Nuaulu Ritual Regulation of Resources,SASIand Forest Conservation in Eastern Indonesia

Nuaulu (Seram, Maluku, Indonesia) manage forest to provision sacred house building and ritual feasting through a system of protected areas (sin wesie), examined here in relation to sasi institutions and scare charms (matakau) that overlap in their functions. Sasi feature in wider debates about how customary practices might deliver conservation objectives. The paper analyses interconnections between these three forms of regulation in the context of deforestation, social change and the recent history of state management interventions.