• Farwiza Farhan, a female activist and conservationist for the Leuser Forest in Aceh, received the 2024 Ramon Magsaysay Award in the Emergent Leadership category. The award was announced live from Manila, Philippines, on August 31, 2024.
• For Farwiza, this award is not only for her personally, but also for those who have worked together to protect and save the Leuser Forest. She views it as recognition for her broader work.
• In her work, Farwiza involves women in various sectors. HAkA’s programs for and with women are highly effective and motivating. Women receive paralegal and citizen journalism training, engage in micro-entrepreneurship, and organize into forest ranger groups. Women lead forest patrols to monitor poaching and illegal logging. These women are supported by men who are similarly trained.
• On August 31, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced five award recipients from five countries. In addition to Farwiza Farhan from Indonesia, there were Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong from Vietnam, Miyazaki Hayao from Japan, and Karma Phuntsho from Bhutan. The award recipients were from Thailand, representing the Rural Doctors Movement (RDM), a joint venture between the Rural Doctor Society (RDS) and the Rural Doctor Foundation (RDF).

Farwiza Farhan was shocked to receive the news that she had been awarded the 2024 Ramon Magsaysay Award in the Emergent Leadership category. She was in her office when she received the call. Tears welled up in her eyes, overwhelmed with emotion.

“Honestly, I was so shocked and surprised… I felt confused and overwhelmed. My heart was so full, very touched, and I couldn’t believe I’d just heard. Am I dreaming?” she said in an interview with Mongabay on August 29.

This Aceh-born woman has received several international awards for her dedication to saving and preserving the Leuser Ecosystem in Aceh with her organization, the Aceh Forest, Nature, and Environment Foundation (HakA).

Among her awards are the 2022 National Geographic Wayfinder Award, the 2021 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award, the 2021 TED Fellow, the 2017 Future for Nature Award, and the 2016 Whitley Award. In 2022, she was named to TIME’s TIME 100 Next 2022.

This year, she also won the “Nobel Prize Asia.”

For Farwiza, this award is not only for her personally, but also for those who are working together to protect and save the Leuser Forest. She views it as recognition for her broader work.

“I’m just a small part of this enormous movement. This is something that deserves to be celebrated together. This isn’t my award, but a shared award for my colleagues on the ground, my colleagues at the grassroots level, and our coalitions.”

The Magsaysay Foundation believes Farwiza has a deep understanding of the crucial relationship between nature and humanity. Her commitment to social justice and civic responsibility is evident through her dedication to forests, forest communities, and campaigning for greater awareness of the need to protect the rich and endangered heart and lungs of nature in Indonesia and Asia.

Born in Aceh in 1986, Farwiza fell in love with the beauty of nature from a young age, leading her to pursue a career in marine biology and conservation. However, environmental degradation continues, prompting her to remain silent.

This graduate of the Doctoral Program in Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands, began her environmental activism when she joined the Leuser Ecosystem Management Agency (BPKEL), an institution established by the Aceh regional government to manage the Leuser ecosystem. At the time, she had just completed a master’s program in environmental management from the University of Queensland, Australia.

The Leuser Ecosystem, despite being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 and a protected area in 2008, continues to face threats from deforestation, infrastructure, and commercialization. The situation worsens when law enforcement for violators is weak.

Along the way, BPKEL was disbanded in 2012. Farwiza and several former BPKEL colleagues refused to give up on protecting the Leuser ecosystem. They formed HAkA, which strives to continue protecting and preserving the Leuser forest in 13 districts and cities in Aceh, Sumatra, covering an area of ​​approximately 2.25 million hectares. She was appointed chair.

Since its founding, HAkA’s achievements include working together to push for a court decision to impose a US$26 million fine on a palm oil company that burned forests in the Leuser ecosystem. The government used the money to rehabilitate the damaged land. Another success was halting the construction of a hydroelectric dam that threatened elephant habitat.

This article has been published previously and read in full at: Mongabay.co.id