Indonesia - Gili Trawangan Ecotourism
By Mallika Naguran
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The coral reefs at Gili Trawangan
island are being 'regrown' on biorock
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There are no cars, no litter, and almost
zero crime on the island of Gili Trawangan
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 | Ecological tourism allows for progress
and tradition to co-exist in harmony |  | Grassroots democracy at Gili islands |  | These two could be future divemasters, showing
tourists how to enjoy and respect the coral reefs |
Not too far away to the east of Bali lies a sleepy island that practices sustainable tourism.
The
thousand-odd people living within this Indonesian territory of Gili
Trawangan island (near Lombok) recognise their growing economic needs
and want to grow tourism in a bigger way to meet those needs, yet take
personal responsibility in protecting their environment.
Over the past decade, they have seen a drop in the amount of fish in the sea. Fishermen had been throwing handmade explosives into the waters as a quick way of getting seafood to feed their people.
"Our
coral reefs have been badly hit as a result of the use of bombs in
fishing and we realized that when reefs disappeared, so did the fish,"
said Pak Malek, head of Gili Eco Trust.
"But this destructive
fishing is not practised anymore since we have established a marine
park area (MPA) here working with the Lombok marine conservation office
Kelesterian Laut (KSDA)," said Delphine Robbe, manager of Gili
EcoTrust.
"Our corals have also been destroyed by storms,
anchor drops, overfishing and compressor spare gun fishing," she said,
"not to mention El Nino in 1997-1998 that caused bleaching."
Knowing better now, the community has taken action.
Delphine
and her colleagues in Gili Eco Trust have introduced a slew of
measures. They have compensated fishermen for staying away from the
MPA, installed mooring buoys, and promoted marine awareness in schools
and dive shops.
The Gili Eco Trust set up in 2001 by the
seven dive shops and a local organisation gather funds and resources to
heighten marine awareness and conservation of the three Gili islands
– Gili Trawangan, Gili Nemo and Gili Air.
A major
initiative is to restore demolished underwater habitats by building new
coral reefs using electric powered structures or Biorock with the help
of the community itself.
See a related article on stressed corals and how Biorock comes to the rescue.
The government of Lombok recognises that the problem of bad fishing practices led to beach erosion as well.
"We
take this very seriously and have established a monitoring system
daily," said Malek. "When anyone spots someone throwing a bomb in,
we alert the enforcement team."
This enforcement is not the
police however; they are villagers who have assigned themselves with
such a role. In fact, at Gili Trawangan, there is no police station or
police officers. Crime is dealt the way it used to be when time began
– public flogging and shaming.
"We used to slash
their faces with knives and rub salt on them, then soak them in the
seawater until they beg for mercy and repent," said Ahyar Rosidi,
manager of Pondok Lita where I stayed.
"Now we just whack them
with our hands and drag them around for all to see so that they will be
more careful with this person when he comes around," added Lita.
Taking
ownership of the island as their own home is perhaps why the crime rate
in this island is low, the pathways are free of litter, public
facilities are well maintained, and businesses chip in to contribute to
the upkeep of the tourism standards – including starting a
tourism school for youths.
Gili Trawangan Tourism School
The
new tourism school set up in 2008 hopes to build essential skills and
training of the local community to meet the fast growing tourism
industry on this island alone. "We want to make sure they also have
good jobs like receptionists, accountants, serving staff at restaurants
and dive shop assistants and earn good pay," said Delphine, who also
manages Big Bubble Dive centre.
Having a job and earning money
means that the poor can thrive. It could also mean that the noticeable
drug pushing when night falls is stamped out. "Our village elders find
it hard to prevent the youths from peddling weed because they seem not
to have alternative jobs," says Rosidi, adding that he wishes for more
businesses to be set up on the island to create employment and boost
the economy.
The tourism school, however, lacks funds and is crippled by the lack of dedicated facilities.
The 30 students who enrolled into the two- and three-year programme
this year share the same compound as high school kids. According to
Rosidi, only 15% of the funds come from the government under the Lombok
municipality; the rest is contributed by the 70 businesses operating in
the island (each giving US$4-50 a month) and from well-wishers.
"We
need more money so we can buy books, computers and sponsor more people
studying tourism," explains Delphine. Her dive shop sells postcards,
pledging 25% of sales proceeds to the tourism school fund. According to
Rosidi, donations such as textbooks, plain writing books and pens will
also come in handy.
Visitors making a trip to the island can contact Gili Eco Trust to find out how they can contribute to the island’s ecotourism needs and skills training.
Related Links:
- Accommodation and activities information www.gili-paradise.com
- Global Coral Reef Alliance
- Gili EcoTrust
- Send enquiries or donations to Gili Eco Trust through info@giliecotrust.com
- Gili Islands (Wikipedia)
Article
Contributed By Gaia Discovery.
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