Bali botanical garden suffers from lack of attention<\/p>\n
Prapti Widinugraheni, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Mid morning at the Eka Karya Botanical Garden in Bali, and few
\ngardeners are about. Its paths, neat and tidy, run between large
\nBalinese statues. Light showers fall, but the air is cool and
\ncrisp at 1,300 meters above sea level in the highlands of
\nBedugul, north-central Bali.<\/p>\n
Moving amid labeled plants on the hilly terrain, the foliage
\nopens out to reveal magnificent views of Lake Beratan. A 2.5-
\nmetre-tall flower droops sadly in its pen. Other wonders seem
\nisolated and starved of attention.<\/p>\n
Eka Karya Botanical Garden has great potential, but little has
\nbeen done in the last 42 years to maximize it.<\/p>\n
\"This is the youngest botanical garden in Indonesia, but also
\nthe largest in terms of area. It is the only one to have been
\nestablished since Independence and developed solely by
\nIndonesians,\" said head of the botanical garden Ida Bagus Ketut
\nArinasa.<\/p>\n
It may sound like an excuse for the garden's patchy
\ndevelopment, but Arinasa was in fact emphasizing that many years
\nand much hard work were needed before Eka Karya could reach the
\nstately level of the 188-year-old, Dutch-initiated Bogor
\nBotanical Garden in West Java. The government's Indonesian
\nInstitute of Sciences (LIPI) manages both gardens and two others
\nlocated in Cibodas, West Java and Purwodadi, Central Java.<\/p>\n
\"Everything is much harder for us. We have to clear the
\nshrubs or select the trees to be cut to make way for planting
\nspace. We must dig out tree stubs, level out the land, prepare
\nthe soil for planting and sowing,\" he said.<\/p>\n
But perhaps most difficult and painful of all was realizing
\nthat there were factors affecting the garden's slow and difficult
\ndevelopment that were beyond their control.<\/p>\n
\"We would be very happy if the garden's status was clear; it
\nwould be nice if LIPI owned, or was given, this land instead of
\nmerely borrowing it from the Ministry of Forestry,\" he said.<\/p>\n
When the garden was founded in 1959, the area -- then owned by
\nthe Bali provincial administration -- measured about 50 hectares.
\nIn 1976, 129.2 hectares were added to the gardens. By then, the
\nland no longer belonged to the administration, but the Ministry
\nof Forestry; LIPI used it under a lend-and-use scheme involving
\nno financial transaction. When measurements were taken in 1993,
\nit became clear that the gardens covered only 154.5 hectares.<\/p>\n
\"This is the area we have been managing since then, under a
\n20-year lend-and-use scheme with the forestry ministry,\" Arinasa
\nsaid. But 25 years on, the ministry and LIPI are still discussing
\nthe agreement for this scheme, so there is still no definite date
\n-- or year -- specifying when the first 20-year period of the
\ncontract should end.<\/p>\n
\"As researchers, the situation makes it hard for us to work in
\npeace because we don't know what will happen, or who will own our
\nresearch and plants in, say, 20 or 30 year's time. So much energy
\nand money have already been put into the gardens, it would be a
\nshame to see it one day turned into a plantation, for instance.
\nIt would be a disappointment for LIPI and for plant conservation,
\nresearch and inventory efforts in general, all of which are the
\nmain objectives of Indonesia's botanical gardens,\" Arinasa said.<\/p>\n
He said the main point of disagreement between LIPI and the
\nMinistry of Forestry was the latter's objection to \"converting
\nforests into non-forest areas\". The forests on which the gardens
\nwere established consist mainly of trees planted between 1933 and
\n1973 for reforestation purposes. These forests make up most of
\nthe gardens.<\/p>\n
\"By giving the forests to LIPI, statistics would show a
\ndecline in total forest area. This is something they don't want.
\nBut they should be aware that in terms of plant conservation and
\npreservation of hydrological and ecological functions, the
\nbotanical gardens' objectives are much the same as any forest's,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
As a result of the lend-and-use scheme, Eka Karya's
\ndevelopment has become extremely slow. Red tape at the forestry
\nministry ensures that at least several months are needed before
\nArinasa and his staff get permission to cut down even one tree to
\nmake way for a plant collection or building. A planned man-made
\nlake to hold collections of aquatic plants has been designed to
\ncurve and follow the sloping terrain in such a way that only a
\nminimum number of trees needs to be felled.<\/p>\n
Arinasa said another problem the gardens faced was a lack of
\nmanpower. With a staff of only 109, the gardens could only afford
\none person per hectare. Compare this with the 87-hectare, well-
\nestablished Bogor Botanic Gardens that has a staff of about 300,
\nor almost three people for every hectare.<\/p>\n
\"Shortage of personnel, especially researchers, is a big
\nproblem. But there is little we can do because of the
\ngovernment's \"zero growth\" policy. This even means we can't
\nreplace staff who retire or die,\" he said. So far they have coped
\nby using contract workers and researchers, but he insisted this
\nwas not ideal.<\/p>\n
\"Committed staff, especially scientists, are important for
\ndeveloping the gardens,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Despite the shortcomings, there are still things worth seeing
\nat the Eka Karya Botanical Garden. The garden is home to a
\nherbarium, seed collection and nursery, and hosts a living
\ncollection of trees, ferns, orchids, cacti and other plants of
\nscientific, economic, cultural and aesthetic value.<\/p>\n
Thanks to Balinese culture, three temples adorn the garden
\nwhile laboratories and office buildings are built in unique
\ntraditional designs. If all these man-made efforts fail to
\nimpress, the garden's lovely scenery provides solace for the
\nvisitor.<\/p>",
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