Environmental awareness a step in right direction

Environmental awareness a step in right direction

By Hugh Attwater

JAKARTA (JP): The people of Pager Jurang, a ceramic cottage
industry village in Central Java, are more aware of the
biodiversity surrounding them than two months ago. This is
because for two weeks in October, a production team descended
upon them to make an educational and entertaining documentary
about environmental biodiversity and the human relationship with
it.

The 45-minute-long film, initiated by the Indonesian
Biodiversity Foundation (Kehati), involved the collaboration,
consultation and importantly, the hospitality of the whole
village. Indeed, nearly all of the film's characters are
villagers, including 10-year-old Marsha S. Adhiyuta, the film's
star.

But it's not just the people of Pager Jurang who will benefit.
The film, Desaku Bernyanyi, which also stars renowned actress
Nurul Arifin, is to be aired on five terrestrial channels on
Sunday, Nov. 7 at 10 a.m., reaching all corners of Indonesia. As
well as using the medium most accessible to Indonesian society,
70 percent of which lives in village communities, the film also
employs techniques that will make it appealing to everyone.

For example, after talking about life in her village and
showing its natural surroundings, Marsha sings popular songs
about the environment -- both traditional and modern -- to which
people can easily relate. There are also touching moments, such
as when she comes across a young wild cat, but instead of taking
it home as a pet, she takes pleasure in letting it remain free.

In another scene, Marsha's grandfather recites to her a poem
about the beauty of nature and its importance to the village.

With all elements of society -- young and old, male and female
-- playing a role in the film, it is intended for family viewing.
Catching the audience's attention by way of entertainment, the
educational message in the film is relayed in an easy-to-digest
form.

"Through the film, we hope to raise awareness in every family,
so that people come to love their environment," says Prof.Dr.
Emil Salim, the former environment minister and chairman of
Kehati who also plays the part of an environmentalist visiting a
friend in the village.

In addition to this documentary, Kehati has been busy using
other media to stimulate public awareness. They produced public
service announcements earlier this year, hold regular radio talk
shows, promote national "environment days" and circulate posters
and leaflets explaining biodiversity.

Biodiversity is an alien concept to many rural Indonesians.
While they may possess an extensive knowledge of the natural
resources with which they most frequently come into contact, an
understanding of the workings and fragility of ecosystems is less
common. Awareness of the importance of biodiversity, in this
sense, is the first step toward preventing its depletion, as only
by understanding the causes of environmental problems can they be
properly addressed.

Initiatives aimed at raising public awareness such as Desaku
Bernyanyi encourage (rather than force) people to look after
their environment by showing (rather than telling) that it is in
their interest to do so.

Similarly, visitors to Indonesia can and should be made aware
that they have a role to play in protecting the environment. In
the past, tourism has generally been associated with negative
environmental and cultural impact; large hotels eating up
valuable resources while spitting out tourist waste, careless
scuba divers breaking corals with their fins, discarded plastic
water bottles, and, of course, the notorious transformation of
peaceful Kuta village into pompous Kuta Beach in Bali.

Ironically, by even coming to "exotic" Indonesia, tourists are
inadvertently destroying many of the things they arrive to see.
The recent World Ecotourism Conference in Sabah, Malaysia
highlighted the need for "responsible" travel, which conserves
the natural environment and has a minimal negative impact on
local culture. Encouragingly, there has been a rise in the number
of ecotourism ventures in Indonesia during the 1990s as
environmental awareness has risen.

Consequently, the tourist now has a choice of destination and
activity that ranges from the decidedly irresponsible to pure
ecotourism. He or she can stay enclosed in their five-star resort
with the occasional speed boat trip for a spot of spear gun
fishing, or alternatively, spend two weeks in an "ecolodge" while
helping environmental organizations carry out their research.

One such example is Operation Wallacea in Sulawesi, whereby
guests pay to assist in collecting valuable data while trekking
through rainforests or diving in pristine waters. Having had a
wonderful holiday, they take home with them a greater awareness
of the natural environment and a certain feel-good factor, while
leaving behind a positive impact on the culture and environment
that benefits from their help.

For the less adventurous, simply by being aware that their
presence can be damaging to the areas they visit and by being
mindful of more responsible behavior can help. It doesn't take
much effort to walk another twenty meters to refill a bottle of
drinking water, or to ask the boat man not to drop the anchor on
that table coral.

As the largest industry in the world (tourism expenditures
were US$425 billion in 1997), tourism has the potential to play a
major role in promoting environmental conservation and
regenerating damaged ecosystems in tourist destinations. By
catering to the needs of an environmentally aware tourist
population, locals employed in the industry can learn about
conservation techniques and ecofriendly practices. Inversely, by
raising the awareness of less responsible tourists, they can
encourage more ecofriendly practices on the part of the visitor.

The message is that everyone -- villagers, city folk and
tourists -- must first understand that simple measures can be
taken on an individual basis that can help conserve the
environment and have minimal impact on traditional culture. Only
then can collective, cooperative awareness truly become part of
our culture.