Earthgenics Innovation Lab

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Protecting Nature & Facilitating Community

Officially launched in 2019 by Satia Raj and Zalida as tge YSEALI Alumnae. Earthgenics Ilab has the main goal to help forest conservation efforts and promote non-timber forest products to empower the local community. Currently, Earthgenics has 2 working areas in Indonesia which are North Sumatera and Central Kalimantan. In 2019, Earthgenics successfully got an opportunity to join the Impact XL Innovation Lab Exchange Program in Inle Lake, Myanmar that was hosted by the East West Center. We hope this initiative may inspire the youth in Indonesia to better understand who needs nature the most and take some real action.


As we know that mangrove ecosystems are threatened to disappear because of the deforestation and the conversion of mangrove forests into fishponds. Mangroves are the most productive marine ecosystems on Earth, providing a unique habitat opportunity for many species and key goods and services for human beings. Mangrove forests are highly productive ecosystems with rates of primary production equal to those of tropical humid evergreen forests. They accumulate carbon in tree biomass, and most of this carbon is lost by decomposition and export to adjacent ecosystems. They offer protection from catastrophic events, such as tsunami, tropical cyclones, and tidal bores and can dampen shoreline erosion.


Tsunami in 2004 which happened in the center of Sumatera island, the lack of economy source in the coastal community, biodiversity loss, and mangrove deforestation issues are some reasons why Mangrove Eco Lab developed.
  Earthgenics ILab is a collaborative project which focuss on the existence and preservation of mangrove. 
 
Mangrove Eco iLab was founded by Raj and Zalida as East-West Centre alumnae on the YSEALI Academic Program. The aim of this I-lab is to create sustainable mangrove Ecotourism which located in Sei Nagalawan, North Sumatera, Indonesia and for helping Muara Baimbai Woman Group to promote their mangrove product and the ecotourism itself. We will spread the information to the public and help to attract visitor and consumer. Only with sustainable management the Mangrove Ecotourism will success. This could be a strong model because it only focuses on Ecotourism and Product Promotion and Marketing 

Muara Baimbai Woman group is a fishermen group that utilizing various mangrove species as food products, such as; syrup, dodol, cakes, jams, and crackers. This women group have been trained on processing mangrove food gotten from various facilitators (government and non-government agencies). Nutrition contents such as vitamin C, carbohydrate, fat, and protein on various of mangrove vegetations have nutritional adequacy standard so they can be developed into an alternative food source.

Based on the team analysis, we found that Mangrove Ecotourism and their local product not really well known and famous in the city or area nearby. The reasons are because of the transportation issue, tourism potential that has not been optimized, lack of promotion and inadequate infrastructure, lack of good product packaging and marketing. Most of the visitors were local or people who live around the area, but still many local people in the same state/province did not know or familiar even interested in this ecotourism. The local product has good potency to be developed for the local community in the future. The increasing number of local populations also become specific consideration for the sustainable ecotourism and local product.

Hope the idea of Mangrove Eco Lab will bring a positive impact to the people by helping creating a sustainable mangrove ecosystem and increasing the coastal community economy.

Mangrove Eco lab will use citizen engagement and challenge prize model. We will conduct a workshop to local community about innovative mangrove product, creating an official website, developing the inadequate infrastructure, creating the Eco Tour Package and using some social media to promote the mangrove product and mangrove ecotourism. We plan to use challenge prize as our second method to find the best mangrove product innovator and invite as an innovator in the workshop.


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