The Connection between Sky and Earth to Maintain Sustainability: A Case Study of Dayak Engkadin’s Natural Resource Management

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-624-6_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Celestial Objects; Dayak Engkadin; Starlore; Sustainable Development Goal

Abstract

Research shows that in many civilizations, humans’ ancestors used celestial objects to determine the course of life on Earth. These practices occurred before modern technologies were invented and were passed down to the next generations orally. In this modern era, people tend to leave these practices and move to modern technologies. However, indigenous communities in different parts of the world still maintain their tradition, including the traditions related to the sky. In Indonesia, one of the indigenous communities that still maintains sky-related traditional practices is the Dayak Engkadin tribe. In the Dayak Engkadin’s daily life, celestial objects serve as important signs that reflect people’s life rhythm, so they maintain their sky-related traditions to sustain themselves. Starting from that fact, this article focuses on how the Dayak Engkadin tribe uses the moon, stars, and sun to maintain sustainability on Earth. The data were gathered through an in-depth interview with Dayak Engkadin’s leader, and then analyzed using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework. The analysis shows that the sky-related traditions preserved and practiced by the Dayak Engkadin tribe help maintain harmonious relations with God and nature. Furthermore, by practicing their traditions, the Dayak Engkadin tribe can manage its natural resources effectively and support the achievement of SDG 15, Life on Land.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Antonia Rahayu Rosaria Wibowo
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/19
TI  - The Connection between Sky and Earth to Maintain Sustainability: A Case Study of Dayak Engkadin’s Natural Resource Management
BT  - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on History, Social Sciences, and Education (ICHSE 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 7
EP  - 15
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-624-6_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-624-6_2
ID  - Wibowo2026
ER  -