Eco-villages constructed in defiance of government

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.