Klungkung District Commits to Conservation and Sustainable Resources Management
NUSA PENIDA, BALI, INDONESIA — November 21, 2010 — Indonesia’s Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Fadel Muhammad and District Head of Klungkung I Wayan Candra officially launched Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Penida Island, The Nature Conservancy announced today. The 20,057-hectare Nusa Penida MPA, established by Klungkung District Ordinance No. 12, is aimed to protect the area’s rich marine and coastal life and to support local marine tourism and fisheries. This initiative is a collaborative effort between the Klungkung District Government together with the people of Nusa Penida, the Ministry of Marine and Fisheries Affairs and The Nature Conservancy’s Indonesia Marine Program, with assistance from the USAID Coral Triangle Support Partnership.
Minister Muhammad said that the Nusa Penida MPA will contribute to the government's target of protecting 20 million hectares of coastal ecosystems and marine areas by 2020. “The establishment of MPAs in some areas in Indonesia, including Nusa Penida, is a concrete step taken by the government to implement the plan of action under the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security,” says Fadel. The Initiative is a commitment led by the Indonesian Government along with the governments of the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. © Andreas Muljadi/TNC
Indonesian Minister for Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Fadel Muhammad launches the Nusa Penida MPA
Photo © Andreas Muljadi/TNC
Candra, the District Head of Klungkung, explains that the waters around Nusa Penida have the highest marine biodiversity in Bali. “You can encounter Mola mola [oceanic sunfish], which is a rare and unique treat. They average about two meters in size and they appear between July and September. Mola mola sightings are a big draw for divers from around the world, who come to Nusa Penida just for the occasion.”
According to a marine ecology study by international marine experts . Emre Turak and Gerry Allen in 2009, there are about 296 species of coral reefs and 576 species of fish in Nusa Penida,. A Conservancy-led survey found there are 1,419 hectares of coral reefs, 230 hectares of mangrove forest containing 13 different species of mangroves and 108 seagrass fields containing eight types of seagrass.
Next steps for the Nusa Penida MPA include zoning, long term planning, forming managing bodies and developing a long-term funding mechanism that can ensure local ecological and economic resources continue to enrich the region’s people and wildlife. With the support and involvement of stakeholders in Nusa Penida and the District of Klungkung, the effective and sustainable management of the Nusa Penida MPA is a real possibility.
“We appreciate the District Government of Klungkung and the people of Nusa Penida for establishing their area as a conservation zone,” says Arwandrija Rukma, the Conservancy’s Indonesia Country Representative “We will continue our successful cooperation with the community government and international development agencies to create effective MPAs that benefit people.”
Also present at the launch were the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, the Governor of Bali, village leaders, fishing and seaweed farming representatives, marine tourism operators, local teachers and students and representatives of local and international NGOs.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/asiapacific/indonesia/press/penida.html?src=rss
Showing posts with label Bali Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bali Environment. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Bali urged to implement green space
Luh De Suriyani, The Jakarta Post, Sanur, Bali | Wed, 11/10/2010 11:30 AM | Bali
Cities in Indonesia must be developed as environmentally and community friendly places to avoid the fate of Jakarta, a prime example of a “disoriented city”, growing as business, industrial and government centers.
Max Pohan, the deputy chairman of regional development at the National Development Planning Board, told participants at the National Conference on Smart Green City Planning in Sanur on Tuesday that provincial administrations must change their focus from developing cities for industry and business, to turning them into green, sustainable locations.
Bali, he said, pledged to become the country’s first green province by protecting 90 percent of the existing arable land and rice paddies as green zones until 2025 — meaning no development would be allowed within these protected areas.
The Public Works Ministry said Bali was experiencing a dramatic change in its landscape. Unchecked development along coastal areas and sea abrasion have reduced the island’s total land area and shoreline.
In the last 20 years, the island’s farmlands have been transformed into residential areas and tourism-related developments.
“We have to convince local authorities to commit to the policies and programs,” Max said.
Bali also announced plans to extend public parks and open spaces to 30 percent of the island’s total area.
Denpasar, like other urban areas in Indonesia, is facing complex problems including skyrocketing population growth and a lack of residential areas and job opportunities.
By 2015, an estimated 59.3 percent of Indonesians will live in urban areas, increasing further to 67.6 percent by 2025.
Budhy Tjahjati S. Soegijoko, the senior executive director of the Urban and Regional Development Institute (URDI) and a professor at the Bandung Institute of Tech-nology, said cities had to be prepared for natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
“Green cities must encourage their residents to act accordingly, such as using public transpor-
tation to reduce air pollution. Cities should also be ready to handle the spread of infectious diseases,”
she said.
Ecological experts, she added, encouraged city planners to measure their ecological footprints including measuring levels of air, water and noise pollution, and focusing on programs to improve environmental conditions.
“A city is healthy and green if it can solve social, health and environmental problems,” she said.
University of Indonesia sociology professor, Imam Prasodjo, cited an example of participatory urban planning management.
“I do not believe the transmigration program can solve urban and population problems,” he said, referring to the longstanding voluntary program of moving families or communities from densely populated areas to other sparsely populated islands.
He said he believed planning a creative economic and industrial hub may change the lives of people and their surroundings.
Imam cited the Kapuk area on Jakarta’s north coast as one of the best examples of community participation in improving residential areas.
“This was one of the dirtiest and most densely populated areas in Jakarta. It was always inundated by floods, and there were no sanitation facilities. It was a nightmarish place,” Imam said.
He said that residents, through innovation and creativity, tried to develop their village into a clean and green place to live in. They built sanitary facilities, clean water tanks, public toilets and roads.
“They also built a floating library for children and adults,” he added.
Cities in Indonesia must be developed as environmentally and community friendly places to avoid the fate of Jakarta, a prime example of a “disoriented city”, growing as business, industrial and government centers.
Max Pohan, the deputy chairman of regional development at the National Development Planning Board, told participants at the National Conference on Smart Green City Planning in Sanur on Tuesday that provincial administrations must change their focus from developing cities for industry and business, to turning them into green, sustainable locations.
Bali, he said, pledged to become the country’s first green province by protecting 90 percent of the existing arable land and rice paddies as green zones until 2025 — meaning no development would be allowed within these protected areas.
The Public Works Ministry said Bali was experiencing a dramatic change in its landscape. Unchecked development along coastal areas and sea abrasion have reduced the island’s total land area and shoreline.
In the last 20 years, the island’s farmlands have been transformed into residential areas and tourism-related developments.
“We have to convince local authorities to commit to the policies and programs,” Max said.
Bali also announced plans to extend public parks and open spaces to 30 percent of the island’s total area.
Denpasar, like other urban areas in Indonesia, is facing complex problems including skyrocketing population growth and a lack of residential areas and job opportunities.
By 2015, an estimated 59.3 percent of Indonesians will live in urban areas, increasing further to 67.6 percent by 2025.
Budhy Tjahjati S. Soegijoko, the senior executive director of the Urban and Regional Development Institute (URDI) and a professor at the Bandung Institute of Tech-nology, said cities had to be prepared for natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
“Green cities must encourage their residents to act accordingly, such as using public transpor-
tation to reduce air pollution. Cities should also be ready to handle the spread of infectious diseases,”
she said.
Ecological experts, she added, encouraged city planners to measure their ecological footprints including measuring levels of air, water and noise pollution, and focusing on programs to improve environmental conditions.
“A city is healthy and green if it can solve social, health and environmental problems,” she said.
University of Indonesia sociology professor, Imam Prasodjo, cited an example of participatory urban planning management.
“I do not believe the transmigration program can solve urban and population problems,” he said, referring to the longstanding voluntary program of moving families or communities from densely populated areas to other sparsely populated islands.
He said he believed planning a creative economic and industrial hub may change the lives of people and their surroundings.
Imam cited the Kapuk area on Jakarta’s north coast as one of the best examples of community participation in improving residential areas.
“This was one of the dirtiest and most densely populated areas in Jakarta. It was always inundated by floods, and there were no sanitation facilities. It was a nightmarish place,” Imam said.
He said that residents, through innovation and creativity, tried to develop their village into a clean and green place to live in. They built sanitary facilities, clean water tanks, public toilets and roads.
“They also built a floating library for children and adults,” he added.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Mount Merapi’s Swelling Signals Huge Eruption, Scientists Warn
Candra Malik | October 24, 2010
Buried under ash fall in 2006 after Mount Merapi erupted, this bunker was previously used to observe volcanic activity. (JG Photo/Boy T Harjanto) Buried under ash fall in 2006 after Mount Merapi erupted, this bunker was previously used to observe volcanic activity. (JG Photo/Boy T Harjanto)
Related articles
Rainfall Helps Firefighters Clear the Air in Haze-Choked Riau 11:29pm Oct 24, 2010
Bad Weather to Blame for Indonesia Ferry Sinking: Official 6:14pm Oct 24, 2010
22 Missing in Indonesia Ferry Accident 1:24pm Oct 23, 2010
Indonesian Haze Increases Singapore Health Problems 6:27pm Oct 22, 2010
Cleric With Child Bride Should Be Jailed Six Years, Court Told 12:21am Oct 22, 2010
Share This Page
[Share with google] [Share with yahoo] [Share with facebook] [Share with reddit] [Share with stumbleupon] [Share with delicious] [Share with digg]
Post a comment
Please login to post comment
Comments
Be the first to write your opinion!
Yogyakarta. Lava from Mount Merapi in Central Java began flowing down the Gendol River over the weekend, signaling an eruption could be imminent, a geologist said on Sunday.
The volcano, one of the world’s most active, last erupted in June 2006 shortly after the Yogyakarta earthquake, when a pyroclastic flow, or a fast-moving cloud of superheated gas, ran down its slopes and killed two people.
But Surono, head of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Agency (PVMBG), said the distension of the mountain’s slopes was much more rapid this time around, indicating a higher-pressure build-up of gas and hence a much more explosive eruption.
“We believe Merapi will erupt explosively, as it did in 1930, and not just spew gas like in 2006,” he said.
“However, that scenario is only a guess. No one really knows when Merapi will erupt and how much volcanic material it will spew out.”
The eruption in 1930 wiped out 13 villages on the slopes of the mountain, killing around 1,400 people.
The alert status for Merapi is currently “standby,” just one level below the alert for an eruption.
Sri Sumarti, the Merapi section head at the Volcano Investigation and Technology Development Institution (BPPTK), said thick clouds and mist over the weekend had prevented her team from measuring the mountain’s distension.
On Thursday, the volcanic cone was observed to be expanding by 8.5 centimeters a day, while on Friday the rate had picked up to 16.4 centimeters a day.
“We’ve also seen a dramatic increase in the number of multiphase volcanic earthquakes, from 321 on Friday to 525 on Saturday,” Sumarti said, referring to the tremors from volcanic activity.
“Lava spurts have also increased, from 93 on Friday to 183 on Saturday. We’re now on standby mode around the clock.”
She said there were two types of eruption, the first a Pelean eruption that has a pyroclastic flow with lava streams.
The second is a Plinian or Vesuvian eruption, which is far more explosive, throwing ash and rock more than 25 kilometers into the atmosphere, but does not always have a pyroclastic flow.
“Whichever we get, we must prepare for the worst,” she said.
Djarot Nugroho, head of the Central Java Regional Disaster Management Board, said about 53,600 people in the districts of Magelang, Boyolali, Klaten and Sleman were at risk and would have to be evacuated.
He added that 22 temporary shelters had been set up.
Hadi Prabowo, the Central Java provincial secretary, said Rp 25 billion ($2.8 million) had been allocated to respond to an eruption.
“We’re working with the police and the military, and we’re ready to face the threat from Merapi, which is quite frequent,” he said.
“We hope residents are ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice, to minimize casualties.”
Yogyakarta’s governor, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, said there was no evacuation order yet.
“We’re going to see the latest developments with the volcanic activity before issuing an evacuation order,” he said.
“The mountain never really fully erupts, it just kind of melts. I hope Mount Merapi doesn’t erupt this time. But we’ll still prepare evacuation plans for residents.”
Buried under ash fall in 2006 after Mount Merapi erupted, this bunker was previously used to observe volcanic activity. (JG Photo/Boy T Harjanto) Buried under ash fall in 2006 after Mount Merapi erupted, this bunker was previously used to observe volcanic activity. (JG Photo/Boy T Harjanto)
Related articles
Rainfall Helps Firefighters Clear the Air in Haze-Choked Riau 11:29pm Oct 24, 2010
Bad Weather to Blame for Indonesia Ferry Sinking: Official 6:14pm Oct 24, 2010
22 Missing in Indonesia Ferry Accident 1:24pm Oct 23, 2010
Indonesian Haze Increases Singapore Health Problems 6:27pm Oct 22, 2010
Cleric With Child Bride Should Be Jailed Six Years, Court Told 12:21am Oct 22, 2010
Share This Page
[Share with google] [Share with yahoo] [Share with facebook] [Share with reddit] [Share with stumbleupon] [Share with delicious] [Share with digg]
Post a comment
Please login to post comment
Comments
Be the first to write your opinion!
Yogyakarta. Lava from Mount Merapi in Central Java began flowing down the Gendol River over the weekend, signaling an eruption could be imminent, a geologist said on Sunday.
The volcano, one of the world’s most active, last erupted in June 2006 shortly after the Yogyakarta earthquake, when a pyroclastic flow, or a fast-moving cloud of superheated gas, ran down its slopes and killed two people.
But Surono, head of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Agency (PVMBG), said the distension of the mountain’s slopes was much more rapid this time around, indicating a higher-pressure build-up of gas and hence a much more explosive eruption.
“We believe Merapi will erupt explosively, as it did in 1930, and not just spew gas like in 2006,” he said.
“However, that scenario is only a guess. No one really knows when Merapi will erupt and how much volcanic material it will spew out.”
The eruption in 1930 wiped out 13 villages on the slopes of the mountain, killing around 1,400 people.
The alert status for Merapi is currently “standby,” just one level below the alert for an eruption.
Sri Sumarti, the Merapi section head at the Volcano Investigation and Technology Development Institution (BPPTK), said thick clouds and mist over the weekend had prevented her team from measuring the mountain’s distension.
On Thursday, the volcanic cone was observed to be expanding by 8.5 centimeters a day, while on Friday the rate had picked up to 16.4 centimeters a day.
“We’ve also seen a dramatic increase in the number of multiphase volcanic earthquakes, from 321 on Friday to 525 on Saturday,” Sumarti said, referring to the tremors from volcanic activity.
“Lava spurts have also increased, from 93 on Friday to 183 on Saturday. We’re now on standby mode around the clock.”
She said there were two types of eruption, the first a Pelean eruption that has a pyroclastic flow with lava streams.
The second is a Plinian or Vesuvian eruption, which is far more explosive, throwing ash and rock more than 25 kilometers into the atmosphere, but does not always have a pyroclastic flow.
“Whichever we get, we must prepare for the worst,” she said.
Djarot Nugroho, head of the Central Java Regional Disaster Management Board, said about 53,600 people in the districts of Magelang, Boyolali, Klaten and Sleman were at risk and would have to be evacuated.
He added that 22 temporary shelters had been set up.
Hadi Prabowo, the Central Java provincial secretary, said Rp 25 billion ($2.8 million) had been allocated to respond to an eruption.
“We’re working with the police and the military, and we’re ready to face the threat from Merapi, which is quite frequent,” he said.
“We hope residents are ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice, to minimize casualties.”
Yogyakarta’s governor, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, said there was no evacuation order yet.
“We’re going to see the latest developments with the volcanic activity before issuing an evacuation order,” he said.
“The mountain never really fully erupts, it just kind of melts. I hope Mount Merapi doesn’t erupt this time. But we’ll still prepare evacuation plans for residents.”
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Bali to be free from plastic waste by 2013
Denpasar, Indonesia, October 21 - Bali`s provincial government has set to make the tourist destination are free from plastic waste in 2013, Anak Agung Gede Alit Satrawan said here Wednesday.
“The plastic garbage which contaminating environment is expected to be sorted and processed, so it could contribute local income for the people,” the Head of Environmental Board (BLH) Bali said here Wednesday.
He said the plastic waste is predicted for 10 to 15 percent from whole garbage produced by local people, markets and industrial businesses in Bali.
“Production of the garbage in Bali which is noted in Final Shelter (TPA) is 5.049 meter square per day,” Alit said.
Alit added 750 meter square of the product is coming from the plastic one.
The rubbish, after sorted and processed, will give additional values for the local people, as well as accelerate in fulfilling people`s rights to get better and healthy environment.
The effort is in line with the declaration of Bali Green Province launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the end of last February in Nusa Dua, Bali.
“Therefore, we are incessant in campaigning Bali plastic free. It has been being our shared commitment from both the government and stakeholders in realizing Bali clean, healthy, green and sustainable,” Alit added.
He mentioned Bali province government will soon make regional regulations draft (Ranperda) on garbage processing system which involving prevention and control of plastic waste in the God Island.
The draft which will be discussed by The Provincial Legislative Assembly is supposed to be accomplished immediately and can be applied in 2011. In the draft, several points about plastic waste reduction will be ruled.
Every business activity which is producing plastic garbage, its owner is obliged to handle individual control on the plastic waste produced, including providing fund to deal with sanction if the owner violates.
“While we are waiting for realization of the draft, the local government has campaigned in front of all local people, in shopping centers, traditional markets and shops, to reduce the use of plastic bags and the like,” Alit said.
http://www.eco-business.com/news/2010/oct/21/bali-be-free-plastic-waste-2013/
“The plastic garbage which contaminating environment is expected to be sorted and processed, so it could contribute local income for the people,” the Head of Environmental Board (BLH) Bali said here Wednesday.
He said the plastic waste is predicted for 10 to 15 percent from whole garbage produced by local people, markets and industrial businesses in Bali.
“Production of the garbage in Bali which is noted in Final Shelter (TPA) is 5.049 meter square per day,” Alit said.
Alit added 750 meter square of the product is coming from the plastic one.
The rubbish, after sorted and processed, will give additional values for the local people, as well as accelerate in fulfilling people`s rights to get better and healthy environment.
The effort is in line with the declaration of Bali Green Province launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the end of last February in Nusa Dua, Bali.
“Therefore, we are incessant in campaigning Bali plastic free. It has been being our shared commitment from both the government and stakeholders in realizing Bali clean, healthy, green and sustainable,” Alit added.
He mentioned Bali province government will soon make regional regulations draft (Ranperda) on garbage processing system which involving prevention and control of plastic waste in the God Island.
The draft which will be discussed by The Provincial Legislative Assembly is supposed to be accomplished immediately and can be applied in 2011. In the draft, several points about plastic waste reduction will be ruled.
Every business activity which is producing plastic garbage, its owner is obliged to handle individual control on the plastic waste produced, including providing fund to deal with sanction if the owner violates.
“While we are waiting for realization of the draft, the local government has campaigned in front of all local people, in shopping centers, traditional markets and shops, to reduce the use of plastic bags and the like,” Alit said.
http://www.eco-business.com/news/2010/oct/21/bali-be-free-plastic-waste-2013/
Saturday, October 2, 2010
A magnitude-5.7 earthquake jolted resort island Bali at 9.24am local time on Friday,
Magnitude-5.7 quake hits Bali
Fri, Oct 01, 2010
The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
A magnitude-5.7 earthquake jolted resort island Bali at 9.24am local time on Friday, according the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics agency. There was no immediate report of injury or damage.
The agency said that the quake's epicentre was located at 320 kilometres southwest of Nusa Dua, at 10 kilometres beneath the surface.
The quake was felt in Bali's capital Denpasar, Badung regency and also in Banyuwangi, in East Java.
Click here to find out more!
-- The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
Friday, September 10, 2010
A corpse flower at Binghamton University is ready to bloom.
A corpse flower at Binghamton University is ready to bloom. Credit: Jonathan Cohen/Binghamton University.
A rare corpse flower is expected to bloom next week, releasing a smell that is known to knock people off their feet.
Ads by Google
Is Jesus Really God?Scholars Examine the Facts About Jesus' Claims to be Godwww.Y-Jesus.com/JesusGod
Non-Dariy Creamer PlantsSupply Non-Dariy Creamer Production Line for Decades,Factory Quote,Buy!www.jlspray.com
Sammamish Flower ShopCustom Designs Or Order Online Flowers, Plants, Balloons, BasketsCascadeFlorists24-7.com/washington
Even so, the staff at Binghamton University in upstate New York can hardly wait. One of their largest plants, the Amorphophallus titanum — also known as the corpse flower or Titan Arum — should open up on or around Sept. 14. [See the stages of a corpse flower's bloom.]
The bloom is expected to last only a day, during which time the stunning flower will release an odor of decomposing flesh.
The flower is native to the equatorial rainforests of central Sumatra in western Indonesia, and it evolved its horrendous odor to attract pollinating carrion beetles and flesh flies, which normally feed on rotting flesh.
The corpse flower bloom is actually not a single flower, but thousands of tiny flowers, which botanists call an inflorescence.
The Binghamton plant came directly from Bali, Indonesia. The plant was named Metis, in honor of the ancient Greek goddess of learning and teaching and in keeping with the tradition of naming the corpse flower after mythological Titans from ancient Greece.
When Metis first arrived at Binghamton University in 2007, it weighed in at a little over 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) and the unopened flower measured 8 inches (20 centimeters) in diameter. In the spring of 2008 it produced a fair-sized leaf and by the time Metis went into dormancy later that year, it weighed a whopping 40 pounds (18 kg) and measured 24 inches (61 cm) in diameter.
In 2009 Metis grew a much bigger leaf, this one measuring 10 feet (3 meters) high and 10 feet wide. Such a large leaf, however, took its toll. When Metis entered its dormancy period at the end of April 2010, it only tipped the scales at a comparatively skinny 30 pounds (14 kg). Now, a mere four months later, Metis is back, producing its first flower at the ripe old age of 5.
Typically, Titan Arums are teenagers when they begin to bloom — flowering at this young age indicates Metis could be relatively advanced for its age. Greenhouse staff are eager to see just how well Metis will fare during its very first flowering, realizing that since corpse flowers bloom very infrequently, they may not see another bloom for upwards of 15 years. At a little over 51 inches (130 cm) tall right now, Metis could very well have an inflorescence of 5 feet (1.5 m) or more in diameter.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Indonesia and US launch biodiversity centre in Bali
AFP Sunday, 15 August 2010
Indonesia and the US launched Tuesday a biodiversity research centre on the holiday island of Bali to further studies of the archipelago's rich and diverse species.
The Indonesian Biodiversity Research Center (IBRC), funded by USAID, is a collaboration between three local universities and Old Dominion University in Virginia and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
IBRC chief researcher from UCLA Paul Barber said it was a strategic move because Indonesia was still behind on the number of researchers and biodiversity studies despite its abundance of potential research material.
"The centre will significantly enhance Indonesia's capacity to study its own biodiversity," Barber said.
One of IBRC initiators I Gusti Ngurah Mahardika said the centre would serve as a focal point for biodiversity research, training and species collection.
"IBRC is the magnet that will attract Indonesian and international scientists to carry out researches focusing on biodiversity," Mahardika said.
"These researchers will employ the latest technology and methods in molecular genetics to gain understanding on the intricate nature and formation of Indonesia's biodiversity." he said.
The centre is based in Udayana University's Biomedic Lab in Denpasar where 60 Indonesian and US scientists make up the core researchers.
AFP Sunday, 15 August 2010
Indonesia and the US launched Tuesday a biodiversity research centre on the holiday island of Bali to further studies of the archipelago's rich and diverse species.
The Indonesian Biodiversity Research Center (IBRC), funded by USAID, is a collaboration between three local universities and Old Dominion University in Virginia and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
IBRC chief researcher from UCLA Paul Barber said it was a strategic move because Indonesia was still behind on the number of researchers and biodiversity studies despite its abundance of potential research material.
"The centre will significantly enhance Indonesia's capacity to study its own biodiversity," Barber said.
One of IBRC initiators I Gusti Ngurah Mahardika said the centre would serve as a focal point for biodiversity research, training and species collection.
"IBRC is the magnet that will attract Indonesian and international scientists to carry out researches focusing on biodiversity," Mahardika said.
"These researchers will employ the latest technology and methods in molecular genetics to gain understanding on the intricate nature and formation of Indonesia's biodiversity." he said.
The centre is based in Udayana University's Biomedic Lab in Denpasar where 60 Indonesian and US scientists make up the core researchers.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
‘The Bali News- Climate War’ "We Haven't Done a Damned Thing"
‘The Climate War’ "We Haven't Done a Damned Thing"
Related
*
Books of The Times: Books About Climate Change by Eric Pooley and Heidi Cullen (August 3, 2010)
It was the rainy season in Bali but the rains had not come. December is summertime on the island, one of the 17,000 volcanic pearls that make up the vast Indonesian archipelago, and normally that means very hot and wet. But like so many places in the world, Bali was living through some weird weather in 2007.
The heat had arrived on schedule but the twelve inches of rainfall that soak the island in an average December were not to be found, so the humidity gathered and grew, a pregnant, vaporous shroud that cloaked the long line of people waiting to get through the metal detectors and into Nusantara Hall, in the luxury beach resort of Nusa Dua, on the evening of December 13.
Eleven thousand people — diplomats, civil servants, lobbyists, activists and journalists from nearly 190 countries — had come to Nusa Dua to begin negotiating a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. The "Bali Roadmap" was supposed to lead to a new treaty by December 2009, when many of those same people would reconvene in Copenhagen. But the talks had run into an American roadblock.
The administration of George W. Bush was doing everything it could to obstruct progress. With just a year left in office, Bush was running out the clock.
For the first week of the conference the mood in Bali had been as giddy as a little boy who has eaten too much candy. The sugar rush was fueled by news from America: a Senate committee had passed the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, the first serious federal attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To people who didn't understand the gridlocked ways of Washington, it sounded as if the U.S., after a decade of denial and delay, was finally ready to take action.
In the second week, the sugar high ended with a familiar crash. The leaders of the U.S. delegation arrived in Nusa Dua and the world remembered who was running things in Washington. President Bush had only recently conceded that man-made climate change was real, and his delegation, led by Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, was doing an enthusiastic job of making sure nothing got done in Bali.
After James Connaughton, chief of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, tried to claim the mantle of leadership — "The U.S. will lead, but leadership also requires others to fall in line and follow" — protesters staked out the convention center hallways and fell into line behind him whenever he appeared, following, following, following in a shame-on-you conga line. And on the conference's final day, delegates from most of the 190 nations booed Dobriansky loud and long — a sustained global jeer that won American acquiescence on a small point and let everyone sign the Bali Roadmap, such as it was, and go home.
For now, that dramatic moment was days away and the fate of the talks were very much in doubt. Europe and many developing countries wanted the Roadmap's preamble to make a nonbinding reference to the painful scientific conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions needed to be reduced 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 if the world was to avoid the worst impacts. This target was far beyond anything the U.S. and its allies — Canada, Japan and Russia — were willing to contemplate, so they made sure that no such nod at reality was made. At one point, the Russians proposed a sentence about the "the dangerous implications of climate change," and the Americans moved to strike the phrase. The Russians dutifully praised this American "improvement."
In response, European officials threatened to boycott the next round of talks in a Bush climate sideshow called the Major Economies Meeting. Ivo de Boer, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Committee on Climate Change, which ran the global climate process, said he feared Bali was heading for failure. Delegates debated whether it was worth blowing up the process to call attention to American obstruction. It was the only way, they argued, to make the world see what the U.S. was really up to in Bali. Now, in Nusantara Hall, another American was going to try to defuse those arguments and get the talks back on track.
Al Gore stepped onto the low stage and waited for the ovation to subside. Gore had flown in from Oslo, where he had accepted the Nobel Peace Prize three days earlier; he was profoundly jet-lagged and a bit nervous, because he was about to do something that, as a patriotic American and former high officeholder, he was reluctant to do: Stand on foreign soil and rip into his own country.
*****
When Gore landed in Bali the day before, leaving the airport in the bustling commercial district of Tuban for the ride to Nusa Dua on the southeastern coast, he was running on caffeine, adrenaline, and the rush of global acclaim. His acceptance of the Nobel Prize — along with Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the 2,500 experts from 130 countries whose job it was to assess the risk from human-caused global warming — capped an extraordinary two-year period in which the U.S. finally began to catch up with the rest of the industrialized world in its comprehension of the climate threat. Though the American public remained confused and divided (Democrats and independents mostly understood that the planet was warming and humans were to blame; many Republicans still did not), what had started as an elite issue — identified as a crisis by a few hundred scientists and taken up as a cause by a few thousand activists — showed signs of becoming a truly popular concern.
MORE at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/books/excerpt-the-climate-war.html?_r=1
Related
*
Books of The Times: Books About Climate Change by Eric Pooley and Heidi Cullen (August 3, 2010)
It was the rainy season in Bali but the rains had not come. December is summertime on the island, one of the 17,000 volcanic pearls that make up the vast Indonesian archipelago, and normally that means very hot and wet. But like so many places in the world, Bali was living through some weird weather in 2007.
The heat had arrived on schedule but the twelve inches of rainfall that soak the island in an average December were not to be found, so the humidity gathered and grew, a pregnant, vaporous shroud that cloaked the long line of people waiting to get through the metal detectors and into Nusantara Hall, in the luxury beach resort of Nusa Dua, on the evening of December 13.
Eleven thousand people — diplomats, civil servants, lobbyists, activists and journalists from nearly 190 countries — had come to Nusa Dua to begin negotiating a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. The "Bali Roadmap" was supposed to lead to a new treaty by December 2009, when many of those same people would reconvene in Copenhagen. But the talks had run into an American roadblock.
The administration of George W. Bush was doing everything it could to obstruct progress. With just a year left in office, Bush was running out the clock.
For the first week of the conference the mood in Bali had been as giddy as a little boy who has eaten too much candy. The sugar rush was fueled by news from America: a Senate committee had passed the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, the first serious federal attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To people who didn't understand the gridlocked ways of Washington, it sounded as if the U.S., after a decade of denial and delay, was finally ready to take action.
In the second week, the sugar high ended with a familiar crash. The leaders of the U.S. delegation arrived in Nusa Dua and the world remembered who was running things in Washington. President Bush had only recently conceded that man-made climate change was real, and his delegation, led by Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, was doing an enthusiastic job of making sure nothing got done in Bali.
After James Connaughton, chief of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, tried to claim the mantle of leadership — "The U.S. will lead, but leadership also requires others to fall in line and follow" — protesters staked out the convention center hallways and fell into line behind him whenever he appeared, following, following, following in a shame-on-you conga line. And on the conference's final day, delegates from most of the 190 nations booed Dobriansky loud and long — a sustained global jeer that won American acquiescence on a small point and let everyone sign the Bali Roadmap, such as it was, and go home.
For now, that dramatic moment was days away and the fate of the talks were very much in doubt. Europe and many developing countries wanted the Roadmap's preamble to make a nonbinding reference to the painful scientific conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions needed to be reduced 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 if the world was to avoid the worst impacts. This target was far beyond anything the U.S. and its allies — Canada, Japan and Russia — were willing to contemplate, so they made sure that no such nod at reality was made. At one point, the Russians proposed a sentence about the "the dangerous implications of climate change," and the Americans moved to strike the phrase. The Russians dutifully praised this American "improvement."
In response, European officials threatened to boycott the next round of talks in a Bush climate sideshow called the Major Economies Meeting. Ivo de Boer, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Committee on Climate Change, which ran the global climate process, said he feared Bali was heading for failure. Delegates debated whether it was worth blowing up the process to call attention to American obstruction. It was the only way, they argued, to make the world see what the U.S. was really up to in Bali. Now, in Nusantara Hall, another American was going to try to defuse those arguments and get the talks back on track.
Al Gore stepped onto the low stage and waited for the ovation to subside. Gore had flown in from Oslo, where he had accepted the Nobel Peace Prize three days earlier; he was profoundly jet-lagged and a bit nervous, because he was about to do something that, as a patriotic American and former high officeholder, he was reluctant to do: Stand on foreign soil and rip into his own country.
*****
When Gore landed in Bali the day before, leaving the airport in the bustling commercial district of Tuban for the ride to Nusa Dua on the southeastern coast, he was running on caffeine, adrenaline, and the rush of global acclaim. His acceptance of the Nobel Prize — along with Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the 2,500 experts from 130 countries whose job it was to assess the risk from human-caused global warming — capped an extraordinary two-year period in which the U.S. finally began to catch up with the rest of the industrialized world in its comprehension of the climate threat. Though the American public remained confused and divided (Democrats and independents mostly understood that the planet was warming and humans were to blame; many Republicans still did not), what had started as an elite issue — identified as a crisis by a few hundred scientists and taken up as a cause by a few thousand activists — showed signs of becoming a truly popular concern.
MORE at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/books/excerpt-the-climate-war.html?_r=1
Volcano erupts in eastern Indonesia
Eruption: An eruption of Mt. Karangetan on Aug. 28, 2007. -- Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard MitigationEruption: An eruption of Mt. Karangetan on Aug. 28, 2007. -- Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation
One of Indonesia's most active volcanos erupted Friday, leaving several people badly injured, officials said.
Mount Karangetang, located on Siau Island, part of the North Sulawesi island chain, spewed lava and hot ash hundreds of yards (meters) into the air.
At least four villagers living on the mountains slopes were missing, said Surono, a disaster official. Several others were badly hurt.
The volcano's last big eruption in July 2006 caused nearly 4,000 people to be evacuated from five villages.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is located on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/06/volcano-erupts-eastern-indonesia.html
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
BALI GREEN SCHOOL BALI - one of the most groundbreaking schools on the planet
The green school
BY CHRISTIANE OELRICH
GREEN SCHOOL BALI is one of the most groundbreaking schools on the planet, hoping to produce a generation of citizens who are knowledgeable about and inspired to take responsibility for the sustainability of the world.
Situated on the Indonesian island of Bali, the first impression could be of a hippy camp in the jungle but here, the objective is for the school’s children to tune in to the world around them, not drop out from a consumerist society.
The school was founded two years ago with a focus on environmental protection and sustainability, but the 130 pupils also learn mathematics, physics, philosophy, English grammar and mathematics to the Cambridge IGCSE standard.
"A life-changing experience," says Renee Schipp, whose 13-year-old daughter Greta has been attending the school for a few months now.
"We have seen the transformation of a teenager, who previously barely opened her mouth at meal times but now discusses Plato and environmental protection with us."
The Australians are delighted with Greta’s progress. "Our daughter has found her voice and learnt that her views are valued," says father Ashley.
"The children are more socially engaged, understand cultural and linguistic differences and have greater respect for others," explains the school’s German teacher, Satya Berger.
The stony road to the school at Sibang Kaja, which lies a quarter of an hour’s drive south of the artist town of Ubud, weaves its way through jungle and is lined by trees and palms.
Travellers have to cross the river Ayung by means of a bamboo bridge and continue along the unlit route before the school building suddenly comes into view.
The single classrooms are spread over eight hectares and are almost invisible as their construction entirely out of bamboo means they blend superbly into the forest.
The school also uses compost toilets to reduce its impact on the local environment and has, at its heart, a two-storey open hall that serves as an atrium and will also house the planned library.
Lessons take place inside and outside with students switching on a regular basis. The classrooms rely on natural ventilation and air-conditioning is only used in the bamboo huts on particularly humid days.
Each class is responsible for its own garden, supplying the canteen with any harvest. "It’s so much fun here," says one 13-year-old schoolboy from Belgium who is standing with friends at the organic restaurant on his last day before returning home for his summer holidays.
"I’m sad because we’re moving away from Bali," he explains.
As well as the usual subjects, the school’s timetable includes yoga, organic farming, water treatment and the manufacture of batik, a Javanese cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique.
Children also learn the Balinese martial art of mepantigan which involves the techniques of throwing and locking.
Most importantly, the children have to have no fear of getting their hands dirty as a lot of physics and biology classes take place in the forest or along the river.
Berger’s seven-year-old son Melvin also attends the school.
"We were won over by the academic timetable, combined with the essential skills the children learn here that means they are more environmentally aware," he says. "They are being brought up to have values that will last them a lifetime."
Understanding the environment is not a separate topic but is a thread that runs through all subjects.
"Today’s school education needs to be more focused on the needs of the 21st century than was previously the case," explains admissions director Ben Macrory. "We want to raise creative problem-solvers."
The school was founded by John and Cynthia Hardy, an American couple who for years produced silver jewellery in Bali. The Hardys have since sold their factory, which was mainly built of bamboo and with minimal impact on the neighbouring rice fields.
"This school should stand in the vanguard of revolutionary education in the 21st century," says Cynthia.
The school emphasises taking responsibility for each other, the importance of a social conscience, promoting creativity and caring for the environment.
It’s not cheap, however, with parents paying up to US$10,000 (RM32,000) per year with scholarships only available to locals.
Next year, the Hardys expect between 150 and 170 schoolchildren through their doors. – dpa
BY CHRISTIANE OELRICH
GREEN SCHOOL BALI is one of the most groundbreaking schools on the planet, hoping to produce a generation of citizens who are knowledgeable about and inspired to take responsibility for the sustainability of the world.
Situated on the Indonesian island of Bali, the first impression could be of a hippy camp in the jungle but here, the objective is for the school’s children to tune in to the world around them, not drop out from a consumerist society.
The school was founded two years ago with a focus on environmental protection and sustainability, but the 130 pupils also learn mathematics, physics, philosophy, English grammar and mathematics to the Cambridge IGCSE standard.
"A life-changing experience," says Renee Schipp, whose 13-year-old daughter Greta has been attending the school for a few months now.
"We have seen the transformation of a teenager, who previously barely opened her mouth at meal times but now discusses Plato and environmental protection with us."
The Australians are delighted with Greta’s progress. "Our daughter has found her voice and learnt that her views are valued," says father Ashley.
"The children are more socially engaged, understand cultural and linguistic differences and have greater respect for others," explains the school’s German teacher, Satya Berger.
The stony road to the school at Sibang Kaja, which lies a quarter of an hour’s drive south of the artist town of Ubud, weaves its way through jungle and is lined by trees and palms.
Travellers have to cross the river Ayung by means of a bamboo bridge and continue along the unlit route before the school building suddenly comes into view.
The single classrooms are spread over eight hectares and are almost invisible as their construction entirely out of bamboo means they blend superbly into the forest.
The school also uses compost toilets to reduce its impact on the local environment and has, at its heart, a two-storey open hall that serves as an atrium and will also house the planned library.
Lessons take place inside and outside with students switching on a regular basis. The classrooms rely on natural ventilation and air-conditioning is only used in the bamboo huts on particularly humid days.
Each class is responsible for its own garden, supplying the canteen with any harvest. "It’s so much fun here," says one 13-year-old schoolboy from Belgium who is standing with friends at the organic restaurant on his last day before returning home for his summer holidays.
"I’m sad because we’re moving away from Bali," he explains.
As well as the usual subjects, the school’s timetable includes yoga, organic farming, water treatment and the manufacture of batik, a Javanese cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique.
Children also learn the Balinese martial art of mepantigan which involves the techniques of throwing and locking.
Most importantly, the children have to have no fear of getting their hands dirty as a lot of physics and biology classes take place in the forest or along the river.
Berger’s seven-year-old son Melvin also attends the school.
"We were won over by the academic timetable, combined with the essential skills the children learn here that means they are more environmentally aware," he says. "They are being brought up to have values that will last them a lifetime."
Understanding the environment is not a separate topic but is a thread that runs through all subjects.
"Today’s school education needs to be more focused on the needs of the 21st century than was previously the case," explains admissions director Ben Macrory. "We want to raise creative problem-solvers."
The school was founded by John and Cynthia Hardy, an American couple who for years produced silver jewellery in Bali. The Hardys have since sold their factory, which was mainly built of bamboo and with minimal impact on the neighbouring rice fields.
"This school should stand in the vanguard of revolutionary education in the 21st century," says Cynthia.
The school emphasises taking responsibility for each other, the importance of a social conscience, promoting creativity and caring for the environment.
It’s not cheap, however, with parents paying up to US$10,000 (RM32,000) per year with scholarships only available to locals.
Next year, the Hardys expect between 150 and 170 schoolchildren through their doors. – dpa
People urged to take active role in forest conservation
Wasti Atmodjo, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Wed, 07/28/2010 10:49 AM | Bali
A | A | A |
The Bali Forestry Office has implemented community-based seed-planting programs in 77 villages across Bali as part of a national program to mobilize communities in forest conservation.
The head of the office, A.A.N. Buana, said they would distribute Rp 3 billion in funds from the provincial budget to run the program until the end of 2010.
"This national program is in line with our plans to empower individual communities," he said.
Through the program, the office's field staff would train villagers on how to cultivate seeds of rare plants in effective ways in a "transfer of technology from experts to the communities".
The first priority was to cultivate productive plants, which have high economic value. Farmers would be able to benefit from the wood or fruit of those plants, he said.
There are a number of endangered plants as well as productive fruit plants such as mangosteens and mango, which can be cultivated through the program.
The program also encourages active participation by locals in preserving forest areas and rare plant species. In terms of economic value, farmers will be able to sell plant seeds as well as harvest the plants' yields.
"Some trees have high economic value as they produce high quality wood fit for handicrafts and art works," he said.
The office, he said, would help local farmers select the best plants for their respective to take advantage of geographically specific soils, water abundance and other factors.
Buana said since 2008, the office had delivered one million seeds to 66 local farmer groups in Jembrana, Buleleng, Klungkung, Tabanan, Gianyar and Karangasem regencies.
I Gusti Made Oka Ratawan, a farmer who once worked at the forestry office, said he was glad to hear about the program.
Ratawan now grows various rare plants such as mejanggau, a native plant of Bali.
"Many people are unaware of the richness of native Balinese plants. They plant them in their homes without knowing their economic value," he said.
The program would encourage other farmers to cultivate the endangered plants, which are good for medicinal purposes, he said.
A | A | A |
The Bali Forestry Office has implemented community-based seed-planting programs in 77 villages across Bali as part of a national program to mobilize communities in forest conservation.
The head of the office, A.A.N. Buana, said they would distribute Rp 3 billion in funds from the provincial budget to run the program until the end of 2010.
"This national program is in line with our plans to empower individual communities," he said.
Through the program, the office's field staff would train villagers on how to cultivate seeds of rare plants in effective ways in a "transfer of technology from experts to the communities".
The first priority was to cultivate productive plants, which have high economic value. Farmers would be able to benefit from the wood or fruit of those plants, he said.
There are a number of endangered plants as well as productive fruit plants such as mangosteens and mango, which can be cultivated through the program.
The program also encourages active participation by locals in preserving forest areas and rare plant species. In terms of economic value, farmers will be able to sell plant seeds as well as harvest the plants' yields.
"Some trees have high economic value as they produce high quality wood fit for handicrafts and art works," he said.
The office, he said, would help local farmers select the best plants for their respective to take advantage of geographically specific soils, water abundance and other factors.
Buana said since 2008, the office had delivered one million seeds to 66 local farmer groups in Jembrana, Buleleng, Klungkung, Tabanan, Gianyar and Karangasem regencies.
I Gusti Made Oka Ratawan, a farmer who once worked at the forestry office, said he was glad to hear about the program.
Ratawan now grows various rare plants such as mejanggau, a native plant of Bali.
"Many people are unaware of the richness of native Balinese plants. They plant them in their homes without knowing their economic value," he said.
The program would encourage other farmers to cultivate the endangered plants, which are good for medicinal purposes, he said.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Critical land' in Bali increasing
`Critical land' in Bali increasing
| Mon, 07/26/2010 10:09 AM | Bali
A | A | A |
DENPASAR: The amount of critical land in Bali has reached 51.107 hectares, or 9.1 percent of the entire island. Critical land is a term used to describe land that has suffered severe physical, chemical or biological damage.
"Plots of critical land were found inside and outside the island's forested areas. In Buleleng, Bangli, Karangasem and Klungkung we came across critical lands inside the forested areas," said I Wayan Restu a researcher at Udayana University's Center for Environmental Research.
"In 2008, the amount of critical land inside forested areas reached 18,450 hectares, or 14.1 percent of the total size of the island's forest," he said. "The area with the largest amount of critical land is Nusa Penida island. The amount of critical land on that island is 13,825 hectares. - JP
| Mon, 07/26/2010 10:09 AM | Bali
A | A | A |
DENPASAR: The amount of critical land in Bali has reached 51.107 hectares, or 9.1 percent of the entire island. Critical land is a term used to describe land that has suffered severe physical, chemical or biological damage.
"Plots of critical land were found inside and outside the island's forested areas. In Buleleng, Bangli, Karangasem and Klungkung we came across critical lands inside the forested areas," said I Wayan Restu a researcher at Udayana University's Center for Environmental Research.
"In 2008, the amount of critical land inside forested areas reached 18,450 hectares, or 14.1 percent of the total size of the island's forest," he said. "The area with the largest amount of critical land is Nusa Penida island. The amount of critical land on that island is 13,825 hectares. - JP
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Bali to design road map to become green province
.jpg)
Ni Komang Erviani, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Wed, 07/21/2010 12:06 PM | National
Bali has laid out a road map to create a clean, green and healthy province, the first green province in Indonesia.
Governor Made Mangku Pastika claimed that all policies regarding tourism, agriculture, businesses must be in line with the administration's strong commitment in going green.
All stakeholders in the community such as religious leaders, business people, NGOs and academics are involved in drawing up the green plan.
In February this year, Bali declared itself as a green province with the launch of Bali Clean and Green campaigns.
"The planned road map will be a landmark to realize our commitment to establish a green province," Pastika said.
There are three main programs in the road map, namely green culture, green economy and green environment. Included in the programs are the revitalization of traditional organic farming systems and non-plastic waste programs.
In the last few years, Bali has faced serious environmental problems due to the rapid growth of the tourist industry and its increasing population.
Massive developments of various tourist-related projects and supporting infrastructures have robbed the island's fertile lands and have caused environmental degradation in several areas.
According data from Bali Agriculture office, the island loses around 750 hectares of rice paddies per year, mostly due to land conversion into hotels, villas and housing.
In 2009, the office's data showed that the island's total area of rice paddies was 81,361 hectares, significantly less than the 86,071 hectares recorded ten years ago.
However, since last year local administrations have pledged to implement pro-farmer policies. Denpasar municipality, for instance, provides tax breaks to farmers who retain their rice fields.
The administration allocated up to Rp. 2.5 billion from its annual budget to subsidize 1,000 hectares of rice paddies. This policy has proven effective in curbing the rate of land conversion as well as encouraging farmers to retain their rice paddies.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Officials from 13 countries gathered in Bali agreed to increase law enforcement to protect the tigers
Wild tigers have been offered a lifeline by countries where they still roam. The countries have agreed to work together to double the tiger population within 12 years. Officials from 13 countries gathered in Bali agreed to increase law enforcement to protect the tigers and preserve their habitats across Asia.
A Sumatran tiger roars in protest at his captors from the Indonesian forestry department. The animal had rampaged through villages and palm oil plantations in search of food, killing four farmers. After months in captivity, the cat was released into a Sumatran national park.
In an ongoing battle for territory between humans and wild tigers, tigers are the biggest losers. Rapidly shrinking habitats and poaching are decimating their populations.
The World Wildlife Fund estimates the number of wild tigers has declined by 40 percent in the past decade, to about 3,200 animals with only 1,000 actively breeding females.
In an effort to arrest this slide into extinction, leaders from 13 tiger nations gathered this week in Bali to draft a declaration on conservation, as part of the Global Tiger Recovery Program. The program is led by the World Bank and a coalition of international non-profit organizations. The centerpiece of the nations' commitment is an ambitious plan to double the number of wild tigers by 2022.
Underscoring the immensity of this challenge, several countries said the goal is unrealistic.
Indian delegation leader S. P. Yadav says his country will focus on stabilizing tiger numbers in existing conservation areas.
"We are the largest, tiger-range country," said S. P. Yadav. "We have around 1,500 tigers in the wild; so almost 50 percent of tigers are in India. We have identified 39 tiger reserves, covering an area of around 32,000 square kilometers. Within this number of tigers and the area, we are facing the problem of tiger-man conflict, and in some areas, it is a very serious issue. So there is very little scope in further enhancing the area to accommodate more tigers in our country."
The Wildlife Conservation Societies' vice president for conservation and science, John Robinson, says is it possible to double the number of tigers as planned.
"Within protected areas we could increase overall tiger numbers probably by 50 to 60 percent, and the tigers within those protected areas would still not reach the carrying capacity of that habitat," said John Robinson. "And that gives an ability to bring these numbers back rather dramatically. Across broader tiger landscapes, if protection was put into place, if we could control the illegal hunting, we could bring back very significant tiger numbers"
Conservationists agree poaching presents the greatest threat to tiger populations. Poaching and the international trade in tigers and tiger parts is increasing across the region.
John Sellers heads the enforcement office of the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES.
"I think if you had looked at this area 10 to 15 years ago, you would have found that a lot of the demand was taking place amongst Asian ethnic communities in either North America and Europe," said John Sellers. "That really has disappeared now. Instead, I think the market is now amongst the wealthy in parts of Asia, particularly China, where they have the money to pay for the genuine article. There are undoubtedly practitioners with the contacts to acquire this. I remember speaking to a practitioner in Thailand a few years ago who told me he had traveled to the border with Myanmar in order to purchase genuine tiger bones."
The sale of tiger parts is prohibited in most tiger countries and the penalty for poachers in China is death. But law enforcement within countries and across national boundaries remains weak and disorganized.
In recent years new markets for tiger products have emerged. Some animal parks in China openly sell tiger bone wine, just one product spurring the establishment of tiger-breeding farms.
John Sellers says in some parts of China and Tibet a revival of old traditions is driving the market for tiger pelts.
"From what I understand in Tibet, it was traditional for warriors who had been brave in battle to be presented with a small piece of animal skin, such as a tiger or leopard - a snow leopard - just as the way a soldier would be in the West might be presented with a medal," he said. "And so what had been a traditional practice using small parts of skin, then just grew into this situation where they began to build huge panels of tiger and leopard skin into these chubas, the traditional jackets that the local communities wear there."
Early estimates suggest the cost of implementing the global tiger project will be more than $350 million, and more if the target of doubling tiger numbers within 12 years is to be met.
World Bank Global Tiger Initiative Director, Keshav Varma, says tiger nations have some capacity for funding tiger conservation, but wealthy nations will have to contribute.
"This sector is extremely poorly resourced," said Keshav Varma. "It does not have money for minimum sustainable management. So we need more resources. And I think this is again an opportunity for global leaders to really understand the value of ecosystems."
Included in the draft declaration was a commitment from tiger countries to collaborate and coordinate efforts to protect tigers and their habitats across national boundaries and to improve enforcement of anti-poaching and trafficking laws.
The Bali meeting's draft declaration will be presented to government leaders for ratification at a September summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Asian-Officials-Extend-Lifeline-For-Wild-Tigers-98437834.html
Monday, July 12, 2010
Tiger conservation discussed in Bali, Indonesia
Page last updated at 03:58 GMT, Monday, 12 July 2010 04:58 UK
* E-mail this to a friend
* Printable version
Sumatran tiger, London Zoo, 2005 Conservationists say tiger numbers ned to double to save the species
Officials from 13 countries are meeting in Bali, Indonesia, to agree on ways to try to double the number of tigers in the world.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) conservation group has warned that a lack of global action could kill off the endangered species.
Hunting and a loss of habitat had cut numbers to about 3,200 tigers - the lowest ever.
The Bali Tiger Forum is a precursor to a planned global summit in December.
There is a particular focus on China, where a huge demand for tiger parts fopr consumption has fuelled a drop in numbers.
Tiger's year
Conservationists are concerned about the proliferation of Chinese tiger farms, where 5,000 tigers are kept in captivity - they say this spurs the trade in tiger parts, and demand for illegally caught wild tigers.
Representatives from China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Russia and Thailand
Dr Bivash Pandav, landscape co-ordinator for the WWF tiger network initiative in Nepal, said political action was needed to enforce laws against poaching, secure habitats, and help communities who come into contact with tigers.
"This year offers an unprecedented opportunity to put in place a co-ordinated, multi-state plan to save the tiger," said Diane Walkington, head of species at WWF-UK.
"There has never before been this level of momentum for action on tigers and governments must take advantage of it.
"If we lose the tiger, not only do we lose one of the world's top predators, we will lose so much more.
"By safeguarding their habitats , we will protect hundreds of other species in the process," she said.
The BBC's Indonesia correspondent, Karishma Vaswani, says Indonesia, the host nation, is home to around 400 Sumatran tigers.
It has come up with a proposal to boost its tiger population whereby rich Indonesia could adopt a pair of tigers for $100,000 (£66,360).
They hope to discourage illegal poaching by legalising tiger ownership but critics say the plan is unrealistic and that the focus shoud be on protecting tigers in their natural habitat.
* E-mail this to a friend
* Printable version
Sumatran tiger, London Zoo, 2005 Conservationists say tiger numbers ned to double to save the species
Officials from 13 countries are meeting in Bali, Indonesia, to agree on ways to try to double the number of tigers in the world.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) conservation group has warned that a lack of global action could kill off the endangered species.
Hunting and a loss of habitat had cut numbers to about 3,200 tigers - the lowest ever.
The Bali Tiger Forum is a precursor to a planned global summit in December.
There is a particular focus on China, where a huge demand for tiger parts fopr consumption has fuelled a drop in numbers.
Tiger's year
Conservationists are concerned about the proliferation of Chinese tiger farms, where 5,000 tigers are kept in captivity - they say this spurs the trade in tiger parts, and demand for illegally caught wild tigers.
Representatives from China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Russia and Thailand
Dr Bivash Pandav, landscape co-ordinator for the WWF tiger network initiative in Nepal, said political action was needed to enforce laws against poaching, secure habitats, and help communities who come into contact with tigers.
"This year offers an unprecedented opportunity to put in place a co-ordinated, multi-state plan to save the tiger," said Diane Walkington, head of species at WWF-UK.
"There has never before been this level of momentum for action on tigers and governments must take advantage of it.
"If we lose the tiger, not only do we lose one of the world's top predators, we will lose so much more.
"By safeguarding their habitats , we will protect hundreds of other species in the process," she said.
The BBC's Indonesia correspondent, Karishma Vaswani, says Indonesia, the host nation, is home to around 400 Sumatran tigers.
It has come up with a proposal to boost its tiger population whereby rich Indonesia could adopt a pair of tigers for $100,000 (£66,360).
They hope to discourage illegal poaching by legalising tiger ownership but critics say the plan is unrealistic and that the focus shoud be on protecting tigers in their natural habitat.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Religious leaders urged to support Green Bali
| Wed, 06/16/2010 2:05 PM | National
A | A | A |http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/16/religious-leaders-urged-support-green-bali.html
DENPASAR: Governor Made Mangku Pastika urged religious leaders to support the government's Clean and Green Bali program to improve the island's environment.
Speaking before dozens of Hindu low-priests on Monday, the governor said the program was a real implementation of the Hindu concept of harmony, Tri Hita Karana, adopted by the community for hundreds of years.
"If we really adopt the concept in our daily lives, I am sure that Bali will always clean, green and beautiful. Such a concept would certainly bring positive vibrations to the island and its population," he said.
Pastika said that the role of traditional villages, rural communities and local religious leaders had been key to the implementation of the program.
Community and religious leaders are expected to urge their followers to help create a clean and green Bali. - JP
A | A | A |http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/16/religious-leaders-urged-support-green-bali.html
DENPASAR: Governor Made Mangku Pastika urged religious leaders to support the government's Clean and Green Bali program to improve the island's environment.
Speaking before dozens of Hindu low-priests on Monday, the governor said the program was a real implementation of the Hindu concept of harmony, Tri Hita Karana, adopted by the community for hundreds of years.
"If we really adopt the concept in our daily lives, I am sure that Bali will always clean, green and beautiful. Such a concept would certainly bring positive vibrations to the island and its population," he said.
Pastika said that the role of traditional villages, rural communities and local religious leaders had been key to the implementation of the program.
Community and religious leaders are expected to urge their followers to help create a clean and green Bali. - JP
Monday, May 17, 2010
New electric motorcycle hits Bali
The Jakarta Post, Kuta | Mon, 05/17/2010 11:54 AM | Bali
A | A | A |
A type of electric motorcycle that has been introduced to Bali recently has been hailed as an environmentally friendly alternative mode of transportation.
The motorcycle or e-bike is hoped to inspire public transportation operators throughout the country to switch to low-carbon emission vehicles.
Introduced last month by major beverage producer Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia as part of its corporate social responsibility program, the e-Bike is being used by police officers on Kuta beach and by the company's staff, who had been using petrol-powered motorcycles.
"This electric bike emits 78 percent less carbon than a conventional motorbike," said Sri Purwanto, a corporate social responsibility and sustainability manager at the company.
"Besides, the e-bike is much quieter and easier to control, thus more efficient and safer for the rider.
"After 8 hours of charging, the vehicle can travel up to 70 kilometers at a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour. They are also easy to maintain."
He said the company was switching to the new motorcycle to support the energy acceleration project in Bali and to help develop an ecologically responsible tourist destination.
The company's Bali office currently operates three e-Bikes to support its business in popular beach areas.
The company said that in the coming months it expected to introduce more e-Bikes to replace petrol-powered motorcycles in other areas in Indonesia.
"We hope this e-Bike project will encourage other local transport providers and users to move to these solutions in Bali and other heavy traffic areas, such as Jakarta," Purwanto said.
Since 2008, the company has also held a daily cleanup campaign at five major beaches across Bali: Kuta, Legian, Seminyak Kedonganan and Jimbaran.
"We provide three garbage trucks to clean garbage. We also hire 74 officers to clean the beaches everyday from 7 a.m to 2 p.m," Purwanto said.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/05/17/new-electric-motorcycle-hits-bali.html-0
Monday, May 3, 2010
A beach clean-up with Make a Change Bali draws a fair-sized crowd.
Sylviana Hamdani
A beach clean-up with Make a Change Bali draws a fair-sized crowd. Saturday’s concert will promote clean beaches and green living. (Photo courtesy of Gary Bencheghib)
A beach clean-up with Make a Change Bali draws a fair-sized crowd. Saturday’s concert will promote clean beaches and green living. (Photo courtesy of Gary Bencheghib)
Rock for Bali's Shore
Over his two-week Easter break from school, 15-year-old Gary Bencheghib was hard at work. Set on a mission to save Bali’s beaches, he believes the only way to do this is to get more people involved, locals and tourists alike.
“Balinese young people seem to be very influenced by famous Indonesian rock bands,” Bencheghib said. “So I decided to organize a ‘green’ concert. I hope to touch a large number of people and make them individually more concerned about maintaining Bali’s pristine beaches.”
With his 12-year-old brother, Sam, he developed a concert plan, sending proposals to sponsors and NGOs, and designing posters, banners and televised animations to advertise the event.
Thanks to their efforts, this Saturday afternoon six Indonesian rock bands — Superman Is Dead, Navicula, De Buntu, Dialog Dini Hari, Natoena and 55 Frets — will perform live at Bali’s Kuta Beach. About 1,000 people are expected to turn up for what Bencheghib calls the Bali Environment Day Concert.
“With big bands like Superman Is Dead performing, more than a thousand people will come,” he said.
For a first-time concert promoter, Bencheghib has landed some big sponsors, such as Rip Curl and Quiksilver, and some high-profile promotional spots on Bali TV and Hard Rock Radio Bali.
In between the music performances, a number of Bali-based environmental organizations will present short lectures and video presentations on their missions to preserve the island’s pristine environment.
“In the long run, we want to organize this concert as an annual event by making the first of May a day for Bali’s environment,” Bencheghib said.
Organizing the concert meant a huge amount of work and responsibility for the teenager.
Bencheghib enlisted the help of Faiz Lovell, his father’s secretary, to act as translator when he met with local village communities and police to ask for their permission and support for the big event.
“I certainly grew up faster over this past month,” he said.
Since his family relocated from the metropolitan city of Paris to Bali five years ago, Bencheghib has become infatuated with the island’s pristine beaches.
“Coming from an urban place like Paris, where stress floats within the streets and the buildings, my first impression of Bali was that it resembled a paradise,” he said. “It’s a little island that possesses natural and cultural riches. Living here is an existence less superficial and more authentic. It’s like an endless vacation.”
Inspired by his new, pristine surroundings, the eldest son of Catherine and Malik Bencheghib has become more in tune with his musical talents. He is learning to play piano, guitar, bass and drums, and composes his own songs. Last year, he received the internationally recognized grade-five Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music certificate for piano.
Bencheghib, who loves the humanities, also excels at school. Last semester, he passed his exams with high honors. In
March this year, he attended the Global Issues Network Seminar in Hong Kong, hosted by the Chinese International School.
“It was a real opportunity for me to meet young students from different backgrounds, all with the hope to make a change in this world,” he said.
The ocean, however, remains Bencheghibs’s true passion. He loves diving and surfing, as well as running on Bali’s golden beaches in the afternoon.
The copious litter, he says, mars the image of a paradise island.
“Cigarette butts and candy wrappers are scattered everywhere in Kuta,” he said. “In Sanur, the ocean has become a dump of plastic bags and dead seaweed, only meters away from where tourists are sunbathing and local children are swimming. Up north on Amed Beach, syringes lie in between the black oval stones.”
“I couldn’t bear to see these once-pristine beaches turn into trash heaps,” he said.
In October 2009, Bencheghib recruited Sam and five schoolmates to establish Make a Change Bali, an organization aimed at saving Bali’s beaches. They organize weekly beach clean-ups, during which these young students scour the beach to collect inorganic waste.
“Our beach clean-ups often last for an hour,” he said. “On average, we’re able to collect seven bags full of garbage.”
The garbage is then sent to the Eco Bali recycling company.
“It’s a puzzle,” said Paola Cannucciari, founder of Eco Bali, referring to the huge amount of waste collected during the beach clean-ups. “Our lives have become modern and sophisticated, yet in the matter of throwing garbage, we still behave like 2 year olds.”
Since 2005, Cannucciari’s company has been working on sustainable solutions to Bali’s waste disposal problems.
“Almost all waste can be recycled or composted if properly disposed,” she said. “It’s necessary to raise awareness of that. People should start taking responsibility for the waste that they produce.”
Ani Yulinda, program officer of Gelombang Udara Segar (Waves of Fresh Air) Foundation, agreed with her.
“If the people care more about their environment, they’ll certainly look after it,” she said.
The foundation has prepared a 10-minute presentation to be shown during the Bali Environment Day Concert to educate people about waste management.
Through its beach clean-up programs, Make a Change Bali has been gaining popularity. Today, the organization has more than 1,100 members on Facebook. Its first major project will be the Bali Environment Day Concert.
“We’re very excited about this concert,” said Lia Pasaribu, manager of punk band Superman Is Dead. “We admire the efforts of these young people in organizing the concert. It’s about time the young generation takes the initiative to do something for the environment.”
Lia added that environmental issues had long been at the top of the band’s concerns. On several occasions, the band members have joined the beach clean-ups organized by Make a Change Bali.
As a major independent music group in Indonesia, Superman Is Dead has a lot fans who look up to it, Lia said. She said she believed this presented it with an opportunity to make a major difference in society.
“People listen to SID,” Lia said. “Therefore, we try to voice these environmental concerns more loudly and give a good example for people to follow. It may not leave a big impact now. But in time, if we’re all consistent in our efforts, people will become more concerned and protect their environment.”
Before every performance in Bali, SID cruises along the beach on low-rider bicycles to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint.
“This has now become an icon for our shows,” Lia said. “Our fans look forward to it and local bike communities often join us on our cruises.”
Superman Is Dead has prepared a set list of 15 songs to perform during the Bali Environment Day Concert.
Navicula, a Bali-based grunge band, is also excited about taking part in the concert.
“It’s remarkable how an expatriate 15-year-old student cares enough to organize this big event to save Bali’s beaches,” said Dankie, guitarist of Navicula. “The locals should learn from this effort. In fact, local communities should be front-liners in conserving their own natural surroundings.”
The band will perform eight songs, including “Pantai Mimpi” (“Dream Beach”), which comments on the current deteriorating state of Bali’s beaches.
“My dream is that one day everybody, including the Balinese, tourists and surfers, will be aware and make an effort to protect Bali’s beaches,” Bencheghib said. “But until then, one thing is certain: that I will always be involved in preserving and protecting the environment.”
He said his next projects would include educational videos on natural conservation to encourage people to get more involved and working with local NGOs. He also plans to finish high school in Bali and obtain his International Baccalaureate diploma before pursuing his secondary studies either in the United States or Australia .
Bencheghib has traveled to more than 24 countries for short trips and vacations, but he says that he feels at home in Bali.
“Wherever I’ll be in the world, I’ll always come back here,” he said. “I’ll always try to protect my sweet home, Bali.”
> Continued on C2
> Continued from C1
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/rock-for-balis-shore/372364
Monday, April 26, 2010
Billions in Geothermal Deals in Bali
Editors Note : We congratulate President of Yudhoyono on his commitments made this week to make Indonesia one the leaders in environmental awareness and initiatives in the world.
Governor of Bali Pastika has also made a commitments this week to make Bali a leader with their keep "Bali Clean and Green " campaign which we illustrated on our free garbage disposal units for Sanur saber years ago.
Now we hope local and national governments will support these programs and more important that the people of Indonesia will change their habits to be environmentally friendly.
We still have time to save this beautiful country and especially Bali the “ Best Island in the World” (according to Travel & Leisure Magazine yearly readers poll).
Indonesia on Monday took a small step toward its ambitious new goal of becoming the world’s top user of geothermal energy by signing $5 billion worth of development deals and power-purchase agreements at the World Geothermal Conference in Bali, the country’s top economics minister said.
Central and local governments signed a total of 12 agreements as part of a national plan to add nearly 4,000 megawatts of electricity-generating capacity from geothermal power during the second phase of the “fast-track” geothermal development program, scheduled for completion in 2014, said Hatta Rajasa, coordinating minister for the economy.
The agreements were signed as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a new national goal of becoming the world’s top user of geothermal energy by 2025, with 9,000 megawatts of geothermal capacity.
The United States currently leads the world in use of geothermal energy, with about 4,000 megawatts of capacity. The Philippines ranks second with about 2,000 megawatts.
If realized, the new agreements would effectively put the country on track to double the amount of electricity generated from geothermal sources, adding 1,340 megawatts to the existing capacity of 1,198 megawatts and bringing the country about halfway to its goal of 5,000 megawatts by 2014.
But given the time needed to attract investment and develop geothermal power plants, the deals announced on Monday were less than a spectacular success.
Pri Agung Rakhmanto, an energy analyst at Reforminer Institute, said the government fell short of its target because the target itself was too ambitious and its power-purchase price generally too low.
Agung said investors also wanted more certainty regarding the length of contracts to be sure they would recoup their investments. Until that happens, he said, development of the geothermal sector will remain sluggish.
In Bali, state electricity utility PT PLN signed five contracts worth $1.53 billion, while local governments in Flores, West Sumatra, Central Java and North Lampung signed a total of four contracts worth a combined $1.68 billion.
PLN signed a power-purchase agreement with oil and gas company PT Medco Energi International for the long-delayed Sarulla geothermal project in North Sumatra. The Sarulla plant is estimated to cost $990 million and is expected to generate up to 330 megawatts.
The utility also signed agreements with PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy for plants in North Sulawesi, Bengkulu and Jambi, due to go online by 2014.
Read more at http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/indonesias-ambitious-geothermal-goals-seen-requiring-big-changes/371620
Governor of Bali Pastika has also made a commitments this week to make Bali a leader with their keep "Bali Clean and Green " campaign which we illustrated on our free garbage disposal units for Sanur saber years ago.
Now we hope local and national governments will support these programs and more important that the people of Indonesia will change their habits to be environmentally friendly.
We still have time to save this beautiful country and especially Bali the “ Best Island in the World” (according to Travel & Leisure Magazine yearly readers poll).
Indonesia on Monday took a small step toward its ambitious new goal of becoming the world’s top user of geothermal energy by signing $5 billion worth of development deals and power-purchase agreements at the World Geothermal Conference in Bali, the country’s top economics minister said.
Central and local governments signed a total of 12 agreements as part of a national plan to add nearly 4,000 megawatts of electricity-generating capacity from geothermal power during the second phase of the “fast-track” geothermal development program, scheduled for completion in 2014, said Hatta Rajasa, coordinating minister for the economy.
The agreements were signed as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a new national goal of becoming the world’s top user of geothermal energy by 2025, with 9,000 megawatts of geothermal capacity.
The United States currently leads the world in use of geothermal energy, with about 4,000 megawatts of capacity. The Philippines ranks second with about 2,000 megawatts.
If realized, the new agreements would effectively put the country on track to double the amount of electricity generated from geothermal sources, adding 1,340 megawatts to the existing capacity of 1,198 megawatts and bringing the country about halfway to its goal of 5,000 megawatts by 2014.
But given the time needed to attract investment and develop geothermal power plants, the deals announced on Monday were less than a spectacular success.
Pri Agung Rakhmanto, an energy analyst at Reforminer Institute, said the government fell short of its target because the target itself was too ambitious and its power-purchase price generally too low.
Agung said investors also wanted more certainty regarding the length of contracts to be sure they would recoup their investments. Until that happens, he said, development of the geothermal sector will remain sluggish.
In Bali, state electricity utility PT PLN signed five contracts worth $1.53 billion, while local governments in Flores, West Sumatra, Central Java and North Lampung signed a total of four contracts worth a combined $1.68 billion.
PLN signed a power-purchase agreement with oil and gas company PT Medco Energi International for the long-delayed Sarulla geothermal project in North Sumatra. The Sarulla plant is estimated to cost $990 million and is expected to generate up to 330 megawatts.
The utility also signed agreements with PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy for plants in North Sulawesi, Bengkulu and Jambi, due to go online by 2014.
Read more at http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/indonesias-ambitious-geothermal-goals-seen-requiring-big-changes/371620
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
