Siti Aminah wins honor for environmental work<\/p>\n
By Renata Arianingtyas<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Siti Aminah, the 27-year-old who won a Global
\n500 Roll of Honor award for the environment, had considered
\njoining the millions of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia in
\nsearch of higher wages and instead she stayed at home.<\/p>\n
She planted mangroves in Semangat Baru, a hamlet in Labuan
\nMapin village, Alas, on Sumbawa island, West Nusa Tenggara. Each
\nmorning, she sets out on foot, wading through mud, to plant
\nsaplings on an eroded beach.<\/p>\n
Occasionally, she makes a three-hour sailing trip to Panjang
\nIsland to walk through the woods, climb trees and sometimes sleep
\nthere amid poisonous snakes all for the sake of finding and
\ncollecting good mangrove saplings.<\/p>\n
She used to do it alone. Then a former playmate, Sumiati,
\njoined her. And now, more and more people, even those who once
\nridiculed her, are joining her campaign to save the beach from
\nerosion.<\/p>\n
"She's got to be mad. Her friends have all married or are
\nworking abroad, she's getting old searching for mangrove saplings
\nin the forest and planting them on the beach," was how some
\nvillagers had talked about the 1990 graduate from a local school
\nfor social workers.<\/p>\n
Siti said she had become absorbed by her mission and that she
\ndid not even have time to help her mother cook.<\/p>\n
"The only thing that motivated us was our wish to save the
\nforests. That's why we continued working, even though people
\nsneered at us," she said.<\/p>\n
The fruits of her labor have begun to show. The mangrove
\nforests are growing thicker, and the population of fish is
\nincreasing. Eighteen thousand mangroves have been planted along a
\nseven kilometer strip covering 106 hectares.<\/p>\n
"It is easier for people to catch shrimp, sea snails and crabs
\nbecause their numbers have grown," she said. "They are the
\nimpacts felt by locals. Besides, the beach is now more protected
\nfrom the sea erosion."<\/p>\n
Not only have the residents of Semangat Baru stopped mocking
\nher and her colleagues in the National Solidarity Foundation,
\nthey have become her ally.<\/p>\n
They were obviously proud of Siti Aminah when she flew to
\nSeoul to receive a Global 500 Roll of Honor award from the
\nexecutive director of the United Nations' Environmental Program,
\nElizabeth Dowdeswell, on June 5, World Environment Day.<\/p>\n
In Seoul, she stood proudly alongside 20 other environmental
\ncampaigners, including Jane Goodall of Britain, Jan van der Leun
\nof the Netherlands, Lilian Corra of Argentina and Carolina
\nTravesi of Mexico.<\/p>\n
Siti became one of 654 individuals and organizations to have
\nreceived the honor since it was established in 1987. Among them
\nare Sir David Attenborough of England, former Norway premier Gro
\nHarlem Bruntland, Anil Anggarwal of India and Jimmy Carter of the
\nUnited States. Indonesians who have received the award include
\ngreen consumer campaigner Erna Witoelar, environmental professor
\nOtto Soemarwoto and singer Ully Sigar Rusady.<\/p>\n
Proud<\/p>\n
When asked how she felt about the award, Aminah said: "I'm
\nproud, but I'm not yet satisfied with whatever I've accomplished.<\/p>\n
"This award is not for me only, but for all of my friends at
\nthe foundation, especially Sumiati, who is now married," said
\nAminah, who is still single.<\/p>\n
Aminah won another award Sunday; from the United Nations
\nDevelopment Program (UNDP) during an exhibition on the
\nenvironment at the Jakarta Convention Hall.<\/p>\n
The award was presented by the State Minister of Environment's
\nsecretary-general, Soedarsono, who said that Aminah and her group
\nhad "become knights of the country's environment".<\/p>\n
The UNDP is particularly pleased with Aminah's and the
\nfoundation's rehabilitation of at least seven kilometers of
\ncoastal mangrove forest in Sumbawa.<\/p>\n
Aminah was born in 1970 in Labuhan Mapin, Sumbawa, into a
\nBugis family who had migrated from South Sulawesi. Aminah grew up
\nin a community with strong Islamic values. Her family tilled the
\nland, but one by one her family members left to work in
\nplantations in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Her brother Sahabuddin, her younger sister Anita and her
\nfather have all gone to work in Malaysia. Aminah grew up to be an
\nindependent woman.<\/p>\n
She was coming home from school one day when she noticed that
\nthree houses and the marketplace in her village had been swamped
\nby the sea. She realized that over the past two decades, the
\nmangrove forest in her village had disappeared because of illegal
\nlogging and sea erosion.<\/p>\n
Aminah, the second of four children, began to act. At first,
\nshe wanted to build a wall to protect the beach, but it would
\nhave been too expensive.<\/p>\n
She then established the foundation, and worked hard to raise
\nlocal's awareness about the environment. She incorporated
\nchildren into their program, collaborating with a local school.<\/p>\n
The foundation then attracted funding from the Netherlands,
\nDana Mitra Lingkungan, Environmental Management Development for
\nIndonesia and other sources.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/siti-aminah-wins-honor-for-environmental-work-1447893297",
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