that women are not given space and place to speak in traditional meetings, so the tribal elders provide the mangrove forest as our land," Merauje said. It's “a place to find food, a place for women to tell stories, and women are active every day and earn a living every day.”

The forest is a short 13 kilometers (8 miles) away from downtown Jayapura, the capital city of Papua, Indonesia’s easternmost province. It's been known as the women's forest since 2016, when Enggros' leader officially changed its name. Long before that, it had already been a space just for women. But as pollution, development and biodiversity loss shrink the forest and stunt plant and animal life, those in the village fear an important part of their traditions and livelihoods will be lost. Efforts to shield it from devastation have begun, but are still relatively small.

One early morning, Merauje and her 15-year-old daughter took a small motor boat toward the forest. Stepping off on Youtefa Bay, mangrove trees all around, they stood chest-deep in the water with buckets in hand, wiggling their feet in the mud to find bia noor, or soft-shell clams. The women collect these for food, along with other fish.

“The women’s forest is our kitchen,” said Berta Sanyi, another woman from Enggros village.

That morning, another woman joined the group looking for firewood, hauling dry logs onto her boat. And three other women joined on a rowboat.

Women from the next village, Tobati, also have a women's forest nearby. The two Indigenous villages are only 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) apart, and they're culturally similar, with Enggros growing out of Tobati's population decades ago. In the safety of the forest, women of both villages talk about issues at home with one another and share grievances away from the ears of the rest of the village.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series of on how tribes and Indigenous communities are coping with and combating climate change.

Alfred Drunyi, the leader of Drunyi tribe in Enggros, said that having dedicated spaces for women and men is a big part of the village's culture. There are tribal fines if a man trespasses and enters the forest, and the amount is based on how guilty the community judges the person to be.

“They should pay it with our main treasure, the traditional beads, maybe with some money. But the fines should be given to the women,” Drunyi said.

But Sanyi, 65, who's been working in the forest since she was just 17, notes that threats to the space come from elsewhere.

Development on the bay has turned acres of forest into large roads, including a 700-meter (2,300-foot) bridge into Jayapura that passes through Enggros' pier. Jayapura's population has exploded in recent decades, and around 400,000 people live in the city — the largest on the island.

In turn, the forest has shrunk. Nearly six decades ago, the mangrove forest in Youtefa Bay was about 514 hectares (1,270 acres). Estimates say it’s now less than half that.

“I am so sad when I see the current situation of the forest," Sanyi said, "because this is where we live.” She said many residents, including her own children, are turning to work in Jayapura instead of maintaining traditions.

Youtefa Bay, where the sea's brackish water and five rivers in Papua meet, serves as the gathering bowl for the waste that runs through the rivers as they cross through Jayapura.

Plastic bottles, tarpaulin sheets and pieces of wood are seen stuck between the mangrove roots. The water around the mangrove forest is polluted and dark.

After dozens of years being able to feel the clams on the bay with her feet, Sanyi said she now often has to feel through trash first. And once she removes the trash and gets to the muddy ground where the clams live, there are many fewer than there used to be.

Paula Hamadi, 53, said that she never saw the mangrove forest as bad as it is now. For years, she's been going to the forest almost every day during the low tide in the morning to search for clams.

“It used to be different," Hamadi said. “From 8.00 a.m. to 8:30 in the morning, I could get one can. But now, I only get trash.”

The women used to be able to gather enough clams to sell some at the nearest village, but now their small hauls are reserved for eating with their families.

A study in 2020 found that high concentrations of lead from waste from homes and businesses were found at several points in the bay. Lead can be toxic to humans and aquatic organisms, and the study suggests its contaminated several species that are often consumed by the people of Youtefa Bay.

Other studies also showed that populations of shellfish and crab in the bay were declining, said John Dominggus Kalor, a lecturer on fisheries and marine sciences at Cenderawasih University.

“The threats related to heavy metal contamination, microplastics, and public health are high," Kalor said. “In the future, it will have an impact on health.”

Some of the mangrove areas have been destroyed for development, leading to degradation throughout the forest.

Mangroves can absorb the shocks of extreme weather events, like tsunamis, and provide ecosystems with the needed environment to thrive. They also serve social and cultural functions for the women, whose work is mostly done between the mangroves.

“In the future people will say that there used to be a women’s forest here" that disappeared because of development and pollution, said Kalor.

Various efforts to preserve it have been made, including the residents of Enggros village themselves. Merauje and other women from Enggros are trying to start mangrove tree nurseries and, where possible, plant new mangrove trees in the forest area.

“We plant new trees, replace the dead ones, and we also clean up the trash around Youtefa Bay," Merauje said. “I do that with my friends to conserve, to maintain this forest.”

Beyond efforts to reforest it, Kalor said there also needs to be guarantees that more of the forest won't be flattened for development in the future.

There is no regional regulation to protect Youtefa Bay and specifically the women's forests, but Kalor thinks it would help prevent deforestation in the future.

“That should no longer be done in our bay,” he said.

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Martha Tjoe sits on a boat through a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A man walks past plastic waste strewn along at Enggros village beach in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A plastic container and rubbish is stuck in mangrove trees at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje works on her mangrove seeds for planting in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A woman carries fish in plastic bags to a market at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje prepares to cook at her house at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje prepares clams to cook at her house at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje prepares clams to cook at her house at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Martha Tjoe walks near her floating wooden house at Enggros village in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Enggros village is visible in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Paula Hamadi cleans up trash as she collects clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A woman on her boat collects firewood in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Debora Sanyi stands chest deep in water as she collects clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Petronela Merauje sits in a boat as Paula Hamadi, right, stands chest deep in water as she collects clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Berta Sanyi stands chest deep in water as she collects clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Berta Sanyi and Paula Hamadi, left, stand chest deep in water as they collect clams in a mangrove forest where only women are permitted to enter in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

NEW YORK (AP) — An Indian businessman who is one of the world’s richest people has been indicted in the U.S. on charges he duped investors by concealing that his company's huge solar energy project on the subcontinent was being facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme.

In an indictment unsealed by Federal prosecutors in New York on Wednesday, Adani, 62, was charged with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. The case involves a lucrative arrangement for Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government — enough to light millions of homes and businesses.

The indictment paints Adani and his co-defendants as playing two sides of the deal, portraying it as rosy and above-board to Wall Street investors who poured several billion dollars into the project over the last five years. Back in India, they allegedly were paying or planning to pay about $265 million in bribes to government officials to help secure billions of dollars' worth of contracts and financing.

The tycoon and his co-defendants sought to “obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of U.S. investors,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller said.

Adani's company in India had no immediate comment, as meanwhile shares in the Adani corporate empire plunged Thursday in India.

Online court records did not list a lawyer who could speak on Adani’s behalf. An email message seeking comment was left with an arm of his conglomerate, the Adani Group. Emails were also sent to lawyers representing his co-defendants.

U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said the defendants “orchestrated an elaborate scheme” and sought to "enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets.”

In a parallel civil action, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Adani and two co-defendants of violating antifraud provisions of U.S. securities laws. The regulator is seeking monetary penalties and other sanctions.

Both cases were filed in federal court in Brooklyn.

Adani's co-defendants include his nephew Sagar Adani, the executive director of Adani Green Energy's board, and Vneet Jaain, who was the company's chief executive from 2020 to 2023 and remains managing director of its board.

Sagar Adani’s lawyer, Sean Hecker, declined comment. The others did not immediately respond.

Sanjay Wadhwa, acting director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said Gautam and Sagar Adani are accused of persuading investors to buy their company's bonds by misrepresenting "not only that Adani Green had a robust anti-bribery compliance program but also that the company’s senior management had not and would not pay or promise to pay bribes.”

Adani is a power player in the world’s most populous nation. He built his fortune in the coal business in the 1990s. The Adani Group grew to involve many aspects of Indian life, from making defense equipment to building roads to selling cooking oil.

In recent years, the Adani Group has made big moves into renewable energy, embracing a philosophy of sustainable growth reflected in its slogan: “Growth with Goodness."

The company has a clean energy portfolio of over 20 gigawatts, including one of the world’s largest solar power plants in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Adani Group has stated its goal of becoming the country’s biggest player in the space by 2030. In 2022, Gautam Adani said the company would invest $70 billion in clean energy projects by 2032.

Adani's close ties with the government and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi have at the same time drawn criticism, including from India’s opposition Congress party leader Jairam Ramesh. He said in a statement that the indictment was “consistent with a long record of fraud and criminality carried out with impunity with the obvious protection of the prime minister.”

Noting that it took a foreign jurisdiction to produce charges, Ramesh called for a parliamentary inquiry into Adani's activities.

Last year, Hindenburg Research, a U.S.-based financial research firm accused Adani and his company of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud.” The Adani Group called the claims “a malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations.”

Hindenburg is known as a short-seller, a Wall Street term for traders that essentially bet that prices of certain stocks will fall, and it had made such investments in relation to the Adani Group. The company's stock plunged as a result and dipped again in August when Hindenburg levied more corruption allegations.

Jaain told The Associated Press last year that Hindenburg's allegations had little impact on Adani's ongoing projects, including work building 20 gigawatts of a solar and wind energy project in the northwest Indian village of Khavda.

Prosecutors allege that Adani and his co-defendants started plotting the bribery scheme in 2020 or 2021 to guarantee demand for the energy that Adani Green and another firm were under contract to produce for the national government's Solar Energy Corporation of India.

Adani Green and the other firm’s high prices turned off India's state-run electricity distributors, which buy power from the national government and provide it to homes and businesses. But the companies needed those deals to make the project worthwhile and keep revenues high, so they offered bribes to get them done, prosecutors said.

After the defendants started promising bribes to government officials, in 2021 and 2022, electricity distributors in five Indian states or regions entered into agreements to purchase their energy, prosecutors said. Adani's company issued a statement in which he touted his deals as the “world's largest” power purchase agreement.

FILE - India's Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani addresses the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, India, Jan.10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)