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(Photo E.B.)
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Eco Building |
| To build a resort in Misool area, which stands in extreme east Indonesia, West Papua province, inside Raja Ampat archipelagos, i.e. approximately in the middle of nowhere, is a true adventure in which wood plays a strategic role. |
| Looking for wood is thus a preliminary but key step of the construction
process and, knowing that local building wood is very precious wood, it
makes the collect challenging! |
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The cutting down of trees is one answer, easy but also short term and stupid: Forests already are an over exploited resource. However, and this is especially true in Raja Ampat area, there is a huge quantity of good and available wood that is indeed not used: naturally fallen trees, rest of legal logging, drifting wood… It has “just” to be collected and shaped into planks and beams. This is both an eco and cost effective solution. From an organisational standpoint it also makes the wood collection a much bigger and crucial component of the project.
Average price for such tree is 2000 US$, transport not included. Which is cheap for very precious quality wood, but also sounds as a true fortune for local people which daily revenue does not exceed 2 US$.
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(Photo E.B.)
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 Unused logs on www (Photo E.B.)
 Drifting wood (Photo E;B.)
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 Collecting Wood
First strategy is to get wood from next islands. Although these are uninhabited, authorisation has to be negotiated with the local people. Dead trees are granted almost for free but the Resort has to manage the cutting on the island then the transportation to Batbitim. And it can be a huge job when fallen trees are getting far from the beach. This first collection option is quickly not enough productive, with the building increase the need for wood become stronger. Solution is then to buy wood already cut.
The re-provisioning point of the work-site being Sorong, the second approach is to get wood in the city area and to send it to Batbitim using small cargo boats. We know that legal loggings, when they move from place to place, left trees that do not comply with their requirements although they are still very good for building. Other benefit, such wood can be bought already cut. “Just” the transportation to the harbour has to be managed (with trucks coming from ancient age, on clay roads and under an equatorial climate…).
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| To secure the wood delivery a third approach is also decided by the
Resort managers. Wood will also be bought on the closest islands to
Sorong. They all have naturally fallen trees or wood remaining from
other building. Moreover, islanders can cut it and make it available in
Sorong. Price for such wood, labour included, remains cheap, cheaper
than getting trees from regular logging. |
 Geting logs down to the sawmill (photo E.B.)
 Sawmill at work (Photo E.B.) |
First use naturally fallen
The few logs that the Eco Building of the Resort preserves are just a
drop against the desert that of forests over exploitation is drawing.
But it is also a meaningful drop. It deserves to catch the spotlights
on the forest devastation issue, while also demonstrating than paying
more attention on “already fallen” can prove to be an effective source
and with the positive side effect to give back some part of the wood
richness from the factories to the villages.
To fight against
excessive logging of precious wood in Raja Ampat, the Misool Eco Resort
campaign toward the neighbouring villages in order to alarm them on the
medium term consequences of deforestation and to help them to withstand
the temptation to sell their trees to some passing factory boat. You
can help us. Support us.
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Eco Building 
