Tree Planting Mandatory in Action Plan

December 23rd, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

The government has released a report on a plan of action covering the mitigation and adaptation efforts for climate change. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officially launched the report during the recent climate conference in Bali. The plan of action on mitigation and adaptation covers the forestry, energy, agriculture, water resources, infrastructure and health sectors. Below is the first article focusing on the forestry sector.

(more…)

Conservation and Community Awareness

November 20th, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

Environmental conservation is not just about planting trees. It requires dedication and hard work and depends largely on the economic, social and cultural traits of communities, a local environmentalist said last week.

(more…)

Rare Local Trees get a Good Home: Bogor, West Java

November 16th, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

The Indonesian National Park Foundation together with Cibodas National Park has designated a plot of land in Cibodas for different species of trees representing areas of Jakarta. The foundation’s researcher, Holif Imamudin, who is also the former director of Bogor National Park, said the planned park was part of a conservation effort to protect trees already considered rare. The park now has 1,500 seedlings comprising 22 different tree species.

(more…)

Anak Krakatoa Erupts: West Java

November 9th, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

Sending a boom across the bay, the offspring of the fabled Krakatoa volcano unleashes another mighty eruption, blasting smoke and red-hot rocks hundreds of feet into the sky. Even on its quiet side, the black sand on the now-forbidden island is so hot that a visitor can only briefly set foot on it. This week’s display by Anak Krakatoa — or “Child of Krakatoa” — is impressive, yet it is a mere sneeze when compared to the blast in August 1883 that obliterated its “father” in the most powerful explosion in recorded history. That blast was heard as far away as 2,500 miles and choked the atmosphere with ash and dust, altering weather patterns for years. Some 36,000 people were killed in the eruptions and ensuing tsunamis.

Rewriting Lives in Recycled Paper: Jakarta, West Java

November 4th, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

There is a power of healing in recycled paper. A great one, according to some street children. For them, recycling paper is a way to recover their dignity as human beings. “We recycle waste paper with banana fronds, cogon grass, water hyacinth, onion peels and other organic stuff that is mostly thrown away,” said Hendra, 20, who lived on the streets of Jakarta for six years before joining the workshop. “My life is just like the paper recycling process. I was saved from the streets. I learned to become a person with more dignity by participating in this gallery,” Hendra said at his shelter, the K’Qta gallery, in Kampung Bendungan Melayu, North Jakarta.

(more…)

Mangrove Park: Bali

November 2nd, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

As a small island, Bali is prone to erosion, but protection of its vast beaches and mangrove forests, have helped save much land. The mangrove forests along Jalan Bypass Ngurai Rai to Benoa Peninsula in Nusa Dua, for example, are known as a greater forest park, said Sudrajat Wirapraja, head of the program section of the Denpasar Mangrove Forest Management Agency. The park initially had a coverage of about 1,700 hectares, but the road works and other public facilities have reduced this to 1,100 hectares.

(more…)

Jakarta Youth and The Language

November 1st, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

The year was 1928 when young nationalists declared the Youth Pledge, which included a call for a national language, Bahasa Indonesia. Today’s youth in Jakarta are creating their own language, and the slang being invented by the young people in the melting pot that is the country’s capital is increasingly making it out to the rest of the nation, spread through TV, radio broadcasts, teen literature and youth magazines as an article in the Jakarta Post explains.

(more…)

Indonesians in Focus: M. Syafi’i Anwar

November 1st, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

In a country where people are grappling to live up to democratic values, standing firmly with a controversial principle can have dire consequences. M. Syafi’i Anwar, for example, was branded a “CIA agent” and “Western puppet” by Islamic radicals here when he publicly denounced the fatwa of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), which deemed pluralism as “religiously unlawful” and driving the nation toward disintegration. He received angry responses and threats via email, SMS and over the telephone. One big mosque in Jakarta even forbade him from giving speeches and sermons there, despite the fact Syafi’i is a renowned Muslim intellectual and activist whose contributions to the development of the mosque’s youth movement have been well noted.

(more…)

Indigenous Languages in Danger of Disappearing

November 1st, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

Indonesia is known not only for its multiethnic richness, but also for its linguistically diversified provinces and regions. Recent documented records by the National Education Ministry indicate there are 746 indigenous languages in the country, 10 of which have died out.

(more…)

Mekarsari Fruit Park: Bogor, West Java

November 1st, 2007 | By Barrie | No Comments »

Mekarsari fruit park in Bogor is striving to restore its image as a recreational site, not just a place where visitors can pick and feast on fruits of their choice. “Most people seem to think they can get fruit out of season anytime they come here. It’s not exactly right. We are a fruit conservatory, not a fruit farm,” park public relations officer Catherina W. Day.

(more…)