• Name: Aleta Baun
• Location/Ethnicity: East Nusa Tenggara.
• Archive Type: People
• Life: 1966-…
• Available File(s): Photo(s)
• Keywords: Environmental activism, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, Indigenous people, women’s movement, state government, nature.
• Link: –

Mama Aleta Baun (march 16, 1966) was born in Lelobatan, Mollo, South Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara. Mama Aleta is an environmental activist who stands for the rights of indigenous people opposed to marble mining in East Nusa Tenggara. In 2006, Aleta Baun succeeded in mobilizing the support of hundreds of villagers, with 150 women weaving to protect Anjaf Hill and Nausus Hill from a mining project from the Indonesian government. The men helped by babysitting, cooking, and sending food to the women who continued to weave to block the miners.

Aleta and others resisted mining because, for them, Mollo and all the environment are sacred homes (Saturi, 2013). Nature is the mother who gives life to the Molo people and the ecosystems that live in it. Thanks to the efforts and hard work of the Mollo people, mining was finally stopped in 2007, until in 2010 mining activities stopped completely. In 2013, Mama Aletha was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize. In 2016, Mama Aletha also received the 2016 Yap Thiam Hien Award (YTHA) for her dedication to protecting the Mollo forest from mining threats (Schreiber, 2016).

Photo(s)

Source(s)

• S. S. Saturi and F. A. Sianturi, “Mama Aleta: Berjuang Mempertahankan Lingkungan, Melawan Tambang dengan Menenun,” Mongabay.id, April 2013, https://www.mongabay.co.id/2013/04/15/Mama-Aleta-Berjuang-Mempertahankan-Lingkungan-Melawan-Tambang-Dengan-Menenun/.
• B. Schreiber, “Aleta Baun: Indonesian Conservationist,” Britannica Encyclopedia, 2016, Https://Www.Britannica.Com/Biography/Aleta-Baun.

Curated by Jear Nenohai (November 30, 2024); Edited by Abel K. Aruan (January 25, 2025).