Activists commemorate Earth Day
The Jakarta Post, Buleleng/Surabaya/Kendari
Students and environmentalists across the archipelago commemorated Earth Day over the past three days with various activities, including cleaning up coral reefs.
In Buleleng regency, Bali, activists with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and other NGOs cleaned up coral reefs near Menjangan Island here. WWF's West Bali site leader I Made Iwan Dewantama said on Friday that the cleanup was aimed at saving 810 hectares of coral reefs from starfish attacks or crown of thorns (Acanthaster plancii).
"We are still investigating whether the attack since January has something to do with the change in climate in the area," said Dewantama on the sidelines of the Earth Day commemoration in Buleleng.
During the coral reef cleanup on Thursday and Friday, the activists from WWF, the Nature Conservacy, officials from West Bali National Park and others had taken out some 140 starfish.
The starfish generally attack the coral reef by covering the coral reef and destroying it, and later they eat the algae inside the coral reef, said Deny Suhernawan Yusuf, an activist and a lecturer at Udayana University.
The starfish were widely spread in the coral reef near Menjangan island in 1998, when some 1,000 starfish were discovered in the area. The West Bali National Park led the cleanup of the coral reef, and in order to speed up the measure, the National Park authority paid local residents Rp 100 for each starfish they captured. The starfish attack subsided, but somehow, they returned last January.
In Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi, students, journalists and NGO activists staged a protest in the city to commemorate Earth Day, which falls on April 22, demanding that the government take harsh measures against illegal loggers. They also lashed out at the government and lawmakers, who have approved a law on water resources that has led to the commercialization of water. Separately in the city, dozens of students also commemorated Earth Day by planting mangrove trees near the beach.
Similarly, protests to commemorate the Earth Day were also held in Surabaya on Wednesday and Thursday.
The students focused their protest on river pollution, which they claim has reduced the quality of life of Surabayans.
The students demanded that the government take stern measures against companies and individuals that released hazardous waste into Surabaya rivers. They also demanded that the government impose sanctions on companies that do not have waste processing facilities.