Novita is a newly designated 2023 Conservation Nation grant recipient. She earned her bachelor’s degree in marine science from Diponegoro University in Indonesia. She has been working on the Anambas Islands for the past three years and has spent almost two years working with our original grantee, Rifat Muharam at the Anambas Foundation where they built this program together. Rifat, who previously helmed the project, has been reassigned to work on a blue carbon project and Novita is now taking the lead role.
She had her first experience with nesting turtles in the Anambas Islands. However, her interest in marine life since childhood did significantly influence her education choices and life decisions. Novita’s earliest memory of how it all started was spending her weekend watching wildlife documentaries on TV with her dad. Seeing real people doing what they love made her realize that she could follow her passion. To get more involved in grassroots conservation efforts, she started by joining the Anambas Foundation and working closely with the surrounding communities to discover the community’s needs and values, as well as what benefits could potentially come from conservation.
Currently, Novita serves as a marine conservation manager at the Anambas Foundation where she brings her skill set which includes human resource development, leadership, and applied research implementation to help her team develop strategies for protecting and rehabilitating the coastal ecosystem in the Anambas Islands and empower local communities to do the same.
Saving the Sea Turtle of Anambas Islands: Linking Local Knowledge and Local Hearts Through Community-Based Conservation
Novita’s project focuses on green sea turtles and hawksbill turtles, the most common species at Teluk Dalam Island in Indonesia. Though they are common, the turtle populations are still declining due to direct exploitation, a degraded habitat, marine pollution, and climate change.
Novita plans to work with local organizations to build a sea turtle conservation program on the island that will operate for years to come. This conservation program will regularly monitor the turtles, research them, and advocate for them.
