Increasing the Social Resilience: Ecology of Coastal Communities of Merauke Regency, Papua Province, Indonesia

One of the groups of people vulnerable to poverty in Merauke is people living in coastal areas and depending on their families for their livelihood from the availability of natural resources, namely the ecology of the coastal area from the fisheries and non-fishing sectors. The culture or behavior of the people in an area can form a new behavior while still prioritizing local wisdom to maintain sustainable ecological, social, and economic functions and improve community welfare. Our research aims are to identify vulnerable groups and strategies to increase resilience and to design adaptation models for cultural elements. Our research was conducted in two coastal areas in Merauke Regency, Papua Province, Indonesia using a qualitative descriptive research approach with a case study method. The object of our research is traditional fishing community groups and small fishers. The resilience analysis focuses on four indicators of community vulnerability. The study concluded that the fishers' group had a higher level of resilience to change and uncertainty than the farmers, farm laborers/fishers, traders, and transportation groups. Resilience is increased by planting mangroves and conservation with an incentive system approach prioritizing local cultural wisdom, human resource development to improve self-organization and coordination of various kinds of knowledge, and job diversification as an alternative source of local resource-based community livelihood. Increasing the resilience of the Merauke coastal community is carried out by prioritizing local wisdom, namely a cultural system that prioritizes the sustainability of community livelihood sources, especially culture or efficiency in taking natural resources as needed and not excessively. For this, real commitment is needed from all parties by involving coastal communities in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of cultural adaptation systems for