Mangrove Batik Goes International!

In our conservation efforts, we strive to integrate community development with blue carbon rehabilitation. This includes empowering communities to develop sustainable products from mangroves, enabling them to derive economic benefits while preserving the ecosystem. One such initiative is Batik Mangrove Dompak Laut, a mangrove batik crafted by local communities in Bintan, which proudly gained recognition at the Indonesia International Modest Fashion Festival (IN2MF).

IN2MF is an annual event organized by Bank Indonesia, the Ministry of MSMEs (UMKM), and the Indonesian Fashion Chamber (IFC) to introduce Indonesian modest fashion and strengthen its global presence. It also serves as a platform to integrate the modest fashion ecosystem in fostering an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Islamic economy.

The Journey of Batik Mangrove Dompak Laut

This journey began with a collaboration between CarbonEthics and local community partners, including Lembaga Adat Melayu Kepulauan Riau Kecamatan Bukit Bestari, Dompak Village Government, and Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji, in producing batik at Rumah Rendah Karbon on Dompak Island.

Through this collaboration, we’ve assisted in empowering the local community by guiding them through the entire process of creating Batik Dompak Laut, starting with:

• Designing batik patterns that reflect the local heritage and the natural beauty of the blue carbon ecosystem, in order to support their creativity.

• Successfully securing copyright protection for the Batik Dompak Laut design, ensuring the community's intellectual property is recognized and safeguarded.

• Improving the livelihoods of the Dompak community, with 67% female participation in production, strengthening the local economy and empowering them to contribute meaningfully to their community's development.

Connecting Creativity, Culture, and Nature 

The batik features three distinct patterns, each carrying its own meaningful message: 

• Tudung Saji - symbolizing the protection of cultures, tribes, and cultural habits. 

• Buah Berembang - telling stories about resilience and persistence in life. 

• Kapal Jong - embodying tales of the journey towards achieving our goals as human beings.

This opportunity also opened the door to an exciting collaboration with our fashion designer, Alena Fashion, who successfully showcased our mangrove batik on the stage of the Indonesia International Modest Fashion Festival (IN2MF) 2024,  alongside 218 other Indonesian designers and international designers from 10 countries, including the UAE, Italy, Australia, and more, at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Senayan. 

Let’s support the empowerment of local communities in enhancing their creativity to improve livelihoods with us through www.carbonethics.co/partnership.