For the past at least 12 years, the founder of, and now advisor to, the Bali-based Bali Fokus has initiated various waste management programs promoting positive attitudes toward waste.

Below are excerpts of the views of the recipient of the 2009 Goldman Prize for environmental activism, as recently shared with Bali Daily’s Agnes Winarti through email correspondence.

Question: Since the time you founded BaliFokus in 2000, in terms of waste management in Bali, what has been improving so far and what has been getting worse?

I’ve seen better awareness on waste management at household and community levels. I’m delighted to see a growing number of NGOs, community groups, small-medium enterprises dealing with recycling and waste management, not only in Bali but also in other cities.

The problems remain in the political will and the management at the city, regional and national levels. When the policymakers and authorities don’t have a strong vision and political will, most likely the waste-management related services will remain poor. I don’t think the waste-collection rate in Bali cities is improving. Last year, the collection rate was about 60 percent.

In your activism, you encourage people to sort waste at home/right from the source. How is this practice feasible, while behavioral change is difficult?

In the community-based waste management in one of the urban poor areas of Denpasar, we held some activities ranging from waste separation, household composting to craft small businesses with micro-loans for women. It is not easy to change people’s behavior. But I learned that even the poor, if we help them maintain the momentum and keep the system up and running well, they too are willing to pay for a waste collection service. From our monitoring, about 75 percent of the community-based groups who implement this program are able to maintain the system for more than three years. Some of them expand to wider neighborhood areas, while some others expand to become social enterprises.

Based on Hindu Balinese Tri Hita Karana principles, Balinese have always been regarded as having great respect for nature, as well as living beings and gods. A simple example of respecting nature is by not littering. Nonetheless, why does garbage remain a huge problem here?

Balinese still see the modern world’s waste like the old time’s waste, mostly organic. They do not realize that stuff we use and consume every day now is mostly disposable and designed for obsolescence so the manufacturing of the products and the wheels of production can still be up and running for a long time without considering the finite resources. Most of them still cannot reflect on their good relationship with gods into good relationships with the immediate environment around the temple.

The toxic and hazardous waste. How to manage it? How effective is the implementation of the MoU between BaliFokus and hospitals in Denpasar?

On toxic and hazardous wastes, we were just promoting awareness in 2007 when there were some incidents of medical waste stranded on the beach and scattered in the bushes along the beach. During the monsoon season between December and April, just within half an hour I collected seven syringes and some of them still had needles. Since then, we started working with the Environment Agency, Denpasar Health Agency and Bali province. An initial survey involving 14 hospitals in Denpasar and Badung discovered most hospitals have an unclear policy and implementation of waste management and hazardous chemicals, such as mercury-containing devices.

Most of them are willing to cooperate with us to improve their performance. We started working with seven of them and later another three hospitals joined the program. The 10 pilot hospitals developed action plans to phase out mercury-containing devices, especially thermometers, sphygmomanometers, dental amalgam and to improve their waste management. We are promoting non-mercury thermometers and sphygmomanometers, and introducing non-incineration medical waste treatment.

The program now is introduced to Yogyakarta and Central Java. We have received great responses from both provincial governments and hundreds of hospitals in both provinces. Soon, we will introduce this program in Jakarta and look for more political support from the Health Ministry and the Environment Ministry to change the policy in this field.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/bali-daily/

http://balifokus.asia/balifokus/

After a recent surf trip to Bali, Kelly Slater is helping environmental beach clean-up efforts on the island. The 11-time World Champion has donated a brand new surfboard for auction, and has offered to match the funds for what the board sells for.

Quiksilver Indonesia is accepting bids for the autographed surfboard, which is currently for sale on eBay.

“However I can get engaged to help out to at least educate and spread the word to help motivate the people who know how to do the right thing to start creating some change here, I’m happy to do that,” said Slater in a press release. “Giving a board is something simple but giving some time is something I’d feel really good about. The board is a start and if it’s going to raise some funds, I’ll match the funds with whatever the board raises. I’ll match that myself.”

The funds collected from the sale of Slater’s surfboard and his monetary donation will be given to the ROLE Foundation, a local environmental non-profit organization who has taken the lead in undertaking coastal environmental projects attempting to slow down and ultimately reverse the destructive pollution that is ravaging Bali.

Michael O’Leary from the ROLE Foundation was extremely gratified when he heard the news, saying “We are over the moon and very thankful to Kelly for his kind donation, putting up a surfboard for auction and his offer to match the proceeds. These funds will be extremely useful to us in implementing our projects. We are so grateful for the Champs support and the awareness it brings, as Bali is in dire straights and it needs action Now!”

Quiksilver and Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia joined forces back in 2008 in a concerted effort to tackle the disturbing issue of trash on Bali’s beaches, ever-increasing water pollution, and saving the endangered sea turtles. Since then they have expended in excess of $200,000 USD each year funding programs in the attempt to clean up the beaches and water supplies, as well as setting up the Kuta Beach Sea Turtle Conservation.

Slater went on to add, “Bali’s ocean, beaches, waterways and reefs are under massively destructive pollution attacks from on estimated 5,000 tons of solid waste illegally dumped daily with little to no liquid waste management infrastructure. All this waste eventually finds its way into the waterways and down to the ocean that surrounds Bali, destroying her reefs and killing her marine life. Some companies like Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia and Quiksilver have initiated helpful and effective CSR programs, but more businesses here need to follow their lead or all hope is lost, forever. It’s time to give back and help this once pristine island.”

In addition to these efforts, coming up on July 6th of this year Quiksilver and Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia are hosting their 2nd annual Big Bali Eco Weekend on Kuta Beach. According to Quiksilver Marketing Executive for SEA Holly Monkman, “This will be our best opportunity to talk directly to Bali’s top local government officials including Governor of Bali – I Made Mangku Pastika, Minister of Tourism and the Creative Economy Indonesia – Mari Elka Pangestu and Minister of Environment Indonesia – Balthasar Kambuaya. As well as tourism and industry leaders. We’ll have Quiksilver surfing legends Mark Richards, Tom Carroll, and Martin Potter and others here to help share our concerns and to stir up a action in this fight for a clean Bali.”

“Our goal this year is to raise enough funds to buy sand grids to add to the back of our three beach tractors and to continue to educate the local community and local businesses in how to care for and preserve the precious natural resources of this special island. We all need to work together for positive change,” she concluded.

According to ROLE, some 5,000 tons of solid waste are dumped illegally each day in Bali.

“These funds will be extremely useful to us in implementing our projects,” said Role’s Michael O’Leary. “We are so grateful for the champ’s support and the awareness it brings, as Bali is in dire straights and it needs action now.”

Resources:

http://the-quiksilver-initiative.com/Foundation

http://rolefoundation.org

Indonesia is 90% Muslim, but Bali is the exception, which is 90% Hindu. The Hindu community of Bali has traditionally used marine turtles for religious ceremonies for decades. Consumption of these turtles summed between 10,000 and 20,000 a year.

It is no secret that changing a tradition, specially a religious one is no easy task; but WWF-Indonesia was determined to do so. The local veterinarian and Hindu, I.B. Windia Adnyana, was aware of the problem and took matters into his own hands. He joined forces with his brother, a local religious leader to talk to the Hindu community and let them know that the turtle ritual could have dire consequences for the survival of the local populations.

The religious leaders listened and wanted to help, but could not eliminate a practice that was still intrinsically knit into their customs. Besides, the whole village of Serangan Island depended mainly on the sales of adult turtles to the Hindu community.

None the less, the local government joined in, and in 1999, measures were agreed on. Only 300 marine turtles per year would be culled for religious purposes. These turtles would be provided only through a permit authorized by the local government. The turtles would only come from the Turtle Education Centre, to be built by the government in Serangan Island.

The Turtle Education Centre would only use five Olive Ridley turtle nests a year, to raise the turtles for Hindu religious ceremonies. This is because adult nesting turtles have a much higher value for the future of their population. In nature only 1 out of every 1000 hatchlings born survives long enough to achieve sexual maturity.

Since 2006 the Turtle Education Centre has been up and running. It provides the Serangan village with more income than they ever had when dedicated to the illegal turtle trade. Students and tourists go to the Centre to see and learn about marine turtles. Though this is not the ideal solution, we’re in the process of getting there. WWF and its local partners were able to make a difference for Indonesia’s marine turtles, one turtle at a time.

http://www.wwf.or.id

Poverty – a vicious cycle

Across Indonesia poverty is increasing. While there are many complex issues involved  is a primary cause of poverty in many provinces. The land has become dry and unproductive and can no longer support the people. Trying to survive the people eake out a living and further damage their environment in the way they farm the land and their cutting of what little wood remains for cooking fuel. Other key issues are increasing populations and lack of finance in local economies to fund economic development.

With poverty come many problems, malnutrition, poor health, bad living conditions, lowered levels of education, depression, social problems, exploitation and indoctrination.

Saving Lives in Munti Gunung

5,000 people live in extreme poverty high on the slopes of Mount Batur in the North East of Bali. Incomes are as low as 10 cents per person per day, there is a severe shortage of water and the rugged ground supports only meagre agriculture. Child mortality rates are high, health is poor and a number of serious health issues such as malnutrition and Tuberculosis are common.

Yayasan Peduli is providing emergency health care to the people of the mountain and is planning a comprehensive program of activity to eradicate serious illnesses, correct deformities caused by malnutrition and raise the general health of the population. Yayasan peduli is working with another NGO, Yayasan Masa Depan Untuk Anak Anak, which is organising the provision of dependable water supplies for the people. Once these emergency programs are well advanced the Yayasans will begin work on the provision of education and the establishment of business enterprises to enable the people to sustain themselves and raise themselves out of poverty.

http://yayasanpeduli.org

Bali is a uniquely special place, one that has made a lasting impression on those of us who were able to attend – myself included. In reflecting on this wonderful country and the time we spent there, I couldn’t help but feel deeply saddened by one thing I have learned: The pollution of the country’s waters, which is exacerbated by the local communities as well as the hotels and resorts, is a real tragedy.

A few months before the Summit, I received an email from Nora Pouillon, founder of Nora’s Organics (America’s first certified organic restaurant), located in Washington, D.C. We had met at a conference and she alerted me to this disturbing issue, noting that her son had just moved to Bali and established a waste management company in hopes of becoming part of the solution. Nora shared several articles with me, including “Trouble in Paradise” by Joe Cochrane at the Wall Street Journal and “Holidays in Hell: Bali’s Ongoing Woes” by Andrew Marshall at Time magazine. You may find them enlightening as I did.

With very little time before the Summit to prepare a good strategy, we nevertheless emailed registered delegates with an interest in environmental and sustainable issues asking for help. Christopher Dean, chairman of Organic India, stepped up to coordinate an effort; he led the table topic lunch discussion on “Bali’s Environmental Issues,” which was completely full and outlined some next steps, including meeting with keynote speaker John Hardy, who has exemplified all things sustainable through his local Balinese project, the Green School.

While I have now become more cognizant of the issue, nothing made a stronger impression on me than my early morning swims in the ocean in front of the Laguna Resort & Spa. The first day the water seemed warm, clean, and refreshing. The next day, it was filled with garbage. Winds, or the tide, must have shifted, bringing candy wrappers, cans, and all sorts of horrors to the breaking waters on the shore. It grieves me even now to think about it.

Our slogan, “Joining Together. Shaping the Future.” has guided the GSS thus far in advancing the spa and wellness industry in a variety of ways. I can’t help but feel that this phrase can apply to issues, environmental or otherwise, we discover along the way in places that could use our help.

I look forward to our future communications, where we will be turning our attention to the 2012 Summit in Aspen, Colorado. We will likely see some good examples of environmental stewardship in Aspen. With each of our Summits taking place in a different part of the world, it is my hope that we can move forward with a continued awareness for the places where we have previously gathered, and look back – and possibly give back in our own way – to those magical places that have inspired us.

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 1 July, 2011 : – - Kuta, Bali — Australian 5-time World Champion Surfing Legend Mark Richards joined fellow previous surfing world champions Martin Potter and Cheyne Horan as well as Pipeline Master Jake Paterson in a press conference at the Harris Hotel on world famous Kuta Beach on Friday afternoon July 1st to support the inaugural Big Bali Eco Weekend environmental event that will take place on Kuta Beach this weekend on July 2-3rd.

“I haven’t been to Bali since 1980,” said Richards during the press conference, “and to say it has changed a lot is a huge understatement. I hardly recognized the place, with the heavy traffic, big buildings and cars and motorbikes everywhere. But was hasn’t changed are the waves, which is what made Bali the tourist destination that it is today.

“I have such great memories of Bali and I hope that we can start to change things by making the public, politicians and business aware of their responsibility to the environment with this event. As surfers we all love this place and don’t want it destroyed, but rather returned to a more natural state so we and future generations can continue to enjoy it.”

Potter and Horan echoed Richard’s sentiments, expressing their support for the effort to bring Bali back to a more natural and clean condition, with Horan giving Steve Palmer kudo’s saying “Every since I can remember, Steve has always been at the forefront of the environmental efforts here in Bali to clean things up, trying to get the government on board.

Today we had the Governor of Bali and also the Minister of the Environment in the same room and listening to us, a first and very significant step in the right direction. Congratulations to Steve and the rest of the team and thanks for the invitation to come here and be a part of this event.”

The press conference was officially opened by Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia President Director Peter Kelly, with additional speeches by Quiksilver Indonesia CEO Paul Hutson, Martin Potter, Jake Paterson, Bruce Waterfield, and last year’s King of the Grom winner Andre Julian.

Earlier in the day, also at the Harris Hotel, the Bali Clean and Green Muliti-Stakeholder Networking for Solutions Forum was held and was officially opened by Indonesia’s Minister of the Environment Prof. DR. Ir. Gusti Muh. Hatta and the Governor of Bali I Made Mangku Pastika. It is the first in a series of events whose purpose is to bring all the stakeholders together to create practical solutions to the current environmental challenges Bali faces, starting with waste management.

The Big Bali Eco Weekend is a combined effort by Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia and Quiksilver Indonesia to heighten awareness of the environmental issues facing Bali and to generate support for their efforts to clean up the beaches, preserve the turtle population, clean up the water supply and educate the local population on how to properly dispose of their trash.

Gusti Muhammad Hatta, the Minister of the Environment, has voiced his full support to a program of the provincial government’s “Bali Clean and Green” – especially in the control of trash in Bali.

According to the State News Agency Antara, the Minister, who spoke at a press conference launching “Bali Clean and Green – Stakeholder for Solutions Forum” at the Harris Resort Kuta on Friday, July 1, 2011, said: “The Ministry of the Environment completely supports the government of Bali’s program, particularly as it applies to the perpetual problem of trash. It is for this reason that I have come to Bali.”

The Ministry has formulated trash control policies and is working to educate the public on the need to reduce waste and handle trash correctly.

Governor Pastika said he hope that community leaders would not merely make a show of their desire to make Bali clean and green, but take concrete steps to save Bali’s environment. “I hope this movement will be the first giant step. We don’t need to debate; let’s get to the core of the issue,” said Pastika.

The governor called on the public to reduce the use of plastics, by reducing their use of plastic bags by one piece per day, and by demonstrating their commitment to cleanliness by throwing trash in the correct place.

Said the governor: “Reducing the use of plastic by one piece per day can be very meaningful. We have to force people to stop making the use of plastic a part of their lives. If we force them now, later it will become a habit.”

The governor said a provincial law on trash has been written and is awaiting ratification by the provincial House of Representatives (DPRD-Bali) and final implementation.

The Bali Clean and Green Multi-Stakeholder Group is an alliance comprised of non-government organizations, local communities, and businesses. The groups are supported by the chief of Bali Environmental Agency (BLH-Bali), A.A.G.A. Sastrawan.

On Bali’s first sunny day after months of wet season, about 1000 beach vendors were scooping rubbish on Kuta’s famous beach. Patrols of garbage collection officers driving along the sand yelled from loud speakers for other hawkers to pitch in.

Since the resort island’s recent bad rap in a US magazine, dubbing it a risk for “holidays in hell”, the reverberations have gone viral. Authorities concur that rising crime, rubbish, pollution, traffic bottlenecks, shoddy infrastructure and overdevelopment are problems. But beach rubbish is the easily achievable priority.

There’s nothing like politicians under pressure to get things moving. The beach looked almost pristine as clean-up crews waited for a nod of approval from visiting Indonesian Tourism and Culture Minister Jero Wacik. When Indonesia’s tourism jewel is under threat, communications run like clockwork.

Wacik is anticipating the 4500 daily foreign tourist arrivals, sometimes swelling to 7000, to boost Indonesia’s tourism profits to $US8.5 billion this year, an 11.8 per cent increase over last. “I am optimistic this year’s target can be achieved,” he said recently.

Bali generates 30 per cent of national tourist revenue, an estimated $US3.5bn a year. However, about 60 per cent of tourist income leaves the island, according to Bagus Sudibya, a senior member of the Bali Tourism Board, the industry body, and a local travel agency leader.

But how can the modest island of Bali, about half the size of greater Sydney, sustain another forecast massive tourist and development surge, mostly consigned to its south?

Government and industry officials have been warning for years that rampant development eventually will erupt into environmental disaster. But now the defining underlying deficiencies of planning in the island province — lack of regulation, weak law enforcement and corruption — are subjecting tourists to obnoxious effects.

As well, a security alert warning Australian travellers — still Bali’s greatest supporters — of “the very high threat of terrorist attack” after the foiling of a Good Friday bomb plot in Jakarta, may also put a dampener on tourist influxes. Although the strong Aussie dollar perhaps has more pull and visitor numbers are strong. Bali has bounced back from the horrific 2002 and 2005 Bali terrorist attacks in which scores of Australians were killed.

Australian arrivals, making up a quarter of foreign visitors, jumped 28 per cent to 156,000 in the first three months of this year, compared with the corresponding period last year. Overall, foreign arrivals rose 10 per cent. If sustained, the island will host a record 2.7 million touriststhis year. Japan, which has declined dramatically as a source, ranks second after Australia, followed by China.

Yet if Bali is to retain its mantle as a top global tourist destination it needs to clean up its act quickly and enforce planning regulations, officials say.

“It’s urgent,” says the head of the Bali Tourism Board, Ngurah Wijaya, welcoming the critical media spotlight he hopes may unlock a political stalemate impeding development regulations.

“(The Time magazine article) was good [as a warning]. We have been complaining to the government for four years about the lack of infrastructure and over-issuing of hotel licences,” he says. “The problem comes from the mayors [regency heads, of which there are eight] issuing the building licences.”

Though Bali’s Governor, Made Mangku Pastika, has issued a moratorium on hotel construction and new licences in tourism areas, mainly in the southern tourist hub, local mayors are fighting to retain the revenue drip.

The cost of development is seen in traffic congestion and hazardous roads on which an estimated 2.4 million vehicles vie for space, paralysing access and causing frequent accidents. There is a sense of trepidation in the lead up to the annual July-August tourist rush, with business owners questioning how the place will function.

Jason Childs, an Australian expatriate photographer and surfer who has lived on Bali for 18 years with his family, says the lure of the island, with its surf, small-town vibe and Balinese culture, is fading as its natural beauty diminishes.

“As a photographer it’s one of the most amazing places to live in the world. But I didn’t come to live in a city and all the other problems that come with it,” says Childs. “The pace slowed after the [terrorist] bombings, but it has accelerated since 2005 at a pace nobody could have planned for. The sad thing is there’s a lot of talk, but there’s no action at the moment, and it’s a scary thing. For the amount of development that’s going on . . . there’s no infrastructure being put in,” he says. Roads, sewerage and rubbish collection are in need of urgent attention.

“A standard half-hour trip can take three hours now,” he says.

How long does he believe it will be before tourists have had enough? “It’s already happening,” says Childs. “We have Australian friends who are regulars saying ‘We don’t want to come back.’ The surf, the traffic, the whole deal, it’s getting too crowded. People are becoming prisoners in their hotels or villas because they prefer not to venture into the traffic chaos. If it’s not urgent, you don’t go out. Or you walk. You can still have a great holiday, but with less of a Balinese [cultural] experience.”

Sitting on Kuta beach with friends, West Australian tourist Melanie Reynolds describes a two-hour evening taxi trip from one part of Kuta’s hub to another, usually a 10-minute walk or five on a motor bike. She and her friends have stopped taking taxis, preferring a drenching in tropical downpours to sitting in traffic jams.

“We go on bikes or walk. I won’t sit in a taxi for two hours. The weather has been so bad, but I don’t care if I get wet. A lot of tourists have ended up with motorbikes, but it’s dangerous,” she says citing heavily potholed roads. Residents and expats compare the snarling mass of congested motorbikes, cars and trucks to Jakarta’s crippled queues. The difference is Bali is a small island.

In theory, there are moves to make Bali more amenable again, but a whole vision is lacking. There are plans to build a 560km rail system around Bali by 2014 and a road underpass all the way from Kuta to the hotel enclave of Nusa Dua in the south, although neither has been started. A toll road linking the airport to Nusa Dua is due to be finished in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in 2013. A $US210m revamp for the dilapidated Ngurah Rai international airport is scheduled for completion in 2013, but it may add to overcrowding woes.

“Nothing much has been done about the traffic problems,” says environmental advocate Wayan Suardana, who is a participant in devising the urban masterplan under protracted discussion.

Suardana is also chairman of the Indonesia Environment Forum (known as Walhi) in Bali. He says “no matter how many new roads are build, they will not be sufficient unless the government develops adequate and easily accessible public transport”.

Undoubtedly, the provision of a comprehensive public transport system, not more roads, is the solution, agrees Gusti Ayu Made Suartika, a lecturer in architecture, urban planning and development at Udayana University in Bali. “If high-density tourism is to be sustained the government must establish subsidised public transport and control the number of vehicles on the roads. But there is no incentive,” Suartika says.

“The government doesn’t regulate the numbers of vehicles and ownership because it’s a source of revenue . . . every vehicle [owner] pays tax and registration,” she says. “That’s an income for the government. If the government puts a stop on cars, where are we going to get next year’s budget?”

Road users would also oppose it. The rising middle class of Balinese enjoys its wealth and would be reluctant to swap cars for public transport. Nor would the ubiquitous motor scooter owners be happy to abandon their cheap but high-polluting modes of transport.

Citing the tourism imperative, Suartika, who is also a researcher at the University of NSW, says Bali “needs a sustainable blueprint and, at the end of the day, money will solve everything. It will save our environment and our culture. When the environment is not there to support the culture, where is the revenue?”

She describes the complexity, which includes Bali’s cultural beliefs and sanctity of land to the Balinese, in her 2009 book, Morphing Bali: The State, Planning and Culture. Arguing for culturally sensitive urban planning, she writes: “Combined with corrupt practices, preferential treatment to elites and monopolistic intervention, it is clear that a modern planning system is barely present.”

The Balinese have had regional autonomy since 2001, but outside money drives development. Ngurah Karyadi, a member of Walhi and founder of Bali’s Legal Aid Institute, fears more business investment from Jakarta will precipitate a “recolonisation of Bali”. Research shows investment, particularly for big projects, is dominated by wealthy investors from Jakarta and Surabaya in Java.

At Bali’s southern surfers’ paradise of Bukit, a 400ha project, the Bali Pecatu Indah Resort, is being developed by controversial figure Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Suharto. Tommy, as he is generally known, is said to be the face behind the fledging National Republic Party that was registered at the end of April in Jakarta. He served four years of a 15-year jail sentence for funding the murder of a judge who convicted him of graft before being released in 2006. His huge project will include five-star hotels, a golf course, schools, hospitals and a desalination water plant.

Another big development is the Anantara Resort Uluwatu, built into a cliff facing Impossible Beach, a favourite surfing hangout. Bukit, a dry, clifftop region renowned for its wild surf and international competitions, has until now had little investor interest, mainly due to a lack of fresh water.

“One or two decades ago, no one was interested in that area because of bad infrastructure, no water, nothing to plant there,” says Michael Gunawan, manager of Ray White Kuta, Bali, the marketing agent for one of the hotels planned for the site.

“But now it has almost become the future Beverly Hills of Bali . . . a real, fully integrated tourism resort. It’s also creating employment and providing infrastructure,” he says, reflecting the pro-development sentiment of many locals in the tourism sector.

The governor’s objective is to place future tourism development away from the south — including from Bukit — so as to lessen environmental effects and create alternative tourism hubs, but this may prove arduous. As part of the decentralisation aim, there are plans for a new international airport for Singaraja in the north, and new facilities in the east, linking to other islands. However, Bahal Edison Naiborhu, director for spatial land management at the Public Works Ministry in Jakarta, while supportive, acknowledges that investment in remote areas is unattractive.

One of a growing band of development dissenters, Bayu Susila, from an environmental and urban development non-government organisation called Balifokus, says: “I want my government to develop other regions [in Indonesia] and stop developing Bali. It’s enough. The problem is Bali is a captive market for tourism and investors are not confident they will make good returns elsewhere.”

Says Edison, who represents the central government in Bali’s planning meetings: “The main obstacles to getting things done are poor co-ordination, lack of infrastructure, lack of co-operation from local government, mostly sectoral development, ineffective development control and law enforcement and corruption.”

Under regulations, 30 per cent of land is zoned green, but laws are increasingly flouted as locals sell coveted rice paddies at escalating profits. Though a bylaw regulates development of tourism facilities near temples, on cliffs and coastlines, it is little deterrent.

Childs calls the Bali boom “rape and pillaging” by Western speculators, but many people have their fingers in the pie. From Kuta to Seminyak, even in tiny gangs (laneways), frenetic construction noise lasts deep into evening and narrow roads are choked by lumbering concrete mixers, cranes, trucks, cars and plagues of motor bikes.

Bizarrely, about half a dozen cranes overhang the foreshores of Kuta beach, spitting dust and noise where tourists sunbake and swim. On a 5.2ha site, a multi-billion-dollar complex developed by a Jakarta company incorporating hotels, restaurants and retail is underway. Carparks will accommodate 1000 cars, but getting to the heart of Kuta’s beach may be problematic. As Childs says, what’s the point of building new hotels if you can’t get to them?

Last year’s census shows, minus tourists and migrants, that Bali’s population swelled to 3.9m , up 20 per cent in a decade and far exceeding a supposed ideal of 2.5m people.

Foreign arrivals, at 2.5m a year, are additional along with the growing domestic tourist market at about five million visitors a year.

Bali’s Statistics Office estimates that there are roughly 400,000 unregistered internal migrants in Bali, mainly from east Java and Lombok, but authentic figures are unknown.

Many, drawn to the promise of regular construction work, for which the wages are unacceptably low to the Balinese, rarely return to their original homes. Rather, they invite their relatives to join them.

“Usually they are people with no education, they cannot fund a living . . . they steal . . . these are things that decrease the security of the place,” Suartika says.

Concern that domestic immigrants are swamping the island, contributing to a rising crime rate in which foreigners are frequent victims, is a common complaint. The immigrants “threaten the safety and comfort of the island”, bemoans Wacik.

When Bayu Susila from Balifokus asked Governor Pastika to find a way of bringing in internal migrant working visas, Susila recalls Pastika replied: “We can’t do that, we are a unity.”

Susila is concerned Muslim migrants are buying land and building small enclaves for relatives that exclude the Balinese and erode the island’s unique Hindu culture. “Most are moderate Muslims, but a few may swing to the Right,” he says.

In Morphing Bali, Suartika writes: “Uncontrolled numbers of internal migrants invading Bali for the last two decades and their resistance to blend with local ways of life has also added to the list of endangering impacts that Bali has to bear.”

Politics is fickle and at the beginning of April Pastika said he would waive his own ban to allow the construction of a convention centre and hotel complex on 250ha to host the 2013 APEC meeting in Jimbaran, in the south near Kuta. The land’s green zoning will be changed to allow the development despite the fact the area already has many five-star hotels and conference facilities.

“This is in the framework of projecting a good image for Indonesia, especially Bali,” he was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Globe. “Especially for that [project], the government will review its moratorium on new hotels in southern Bali which was issued in January.”

Numerous requests by Inquirer to interview Pastika were declined.

Hotels are not the only culprits in the development war. Illegal villas without building permits have mushroomed, many occupying soughtafter rice fields.

Says the vice-chairman of the Bali Tourism Board, Bagus Sudibya: “According to statistics there are more than 700 illegal villas, with over 10,000 people, mostly foreigners, not calculated to be using the infrastructure.”

Beneath that layer, says Bali litigation lawyer Simon Trombine, is a bevy of unscrupulous foreigners fraudulently selling villas to gullible compatriots who believe it’s safer to buy from a Westerner, and they can own the land themselves instead of leasing it or buying it through an Indonesian nominee whose name goes on the title.

Foreigners are ineligible to own Indonesian land and, by the time they realise, it’s too late: they’ve been fleeced, plus they now own an illegal villa.

In a pocket of Bali’s Kerobokan, a traditional Javanese warung (restaurant) has retained a feel from the past. Facing rolling emerald rice paddies, the sensation is one of eating within a picture postcard. Recently, the Balinese owner saw people measuring one of the rice fields. He shivers: “There’s no order here, and it seems like there is no government.”

Childs puts it more succinctly : “It’s anarchy,” he says referring to the consequences of government inaction on development.

Clearly, many are pondering if Bali’s halcyon days are numbered. Will the island bow to deleterious forces? Will it kill the proverbial goose?

Childs pauses, then says: “The uniqueness of the people and their culture is what separates Bali from other island holidays. That’s its magic and allure. Development is going to happen, but the environment needs to be factored in. It’s not too late.”

- Deborah Cassrels | http://www.theaustralian.com.au

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• Holidays in Hell: Bali’s Ongoing Woes (time.com)

Indonesian Packaging Association held their annual gathering at the Bali Beach Hotel in Bali last week. Little Tree attended:

We brought over Robert Bobroff who is a degradable plastic expert from d2w in England to help us give a presentation about how most of the plastic presently used here could be made using degradable plastic. The big floating plastic Island in the Pacific would not be there if the plastic in it was made from degradable plastic. Of course in even using degradable plastic we still have to use the 4 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Responsibility…

Plastic is a big issue in Bali…

The Kalpataru Award is an annual recognition bestowed by the Indonesian government to individuals or groups who have pioneered conservation and environmental preservation efforts. Wayan Patut received his award at a special ceremony held at the National Palace in Jakarta on June 7, 2001, held only two days after World Environment Day on June 5th.

Beritabali.com cited Patut’s hard work dating from 2003 to re-grow coral reefs near the reclaimed beaches of Serangan that began after he saw the massive destruction coral reefs caused by reckless development of his island home.

“Before 2003, the fishermen and coral miners at Serangan, including myself, actively destroyed the surrounding reef. We cut and picked away at the coral to sell as building materials at a pretty high price,” explained Patut.

A transformed man and now a devout conservationist, Wayan Patut now dedicates himself to rebuilding the coral he once destroyed and exploited with his fellow villagers. Over the past seven years, Wayan Patut’s days have been filled with acquiring the know-how and skills to plant and encourage new coral growth off the shores of Serangan island.

At a shore-based workshop, Wayan Patut and fellow villagers build the frames with nicknames such as “reef ball” and “pyramid” on which new coral reef will be planted, take hold and grow. The group, calling itself “Karya Segara,” also make the “base rock” that is attached to the frames, acting as the catalyst for the reef that will eventually cover the frames.

The man who once destroyed coral reef is now a tireless campaigner, reminding everyone he can of the key roles played by coral in the ocean’s food chain. In this way, he warns the coming generation that the destruction of the natural environment can’t be tolerated for any reason.

Wayan Patut warns: “The coral reef is very important for the life of the sea. In addition to be the place where a variety of fish live, the coral reef also absorbs carbon, helping to clean pollution from the atmosphere.”