Human-Nature Relationships in Raja Ampat: How Tourism Development in Coastal Areas Affects Residents’ Local Wisdom and Social Wellbeing

This article illustrates residents’ local wisdom and social well-being regarding tourism development in a coastal area. Tourism development is believed to cause various impacts in various aspects of residents’ life, such as economic, socio-cultural and environmental. This article will explain how those impacts, added to residents’ local wisdom, result in different perceptions from them. The research which was conducted for this article used qualitative methods, involving 18 informants in semi-structured interviews in Saporkren and Sawingrai, Raja Ampat. The research sought to elaborate the relationship between impacts, residents’ perceptions and their social well-being in the context of tourism development. The findings began with the categorisation of human-nature relationship eras, which are the ‘Before Trading Era’, the ‘Trading Era’ and the ‘Tourism Era’. It continued with analysis of factors behind residents’ perceptions and social well-being, for instance nature quality, local wisdom and tourism development itself.