Eco-villages constructed in defiance of government

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

"We don't want to live in the hills, Mr. Minister," Burhanuddin, a village chief, tells State Minister of Environment Rahmat Witoelar.

"Please allow us to return to our villages and rebuild them," he said on Monday. The minister and his entourage were visiting Lamtengoh village in Peukan Bada, a district in Aceh Besar.

The minister was here to put his stamp of approval on the "eco-village" -- the partially rebuilt area of Lamtengoh that is designed to be ecologically friendly and as safe as possible for coastal communities.

Here, the English terms "escape routes" and "escape hills" have suddenly become familiar to the residents. The new escape route has been tested: "It works, it took only a few minutes", a villager said, for locals to scamper to the hills on the day that nearby Nias and Simeuleu were rocked by an 8.7-magnitude quake two weeks ago.

Their homes are just 500 meters away from the sea, and 500 meters from the hills.

According to Jakarta's blueprint for Aceh, all coastal land between the ocean and two kilometers inland must be entirely free of buildings. But coastal communities, whose livelihoods depend on the ocean, are resisting that plan, and villagers from Lamtengoh seem to have found a way out. At least the minister was willing to officiate over its completion. He said the blueprint and its designated two-km buffer zone "could be adjusted".

The village is one of 23 villages in three districts covered by the eco-village program, facilitated by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) Uplink and led by Jakarta-based sociologist Wardah Hafidz, long known for her "bottom up" approach to development.

Burhanuddin said villagers chose the design -- with help from architects and engineers working with UPC -- after examining the potential impacts of earthquakes and tidal waves on their villages. In Peukan Bada district, there were only 1,000 survivors from a pre-tsunami population of 26,000.

Yet the survivors in these 22 villages across the three districts including Peukan Bada have returned to their flattened hamlets, building temporary shelters where their homes once were.

"We're fisherfolk, there is no way we can live in the hills," said Tarmizi of a neighboring village, summing up the feeling of he and his fellow villagers. The hills are where they will end up, if the government has its way.

Tarmizi, a village secretary, said villagers are adamant about returning, although there seems nothing to return to.

The residents of Meunasah Tuha have recently drawn up their design for a village that is eco-friendly, but with the addition of many mangrove plants to help protect the village.

And villagers are planning to immediately plant coconut trees and other plants (kecapi fruit, cemara laut) within 500 meters of the coastline.

Minister Rahmat said despite the government blueprint, the final say "is up to the people".

However, in the event of harmful substances found as a possible result of the tsunami, "we will inform the people", he said. So far studies including those coordinated by the ministry have not led to such findings.