For islanders, mangroves, clean water supply are pressing needs
5/7/10
0
comments for Manado hotels
They were enthusiastically planting mangrove seedlings on a barren beach, secure in the belief that their rehabilitation effort would protect their shores and promote marine life in their waters.
However, the threat of sea erosion was not the most serious of the many problems threatening their quality of life and livelihoods. It hadn't rained for weeks, and clean-water was running out, and on top of that, there was no electricity in the daytime.
Seventy percent of Tinongko's residents depend on the sea for their livelihoods. They have been told that rehabilitating dwindling mangrove forests on the island's shores will increase the availability of shrimp and small fish, which find habitat in the mangrove's thin intertwining roots.
Indonesia is the largest mangrove forest nation in the world, home to 3 million hectares as of 2005, which was 19 percent of all of the world's mangrove forests, ahead of Australia (10 percent) and Brazil (7 percent), according to data gathered by the Food and Agricultural Organization.
However, that area has shrunk to 2 million hectares today, according to a recent report by the People's Coalition for Justice in Fisheries. The decline has lead to increased coastal erosion and a decline in coastal- dwelling marine life.
Under the sponsorship of the World Bank, Tinongko residents recently began a mangrove rehabilitation effort organized by the National Program for Community Empowerment, or Green PNPM.
They planted hundreds of Rhizophora mucronata seedlings, adding to the 10,000 seedlings that have been sowed on the coast since 2008.
"The mangroves at this location have been damaged by boats. We have moved the pier," Vola Harindah, a planting coordinator, told reporters during a World Bank-sponsored media visit recently.
The islanders have also cut down a significant portion of the mangroves for firewood.
Vola, who teaches theology and marine resources at the only junior high school on the island, enthusiastically demonstrated how the seedlings should be nurtured to ensure their successful development.
"The seedlings need be sowed four months before planting and we can expect the roots to begin sprouting one week after planting," she said.
Later in the day, the group moved inland, where the women held a workshop on making clay stoves, a class sponsored by Green PNPM's renewable energy project.
The workshop encouraged the villagers to use clay stoves and coconut shells for cooking.
Tinongko is one of four villages on Mantehage Island, Wori district, North Minahasa regency, in North Sulawesi.
Unlike the residents of three nearby villages — Bango, Buhias and Tangkasi — those in Tinongko struggle to find clean water for their households.
The residents have to walk up to two kilometers to a spring, or buy it.
"We are very dependant on rain. But the water we store does not last long," a resident said. He has a well behind his house, but the water is salty.
"It becomes more difficult to find water when there is a prolonged drought as in this season," Rudy Ponge, the village's secretary, said. "In 1994, there was a clean water project sponsored by the military's community program. But that did not last long.
"Neither did the one initiated by the Public Works Agency. Water was pumped to a container to be distributed to homes. But the generator broke down."
Electricity is another luxury whose presence they cannot control.
The residents said state power company PLN would not incur the high costs of providing electricity to such a small community. Therefore, PLN only turns on power to the area between 6 p.m. and midnight.
Tinongko residents on Mantehage Island, North Sulawesi, prepare their fishing raft. In the background are mangroves, which help preserve marine resources in the island. JP/Musthofid
Mantehage Island is part of the Bunaken National Marine Park, which is a world-renowned tourist destination.
Siladen, Nain, Manado Tua and Bunaken complete up the island chain.
The flat Mantehage Island, a two-hour boat ride from the mainland, is home to 1,500 hectares of mangrove forest.
"Our main task is raising awareness about the environment."
Tinongko is one of 22 villages in Wori District, North Minahasa regency, that have been designated for pilot projects by Green PNPM, which was founded in 2008 as an expansion of PNPM Mandiri.
PNPM Mandiri, which was launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in 2007, is a revamped community-based poverty program that evolved from the District Development Program and Urban Poverty Project.
The program awards small grants to communities to help them improve local infrastructure, such as roads, irrigation, water supply, latrines, schools and health centres.
The Green PNPM project educates communities about the negative and long-term impacts of their actions on the surrounding environment and natural resources and how to develop and implement solutions.
Examples of such projects are small-scale renewable energy production, land-use planning, land or forest rehabilitation, wildlife conservation, eco-tourism and marketing non-timber forest products.
The program is funded by the World Bank, which coordinates donors from Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and the government via the state budget and a self-disbursed community fund.
When it was first launched, Green PNPM focused its efforts across Sulawesi's four provinces, before expanding in 2010 to include Aceh, Bengkulu, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, which altogether comprise 28 regencies and 75 districts.
The three regencies in North Sulawesi are Sangihe Islands, Bolaang Mongondow and North Minahasa, with the latter including projects in Dimembe, West Likupang and Wori Districts.
The projects involve civil society organizations to run workshops and empowerment programs in the field.
"Our main task is raising awareness about the environment. We provide them with training on how to manage the environment for their benefit," said Steven Siwu, a training officer with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
"The WCS is basically a partner for those involved in the projects that helps come up with ideas and make proposals," he said.
According to Steven, the WCS has taught local workers to become tour guides in Bahoi Village, where a plot of coastal area has been designated as an eco-tourism destination.
"Trainings are also given in snorkeling, diving as well as making brochures for promotion," Steven said.
Bahoi, which is about two hours by car from the provincial capital city of Manado, is home to some excellent underwater sports locations that are accessible from tourist resorts on the nearby Gangga and Talisei islands.
Green PMPM encourages rural people to propose their own projects to the program, according to Prianto Wibowo, a World Bank operation analyst.
"It leaves them with what they want. The World Bank does not interfere. The government will facilitate their aspirations," said Prianto, who led a team from PNPM Support Facilitator.
"The idea to rehabilitate mangroves came from the residents. They proposed it and we helped them once it was approved," he said, referring to the project in Tinongko.
For Rudy, Ponge securing clean water supply is of more pressing need. "If it were up to me, we would rather have a clean water facility. We have appealed to the government about this issue."
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Mantehage Island, North Sulawesi
However, the threat of sea erosion was not the most serious of the many problems threatening their quality of life and livelihoods. It hadn't rained for weeks, and clean-water was running out, and on top of that, there was no electricity in the daytime.
Seventy percent of Tinongko's residents depend on the sea for their livelihoods. They have been told that rehabilitating dwindling mangrove forests on the island's shores will increase the availability of shrimp and small fish, which find habitat in the mangrove's thin intertwining roots.
Indonesia is the largest mangrove forest nation in the world, home to 3 million hectares as of 2005, which was 19 percent of all of the world's mangrove forests, ahead of Australia (10 percent) and Brazil (7 percent), according to data gathered by the Food and Agricultural Organization.
However, that area has shrunk to 2 million hectares today, according to a recent report by the People's Coalition for Justice in Fisheries. The decline has lead to increased coastal erosion and a decline in coastal- dwelling marine life.
Under the sponsorship of the World Bank, Tinongko residents recently began a mangrove rehabilitation effort organized by the National Program for Community Empowerment, or Green PNPM.
They planted hundreds of Rhizophora mucronata seedlings, adding to the 10,000 seedlings that have been sowed on the coast since 2008.
"The mangroves at this location have been damaged by boats. We have moved the pier," Vola Harindah, a planting coordinator, told reporters during a World Bank-sponsored media visit recently.
The islanders have also cut down a significant portion of the mangroves for firewood.
Vola, who teaches theology and marine resources at the only junior high school on the island, enthusiastically demonstrated how the seedlings should be nurtured to ensure their successful development.
"The seedlings need be sowed four months before planting and we can expect the roots to begin sprouting one week after planting," she said.
Later in the day, the group moved inland, where the women held a workshop on making clay stoves, a class sponsored by Green PNPM's renewable energy project.
The workshop encouraged the villagers to use clay stoves and coconut shells for cooking.
Tinongko is one of four villages on Mantehage Island, Wori district, North Minahasa regency, in North Sulawesi.
Unlike the residents of three nearby villages — Bango, Buhias and Tangkasi — those in Tinongko struggle to find clean water for their households.
The residents have to walk up to two kilometers to a spring, or buy it.
"We are very dependant on rain. But the water we store does not last long," a resident said. He has a well behind his house, but the water is salty.
"It becomes more difficult to find water when there is a prolonged drought as in this season," Rudy Ponge, the village's secretary, said. "In 1994, there was a clean water project sponsored by the military's community program. But that did not last long.
"Neither did the one initiated by the Public Works Agency. Water was pumped to a container to be distributed to homes. But the generator broke down."
Electricity is another luxury whose presence they cannot control.
The residents said state power company PLN would not incur the high costs of providing electricity to such a small community. Therefore, PLN only turns on power to the area between 6 p.m. and midnight.
Tinongko residents on Mantehage Island, North Sulawesi, prepare their fishing raft. In the background are mangroves, which help preserve marine resources in the island. JP/Musthofid Mantehage Island is part of the Bunaken National Marine Park, which is a world-renowned tourist destination.
Siladen, Nain, Manado Tua and Bunaken complete up the island chain.
The flat Mantehage Island, a two-hour boat ride from the mainland, is home to 1,500 hectares of mangrove forest.
"Our main task is raising awareness about the environment."
Tinongko is one of 22 villages in Wori District, North Minahasa regency, that have been designated for pilot projects by Green PNPM, which was founded in 2008 as an expansion of PNPM Mandiri.
PNPM Mandiri, which was launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in 2007, is a revamped community-based poverty program that evolved from the District Development Program and Urban Poverty Project.
The program awards small grants to communities to help them improve local infrastructure, such as roads, irrigation, water supply, latrines, schools and health centres.
The Green PNPM project educates communities about the negative and long-term impacts of their actions on the surrounding environment and natural resources and how to develop and implement solutions.
Examples of such projects are small-scale renewable energy production, land-use planning, land or forest rehabilitation, wildlife conservation, eco-tourism and marketing non-timber forest products.
The program is funded by the World Bank, which coordinates donors from Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and the government via the state budget and a self-disbursed community fund.
When it was first launched, Green PNPM focused its efforts across Sulawesi's four provinces, before expanding in 2010 to include Aceh, Bengkulu, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, which altogether comprise 28 regencies and 75 districts.
The three regencies in North Sulawesi are Sangihe Islands, Bolaang Mongondow and North Minahasa, with the latter including projects in Dimembe, West Likupang and Wori Districts.
The projects involve civil society organizations to run workshops and empowerment programs in the field.
"Our main task is raising awareness about the environment. We provide them with training on how to manage the environment for their benefit," said Steven Siwu, a training officer with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
"The WCS is basically a partner for those involved in the projects that helps come up with ideas and make proposals," he said.
According to Steven, the WCS has taught local workers to become tour guides in Bahoi Village, where a plot of coastal area has been designated as an eco-tourism destination.
"Trainings are also given in snorkeling, diving as well as making brochures for promotion," Steven said.
Bahoi, which is about two hours by car from the provincial capital city of Manado, is home to some excellent underwater sports locations that are accessible from tourist resorts on the nearby Gangga and Talisei islands.
Green PMPM encourages rural people to propose their own projects to the program, according to Prianto Wibowo, a World Bank operation analyst.
"It leaves them with what they want. The World Bank does not interfere. The government will facilitate their aspirations," said Prianto, who led a team from PNPM Support Facilitator.
"The idea to rehabilitate mangroves came from the residents. They proposed it and we helped them once it was approved," he said, referring to the project in Tinongko.
For Rudy, Ponge securing clean water supply is of more pressing need. "If it were up to me, we would rather have a clean water facility. We have appealed to the government about this issue."
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Mantehage Island, North Sulawesi
TERIMA KASIH ATAS KUNJUNGAN SAUDARA
Judul: For islanders, mangroves, clean water supply are pressing needs
Ditulis oleh Lambang Insiwarifianto
Rating Blog 5 dari 5
Semoga artikel ini bermanfaat bagi saudara. Jika ingin mengutip, baik itu sebagian atau keseluruhan dari isi artikel ini harap menyertakan link dofollow ke http://manado-tour-hotel.blogspot.com/2010/05/for-islanders-mangroves-clean-water.html. Terima kasih sudah singgah membaca artikel ini.Ditulis oleh Lambang Insiwarifianto
Rating Blog 5 dari 5
Categories:
Manado News
Posts
0 comments for Manado hotels:
Post a Comment