Keith Anthony Fabro – In the cool highlands of Indonesia's Flores Island, where mist settles over rice fields and coffee gardens, the Manggarai people have cultivated a close relationship with the forest. Their land is known as the rice granary of East Nusa Tenggara province, but it also produces cacao, vanilla and other crops that sustain families and the wider region.
For generations, Manggarai farmers practiced agroforestry: cultivating diverse crops at the forest's edge and blending agriculture with biodiversity conservation. These practices were carried in language. Words described not only crops and tools, but also the actions of harvesting, the stages of plant growth, and the sacred spaces of the forest.
"It is encouraging to see how much of this traditional ecological knowledge still lives in community memory," said Mel Engman, an ethnolinguist at Queen's University Belfast, in the north of Ireland.
But much of that vocabulary is now fading.
Since 1960, monoculture farming has spread rapidly across the Manggarai land. Sorghum and upland rice, once staples, have given way to wet paddy rice and plantation crops. Upland rice, cultivated on dry uplands with other crops, kept soils healthy and limited forest clearing – unlike paddy rice that needs flooded fields and fertilizers. As forests shrink to clear land for new monoculture farms, so too do the words that once guided sustainable ways of farming.
A recent study seeks to turn the tide. Working with the Ruteng Pu'u community, researchers from Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) documented 253 agroforestry-related words at risk of disappearing. They argue that reviving this lexicon is vital not only for preserving Manggarai culture, but also for shaping conservation and forestry solutions today.
"Without revitalization, sustainable agroforestry practices balancing agriculture and forest conservation may vanish, further endangering the local environment," they write in the study.
Rediscovering a fading language
The BRIN researchers carried out their fieldwork in February 2023, when Manggarai communities traditionally begin the farming cycle. Over the course of a month, they observed rituals, interviewed elders, officials, women and youth, and used visual prompts to help surface forgotten words.
"What struck me about the researchers' methods was their careful attention to time," said Engman, who wasn't involved in the study. "They timed data collection to align with ritual seasonal practices and interviewed men and women of different generations. This demonstrates an informed and sensitive approach to community lifeways."
The team documented 253 terms not found in the Indonesian language – names for plants, tools and stages of cultivation – described as "an integral, albeit archaic, part of the Manggarai language" that reflects knowledge for farming with the forest. The authors stress the work is more than academic: by reintroducing these words in schools and community spaces, language becomes a bridge linking farmers to ancestors and reconnecting old ecological traditions with today's conservation needs.
That link resonates beyond Flores.
"Documenting agroforestry-related lexicons ... is vital because these vocabularies capture generations of ecological knowledge, agricultural practices, and cultural values," said ethnolinguist Jepri Saiful of Muhammadiyah University Surabaya, who wasn't involved in the study. In Indonesia's multilingual setting, he added, preserving such terminology "strengthens cultural pride and resilience amid rapid social and environmental change."
Engman called the work globally relevant. It "shows the strong relationship between Indigenous language, embodied practices, and land," she wrote via email, noting growing evidence that land management benefits from recognizing traditional ecological knowledge.
"It's not just the Manggarai words that matter, but the specific land-based knowledges they express ... Incorporating opportunities to build relationships with land and place should be prioritized in Indigenous language revitalisation and reclamation efforts."
Words that carry ecological knowledge
Many of the rediscovered terms carry practical lessons in sustainability. Where Indonesian has one word for "seed," Manggarai distinguishes wini (seed set aside for replanting) from ni'i (seed for food or sale), encoding the rule to reserve part of each harvest for the next season. Verbs are just as exact: nggale means carefully sorting seed by use, and kawo refers to covering freshly planted seed with soil to protect it from rain or animals – neither of which have direct Indonesian equivalents.
Harvest terms capture crop-specific care. Korut means twisting rice or coffee with the fingers to pluck grains cleanly; peruk is shelling corn kernels one by one. The lexicon also maps land: ponceng marks forest edges used for collective agroforestry, puar denotes sacred forest zones entered only with ritual, and pong names swampy areas avoided for farming. Together, the study notes, these terms "represent the traditional knowledge system about environmental management" that balances fields and forest.
By mixing food crops with timber and fruit trees in agroforestry systems, Manggarai farmers maintained canopy cover, regulated water and supported biodiversity – benefits that also buffer climate risks.
"Land is not solely viewed as an object of exploitation, but as an asset that has a direct impact on the sustainability of the lives of the Manggarai people," the study says.
For Saiful, that's why documentation matters. Preserving the terms safeguards biodiversity and cultural resilience because "they reveal the deep connections between language, environment, and community identity."
Engman agreed, adding, "What remains to be seen is how this lexical data can be used to actually reclaim some of those Indigenous practices for the wellbeing of the Manggarai people and their land."
Losing more than words
Although the Manggarai language remains widely spoken and taught in schools, its agroforestry terms are fading – some now archaic, others reshaped by monoculture. The study notes this shift reflects the gradual abandonment of agroforestry culture itself.
The forests that once supported this vocabulary are also under pressure. From 2002 to 2024, Manggarai lost about 71 hectares (175 acres) of humid primary forest, according to Global Forest Watch.
Researchers attribute the loss mainly to clearing for monoculture plantations that consume more water but absorb less rainfall than forest-based agroforestry systems. "[W]hen a relatively high rainfall comes, floods immediately hit the three districts inhabited by the Manggarai people," the study says.
Tourism brings a new strain, converting agroforestry landscapes into visitor sites and fading the words once rooted in them.
Food security has also shifted. Traditionally, tubers and sorghum were staples, with rice eaten as a complement. Over time, rice has replaced these crops as the main staple. With farmland under pressure, the study warns that the food security of the Manggarai is increasingly at risk.
Saiful said the loss of vocabulary means losing more than words. "When traditional farming and forest-related vocabulary fades, Indigenous communities lose much more than language," he said. The disappearance of these terms, he added, makes it harder to pass on knowledge about land management, soil care and biodiversity. It also weakens younger generations' links to their heritage, leaving communities more vulnerable to cultural and ecological decline.
Seeds of renewal and a future rooted in forests
Despite the challenges, the study highlights bright spots pointing to renewal. Revitalizing the agroforestry lexicon, it says, will require coordinated action.
Collaborative efforts between linguists, ethnographers and environmental scientists can help document and archive the words that remain. Local schools and cultural institutions are encouraged to bring the lexicon into their lessons, so children grow up familiar with both the language and the ecological wisdom it carries.
Community-led initiatives are also vital. The paper recommends workshops where elders and farmers share their knowledge with younger generations, creating intergenerational exchanges that keep both language and practice alive.
"[T]his research goes beyond documentation; it serves as an effort to revitalize traditional agroforestry practices that are at risk of being forgotten," the study says.
Support from regional and national governments is also essential, say the authors. Policies that promote linguistic diversity and traditional ecological knowledge would help secure the lexicon's role in Indonesia's conservation and climate strategies.
"For other Indigenous groups in Indonesia," Saiful said, "Manggarai shows that maintaining agroforestry vocabulary is not only about sustaining language, but also about strengthening communities' ability to assert their ecological knowledge in education, policy and cultural spheres."
Citations
Yulistyarini, T., Fiqa, A. P., Budiharta, S., & Rindyastuti, R. (2020). Distribution of Gyrinops versteegii (Gilg.) Domke in varying vegetation structures, soil properties, and microclimates in Manggarai, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara. Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity, 21(5). doi:10.13057/biodiv/d210505
Sanubarianto, S. T., Mardiyono, Akmal, Wardhani, Y. F., Atmodjo, M., Nugraha, D. G., ... Badruzaman, H. (2025). Agroforestry lexicon in Manggarai language: An effort to revitalize culture and empower Indigenous Peoples. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 12(1). doi:10.1080/23311983.2024.2444777
Erb, M. (2001). Ecotourism and environmental conservation in western Flores: Who benefits? Antropologi Indonesia, 66, 72-88. doi:10.7454/ai.v0i66.3424