Improving waste management and environmental quality through
education
Have you ever noticed the sign for ‘Hotel Santai’
and the Fair Trade Outlet when driving down Jl. D. Tamblingan,
the main road adjacent to Sanur’s main beach? They have
been on the premises for the past 10 years but are somewhat
hard to discern amongst the plethora of signs crowded through
that strip. Even less apparent from the street is the very
important set of activities that is funded – in part
- through the profits they generate. The budget hotel, with
street side restaurant, internet and seminar facilities, has
been operated as part of the income-generating activities
of Bali’s Environmental Education Centre, or PPLH (Pusat
Pendidikan Lingkungan Hidup). As they are unable to afford
the lease renewal at this location, PPLH is planning to relocate
to Jl. Hang Tuah (Denpasar) by July. Their activities, however,
will continue in earnest.
The Environmental Education Centre in Sanur is part of a larger
organisation of the same name, which has facilities in East
Java and South Sulawesi. Unlike these longer-established branches
of the PPLH family, Bali’s team focuses on urban environmental
problems and in particular on household waste management.
They therefore work most intensively in the southern part
of Bali, although some of their programs are implemented in
locations throughout the island.
PPLH’s strategy for achieving the vision of environmentally
sustainable development is through education for local people.
Using informal environmental education and community assistance,
they aim to increase communities’ awareness and change
attitudes and practices, to help maintain the balance of nature
and conserve precious natural resources. The organisation
has a set of programs centred around education through the
school system, working with teachers and students from primary
through to high school on extra-curricular activities related
to the environment. Starting in 2007, there are 3 primary
schools (SD) in Sanur that receive special support from PPLH
and are referred to as ‘Green Schools’. They have
integrated specific environmental awareness material as part
of the ‘local content’ in the curriculum, which
is now determined on a school-by-school basis. Between Denpasar
and Kuta there are a further 8 ‘Green Teams’ –
groups of students from 8 high-schools that PPLH facilitates
with activities related, for example, to mangrove conservation,
agriculture, waste processing and monitoring of river water
quality. These groups of local adolescents recently completed
making their own films about environmental issues and local
community perceptions.
Across Bali there are approximately 70 schools that are members
of the ‘Teachers for Environment Forum’ (Sekaa
Guru Peduli Lingkungan), which is also supported and facilitated
by PPLH, as part of their strategy to bring about change through
education. The Forum has bi-annual meetings as well as specific
activities that any teachers from the member schools are welcome
to participate in. The most recent activity, launched in Singaraja
this year, is the ‘Green School Safari’ (Safari
Sekolah Hijau): a one day intensive environmental education
session involving an entire school population in practical
activities such as waste separation, paper recycling and composting.
The ‘safari’ will move from regency to regency,
targeting one school a month. For a cost of just Rp. 8 million
(under US$100 !!), members of the public or businesses can
sponsor one ‘Green School Safari’ that impacts
approximately 300 young Balinese people. PT. Aqua, for example,
is sponsoring the upcoming PPLH Safari at a school in Badung
regency.
The PPLH team also works with adult groups, helping provide
a solution to what local residents identified as a priority
during a large public meeting in 1998, namely ‘rubbish’.
By targeting local women in three neighbourhoods in Sanur,
PPLH has facilitated a clean-up program, training in waste
separation and composting, and the establishment of 7 waste
management/recycling depots around Denpasar (some of which
are lead by other non-government organisations). For example
in Sanur Kauh area there is ‘Depot Pulasari’ and
in Sanur Kaja area (near KFC) there is ‘Depot Cemara’,
which recently won a national competition as the most environmentally-aware
village/neighbourhood in Indonesia (‘Desa Sadar Lingkungan’).
The model that PPLH has been using with local women and their
communities has attracted the interest of local government
and is now being replicated in other areas. The local government’s
Environmental Agency is now also providing some financial
support to Bali’s ‘Teachers for Environment Forum’.
These are impressive results for a local organisation staffed
by just 5 people and 1 international volunteer. PPLH also
has numerous local volunteers that help in the school programs.
In the past, PPLH has had financial donations from Dutch government
and non-government organisations, as well as from USAID (United
States government). While they aim to be financially self-sustaining
as an organisation, PPLH continues to seek sponsors for their
work – especially now as they will lose their income
from the Hotel Santai facilities when the lease ends mid year.
To find out more, or to offer support to PPLH, use the website
www.pplhbali.or.id or call 281684 or 08179717120.
By Lucy Mitchell
E-mail:writers@baliadvertiser.biz
