Paring: Toward a Clean, Green and Healthy Environment in Surabaya
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NEWS Volume 10, 2006 Featured articles Paring: Toward a Clean, Green and • Paring: Toward a Clean, Green and Healthy Healthy Environment in Surabaya Environment in Surabaya East Java. Paring is quite • Work in Alliance to Protect Nature a popular word among residents of RW 17 in • Improving Seulawah Ecosystem: Doing it the Gading Village, Tambaksari right way Sub-district, Surabaya. This • Conservation Villages word is often used by a lady Protect 20 National Parks named Sukamto everytime in Indonesia she goes to a market or • Conservation of Deli River meets other mothers on her through Empowerment of ways. ”Paring” is a shortened Community Economy RATIH ASTATI DEWI, SURABAYA/EAST JAVA form of ”sampah kering” Ibu Kamto teaches mothers how to make composter (literally - dry rubbish, or made of cardboards and sacks. non-organic waste). ESP News is a monthly e-newsletter produced and As a resident of RT 09 RW 17, Ibu Sukamto, (known by her nickname as distributed by the Environmental ‘Bu Kamto) is continually hounding her neighbours to collect dry rubbish Services Program (ESP) and to process wet rubbish. She is concerned about the cleanliness of her environment. ”I’m hoping RT 09 will win the clean and green ESP is a five-year program environment competition,” she answers when asked why she was willing funded by the United States to make herself so busy sorting and processing rubbish. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented under the 75% of the 164 families in RT 09 collect dried rubbish and deliver it leadership of Development to ’Bu Kamto’s home. She then sells it to street hawkers. Since April, Alternatives, Inc. (DAI). ESP she has earned Rp 55,000 per month from this activity. ”I don’t earn works with a wide range of much because I only collect cheap rubbish like plastic bags and papers. partners to promote better Residents sell expensive rubbish like cardboard directly to street health through improved water hawkers. The most important thing for me is to reduce the amount of resource management and rubbish dumped into the Benowo Disposal Area,” she further asserted. expanded access to clean water and sanitation services. In addition to using the well-known Takakura composter, she has also made her own composter made of cardboard and plastic sacks to ESP News provides the partners with information process wet rubbish. The production cost of this simple composter is regarding program activities only Rp 3,000. She hopes that cheaply constructed composters will as well as other environment attract other residents to process their rubbish. Now, the composts issues in Indonesia. produced by residents help make their village green. Every house in RT 09 has lavender flowers as its mascot. ”Besides making our village For more information, visit more beautiful because of its purple colour, Lavender can also remove our web site at www.esp.or.id mosquitoes,” elaborates Ibu Kasmudjiono, the Head of Social Welfare or contact us at iespeditor@ Organization (PKK) in RT 09. dai.com ESP News, Volume 10, 2006 * 2 RW 17 is a densely populated area where 38 % of its population are seasonal residents. This neighborhood covers 500x300 m2 and is occupied by 2,500 families with a total population of 6,500 residents who live in 18 RTs. It has a poor sanitation, health and nutrition. To improve residents’ nutrition, USAID, through its food and nutrition program, selected this area as one of its project sites. USAID/ESP provides guidance concerning community-based waste management and has launched a hand-washing with soap campaign in this area. Surveys, training, site visits, monitoring, evaluation and capacity-building have been performed so as to identify community-based waste management, tree-planting activity, and hand-washing campaigns to local communities. 65 residents from 11 RTs have joined these activities. At present, communities now have an increased awareness of the importance of clean living through processing waste. This can be clearly witnessed through the communities’ initiative to hold a cleanliness and tree-planting activity competition at RW level, like the one Ibu Kamto wishes to win. (Ristina Aprillia and Ratih Astati Dewi, ESP Surabaya/East Java). **** Work in Alliance to Protect Nature Central Java. ESP and the Yogyakarta Wildlife Rescue Center recently joined forces and shared their resources. In November 2006, ESP received 3000 aren (Arenga pinnata) seedlings for conservation activities in the Progo Watershed which were donated by the Rescue Center. The seedlings donation was given in exchange for ESP’s participation in the conservation effort. Collaboration between the two began last June, when ESP conducted a training workshop for village facilitators to learn about nature conservation at the Center. Ideas for further collaboration began to snowball from there, and soon ESP and the Center jointly developed a short video about the use and benefits of Aren in the upper watershed. Aren can play a critical role in land rehabilitation. “Aren is very effective in trapping water in soil and plays a key role in the ecological food chain. Therefore, the usage of our aren seedlings by ESP is important for ecosystem conservation. This is in line with our conservation effort,” says Sugihartono, the Center’s Program Manager. He adds that aren also has economic benefits for the communities as it ESP YOGYAKARTA/CENTRAL JAVA produces palm sugar, which can be used in foods, Dwi Ardiono (black t-shirt), a botanist from the Yogyakarta Wildlife Rescue Center looks satisfied with the condition of a and its palm fronds are used for handicrafts. community nursery in Sutopati, one of the field school villages in Kajoran Magelang. The nursery is managed by Pak Jamil (white t-shirt), one of the ESP village facilitator. This nursery is The aren video is now being shown to communities going to receive some of the donated aren seedlings. in the Tangsi subwatershed where ESP is working, and is used as a communication and education tool to promote the planting of aren in the upper Progo watershed. The Potorono and Menoreh hills in Kabupaten Magelang, are priority conservation areas for ESP in Central Java. These hills, which were the backdrop for the historic battleground of the national hero, Pangeran Diponegoro (1825-1830), were once prime habitats for aren before major deforestation took place for agricultural purposes. ESP is working closely with 15 villages in the area on rehabilitation of critical lands through tree planting of critical species, soil and biodiversity conservation, and spring protection to maintain and increase water supply for surrounding communities. (Akbar Ario Digdo and M. Sigit Widodo, ESP DIY/ Central Java) 3 * ESP News, Volume 10, 2006 Liswati: “Now I am aware that I, too, am a rich and talented person.” Her nickname sounds like that of an Indonesian comedienne, “Cici Tegal”. But Liswati, her real name, lives on the steep slopes of a farming community in Mt. Sumbing, Central Java. She is most at home with a sickle in her hand for harvesting rice. Watching her facilitate a group of villagers, it is as if her life’s calling has only just been realized, she looks like a truly professional community organizer with years of facilitation experience under her belt. Since last June, Liswati has become an active ESP village facilitator, leading the ESP Field School in her community. Before working with ESP, Liswati was a reserved woman, hard to talk to, and seemingly lacking self-confidence. While participating in a 7-day ESP Training of Trainers workshop, Liswati worked with 30 other village facilitators to learn group facilitation, community participation, ESP YOGYAKARTA/CENTRAL JAVA and public speaking skills, as well as learn about ESP upper “ESP has helped me develop myself watershed issues, health and hygiene behavior, and solid waste so much. Now I am aware that I, too, am a rich and talented person.” management practices. Liswati then used her newly acquired skills and information to lead 20 members of her community through an 8-week Field School to develop a village profile and action plan with input from village leaders. Six months later, Liswati is now a dynamic group organizer, whose voice commands attention as she guides her community group with poise, authority, and self-confidence. Anyone watching her would rightly believe that she represents the unlimited, yet untapped, potential in every person. **** Improving Seulawah Ecosystem: Doing it the right way Jantho, Aceh. The communities in Saree and Jantho, Aceh Besar, are characterized as agricultural societies whose lives depend on forest surrounding their villages. Some make cassava chips for a living while others venture into the forest to hunt, to log trees or to convert forest area into new and fertile agriculture land. They practice activities that threaten the forest. However, they do this not because they do not understand that the forest is actually part of Seulawah Ecosystem and has protected status from the government, but because they do not really see the connection between healthy forest and water protection and a better livelihood. Furthermore, people there are living with poverty. They do not have sufficient skills and educa¬tion to make ends meet, and rely on the forest and the extraction of the natural resources contained therein. For many environment and development practicioners this situation is not new. The next question will be ‘What are the effective solutions to resolve the problem?’. Can offering jobs be the best solution or can education also provide a solution to this classical conservation and development issue? Cut Meurah Intan (Itjut) of Mapayah Foundation was also skeptical when she joined the 11- week Pride training in Bogor five months ago. “I don’t know how conservation education can reduce the threat to Seulawah forest”, Itjut had commented.