Knasaimos, The Papuan Forest Defender

Deep in South Sorong, Papua, the Knasaimos indigenous community stands as a steadfast frontline against the persistent threat of deforestation and corporate palm oil expansion.

This photo story documents their victorious struggle to defend their ancestral lands by successfully securing the rights to their village forest.

Moving beyond traditional conservation narratives, the project highlights indigenous agency and resilience—capturing how ancestral wisdom, participatory mapping, and collective defiance halted ecological destruction and secured a vital living ecosystem for future generations.

This visual story was commissioned and originally published by Project Multatuli in collaboration with Greenpeace Indonesia.