Towards sustainable cultural landscape: A challenge in developing ecomuseum in Minahasa Region

Recently, numbers of ecomuseums are developed around the world, particularly in Europe and Asia. Notably in Indonesia, ecomuseums are provided in various forms, covering large areas to small areas, and isolated sites in order to reach sustainable cultural landscape. This by means protecting the natural resources and cultural heritage. Minahasa region has considerable potential to develop ecomuseum model, encouraging community's local sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is analyzing the potential aspects of ecomuseums in selected rural villages in Minahasa, include; Leilem, Pulutan, Watumea and Kayu Uwi, as case studies. Current development at these villages are evaluated by comparing the local community involvement with the basic principles of ecomuseum concepts, by exploring local community involvement. A qualitative methods was carried out, such in-depth survey between April and September 2017. Field observations include several activities; documentation, also interviewing local participants for their persepective on the ecomuseum developments. In order to reach sustainable landscape development in the region, Ecomuseum is also pivotal and practical model as functional tools for protecting the cultural heritage and developing of local areas. This research proves that Minahasa has got many cultural heritage sources, which are using productively for local sustainable development. The villages are samples of natural and cultural heritage areas of Minahasa for a sustainable cultural landscape development in the region.