Lapang Islanders in Indonesia

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

(Live Kryon Channelings was given 7 times within the United Nations building.)


Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Japan's Antarctic whaling hunt ruled 'not scientific'

Japan's Antarctic whaling hunt ruled 'not scientific'
Representatives of Japan and Australia shake hands at the court in The Hague. (NOS/ANP) - 31 March 2014
"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear > 20 Min)

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes

China calls for peaceful settlement of maritime disputes
Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, speaks during a meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the enforcement of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 9, 2014. The Chinese envoy on Monday called for a harmonious maritime order, saying that maritime disputes should be settled through negotiation between the parties directly involved. (Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)

UNCLOS 200 nautical miles vs China claimed territorial waters

UNCLOS 200 nautical miles vs China claimed territorial waters

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Fishing for votes


The Jakarta Post  | Wed, 10/29/2008 5:11 PM | National




Fishermen prepare their nets before setting out to sea in Cilacap, West Java, on Wednesday. Each boat bears flags signifying the political orientation of the owners. Unlike some other regions in the country, no riots have been recorded between fishermen in the regency over political differences. (JP/Agus Maryono)

   

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Indonesia’s New Focus on Marine and MICE Tourism

Travel News Gazette, Ozgur Tore,

Indonesia’s tourism industry remains confident, according to I.Gede Pitana, Director of International Promotion at the Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

He told a ITB Asia press conference 23 October in Singapore: “The [global financial] crisis will probably affect our target of seven million international travellers this year. However, we should still be able to achieve a growth of over 20% with 6.5 to 6.7 million tourists.”

Mr Pitana said that Indonesia had invested a lot in new infrastructure and these efforts were starting to pay off. He cited close to 11,500 classified hotels with over 255,000 rooms, 10 world-class convention centres each able to receive up to 5,000 delegates, and 450 first-class shopping centres, which make the country an attractive destination for Singaporeans, Chinese or Malaysians.

The Indonesian government will extend its Visit Indonesia Year 2008 campaign into 2009. However, new promotions will be more centred on marine and MICE tourism. “We have a unique natural and historical heritage. We have over the years gained recognition from the scuba dive market for our exceptional coral reefs. We also have over 50 national parks and nine UNESCO listed-world heritage sites,” said Mr Pitana.

The tourism director also said that Indonesia is not only Bali. He beseeched the tourism industry: “Look beyond Bali please. And discover the amazing diversity of our land.”

Locals smell business at Games

Niken Prathivi, The Jakarta Post, Serangan Island, Bali

Feeling worn-out and hungry at the Asian Beach Games' sailing and windsurfing venues on Serangan Island? Maybe you should try a traditional roasted seafood dish with a side of seaweed salad.

Serangan Island, also known as Turtle Island, is located about 10 kilometers south of downtown Kuta. The area is quiet, high in humidity and far from beaches furnished for international tourists.

Ibu I Wayan Suki and Ibu I Wayan Hariasih are the only two vendors selling roasted fish there. The two humble eateries sit side by side in bamboo huts.

The two have been selling roasted baronang, tuna, kembung (mackerel) and jangki (white snapper) since the Games began last Saturday. They also sell seaweed salad (locally called bulung) and fruit salad with mango and cucumber.

"(The eatery business) is just for extra (money) on top of my main job as a seaweed farmer. It seems guests come here to enjoy my dishes,"Wayan Suki said while roasting a 2-kilogram baronang fish.

The prices of the barbequed fish's range from Rp 6,000 (US 60 cents) to Rp 15,000, while the seaweed and fruit salads are Rp 3,000 per plate. The baronang is the most expensive dish on the menu.

All fish are fresh from the sea and roasted without any additional seasoning. To add more spice, sambal (chili) is served along with warm steamed rice. Meanwhile, the seaweed salad is served with simple seasoning: grated coconut mixed with spices, salt and citrus juice.

Wayan Suki plans to keep on selling the local dishes until the Games end. Wayan Suki does not know what event exactly is being held near her village.

"All I know is many people come here to race (sailing and windsurfing),"Wayan Suki said.

Wayan Suki said she could earn Rp 200,000 a day when her hut was packed with visitors and Rp 50,000 on a calmer day.

Games officials Wali, Surya and Indra took a break time at Wayan Suki's hut for lunch.

ABG Jetski race director gone missing

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Asian Beach Games (ABG) jetski race director Jeremy Holland has gone missing since Friday afternoon, Antara news agency reported on Saturday.

The British national reportedly went missing after a jetski ride to Nusa Lembongan.

Holland was said to have travelled with three friends, but all three returned to Tanjung Benoa beach without him.

"Their trip to Lembongan was unrelated to the ABG race as there was no scheduled route survey that day," Indonesian Jetski Sport association chairman Syaiful Ihsan said.

Five helicopters and a Bali Search and Rescue (SAR) boat had been dispatched to locate Holland since Friday afternoon.

"The search has been extended to cover the Gilitapekong Lombok straits," Bali SAR chief I Ketut Parwa said. (amr)

Friday, October 24, 2008

RI should build ecological ports: Expert

Bogor, West Java (ANTARA News) - Indonesia, as a maritime country, should develop ecological ports, according to an oceanographer of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). 


"Building ecological ports has now become a trend. In essence, the concept means that ports must be built in ways that do not run counter to the sustainable development principle," Prof Dr Eng Tridoyo Kusumastanto, the head of IPB`s Oceanology and Coastal Resources Study Center, said here on Thursday. 


He made the statement to ANTARA in connection with a commitment the German government had made to help Indonesia improve port management through training of port authority officials in the next three years (2008-2010). 


The German government through "InWent Capacity Building International" would team up with the Center for Assessment of Coastal and Marine Resources (PKSPL) and the Community Research and Empowerment Institute (LPPM) of the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB). 


He mentioned pollution in the Jakarta Bay as an example of the importance to apply ecological port management in Jakarta. 


"Learning a lesson from the Jakarta Bay pollution case, we need to develop the ecological port concept," he said. 


An international seminar in the Netherlands recently discussed ecological ports focusing on the aspects of sustainable development, he said. 


Ecological ports should also bring benefits to the community, he said. 


The first Germany-funded training course which was attended by officials of the transportation ministry, academicians, state and private ports officers, discussed ecological ports and port security, he said.


Thursday, October 23, 2008

Pertamina orders two more vessels

The Jakarta Post, Wed, 02/20/2008 1:18 PM  


JAKARTA : State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina has ordered the construction of two vessels from state ship builder PT Dok dan Perkapalan Surabaya (DPS) for US$29.2 million. 


"The order of these two vessels is an effort to rejuvenate and expand our network," Pertamina president director Ari H. Sumarno said after the signing of the agreement with PDS on Tuesday. 


Pertamina currently owns 26 ships and leases 104 others. 


M. Firmansyah Arifin, director of DPS, said the two vessels were the fifth and the sixth Pertamina had ordered from DPS. 


The two 6,500 Long Ton Dead Weight (LTDW) vessels, which will be delivered in 2011, will be used to distribute fuel throughout the country. (JP/rff)

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Tuna under threat in key SE Asia ecosystem: WWF

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Key tuna species are under threat from overfishing in Asia's diverse Coral Triange region and a drastic rethink is needed to stave off collapse, environmental group WWF said Tuesday.

 

Tuna species in the triangle, including heavily overfished bluefin and bigeye tuna, are under increasing pressure as fleets move in from depleted fishing grounds in other parts of the world, WWF researcher Lida Pet Soede was quoted by AFP as saying.

 

The Coral Triangle -- which is bounded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor -- contains spawning and nursery grounds as well as migratory routes for up to 89 percent of the world's tuna catch, according to the WWF.

 

The triangle is one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth.

 

"The larger context of the Coral Triangle, where there still are very important spawning grounds for a number of very valuable tuna species is critical," Soede said.

 

A decision last week by Spain, Japan and other countries to close down bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean will mean more fishing ships will move into the triangle, Soede said

 

"Regional collaboration around management of this global commodity is pretty obvious. If you can't agree on managing this commodity together, everybody is going to get hurt," she said.

 

Representatives from the six Coral Triangle nations, fishing companies and WWF are meeting in the Indonesian capital until Thursday to discuss ways of curbing overfishing in the area.

 

Discussions are set to include the creation of a carbon-trading style system to pay countries with large spawning grounds such as Indonesia in return for reducing fishing of tuna, Soede said.

 

Saut Hutagalung, a senior official in the Indonesian fisheries ministry, said the country was struggling to regulate tuna fishing by a fleet of mostly small, unlicensed boats.

 

Indonesia has no effective quota system for species apart from the lucrative bluefin tuna, prized for sushi and sashimi, Hutagalung said.

 

The archipelago nation produced 700,000 tons of tuna in 2007, he said.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Dutch-made corvette for Indonesian Navy sails to Indonesia

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A Sigma-class Corvette III built in the Netherlands for the Indonesian Navy is scheduled to sail to Indonesia on Saturday (Oct. 18), a Navy spokesman said.


The corvette was officially delivered to the Indonesian Navy at a ceremony at the Schelde shipbuilding yard in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, recently. 


The Indonesian Navy was at the ceremony represented by Rear Admiral Lilik Supramono, commander of the Indonesian Navy`s Eastern Fleet, according to Commodore Iskandar Sitompul, spokesman of the Indonesian Naval Headquarters, who is now in the Netherlands, in a phone interview with ANTARA. 


"It`s expected the corvette baptized KRI Iskandar Muda will arrive in Indonesia on December 2, 2008, and take part activities to mark the Navy`s Anniversary on December 5," he said. 


Indonesia had ordered four missile-equipped corvettes from the Schelde naval shipyard in the Netherlands in January 2004. The first ship arrived in August last year, the second early this year, while the fourth ship is expected to arrive mid 2009. 


The first and second Sigma-class corvettes were named respectively KRI Diponegoro and KRI Hasanuddin during the visit of Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono and Naval Chief of Staff Admiral Slamet Soebijanto in the Netherlands on September 14-18, 2006. 


The third Sigma-class corvette, KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda, was baptized by Commander of the Indonesian Defense Force (TNI) Marshal Djoko Suyanto in the Netherlands.

Indonesia to partcipate in DEMA Show 2008 in US

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia, represented by the Tourism and Culture Department, will promote the marine tourism potentials of its eastern regions at a Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) Show 2008 which is to take place on October 22 to 25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in the United States, a tourism official said.

"For 2009, we are planning to develop marine tourism such as diving. Therefore, we will participate in the DEMA Show 2008 and bring along 72 participants," Sapta Nirwandar, director general of marketing affairs at the Tourism and Culture Department, said here Friday.

Nirwandar said the Indonesian delegation to the show would be led by him and consist of representatives of the regional administrations of North Sulawesi, East Kalimantan, Wakatobi, North Maluku, Central Sulawesi and Raja Ampat (West Papua).

The delegation would also include 22 tourism and airline industry representatives and journalists from print and electronic media.

"Most of the participants will came from around Manado, North Sulawesi," he said.

Indonesia would use 32 booths inside the Indonesia Pavilion at DEMA 2008, and the interior of the pavilion would show the logos of "Ultimate in Diversity" and "Visit Indonesia Year 2008".

"We hope by participating in events like DEMA 2008, we can encourage more and more tourists to come to Indonesia and support the Visit Indonesia Year 2008 program," he said.

At the DEMA 2008, Indonesia would also publicize the program of the World Ocean Conference which will be held in Manado, North Sulawesi, in May, 2009.

Nirwamdar said the United States was one of the most potenitial markets for Indonesia`s tourism.

A total of 160,000 to 180,000 US tourists were expected to visit Indonesia in 2008.

As per August 2008, some 103,324 American tourists had visited Indonesia. The figure represented an increase of 26.39 percent from the same period last year.

Asian twist to meet techno show at beach games start

Niken Prathivi, The Jakarta Post

Four Asian pop stars and 1,700 Balinese dancers will perform under lights and sophisticated visual performances at the first Asian Beach Games opening ceremony at Garuda Wisnu Kencana cultural park in Bukit Ungasan, Jimbaran, on Saturday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will open the Games. Indonesian Olympian sprinter Suryo Agung Wibowo, shuttler Taufik Hidayat and sailing athlete I Gusti Made Oka Sulaksana will be the stars of the evening.

The three will be the last torch bearers to run around the venue, with native Balinese Oka given the honor of lighting the cauldron to mark the start to the 10-day Games.

Indian Mark Lazaro, Filipino idol Christian Bautista and Indonesian singer-songwriter Andre Hehanusa will share the stage to sing "To Be One," which was composed by Indonesian Budi Prasetyo.

Meanwhile, Indonesian diva Reza Artamevia will sing the Games' anthem "Inspire the World", which was written by well-known composer Dwiki Darmawan. The title of the song is taken from the Games' slogan.

All dancing performances at the ceremony were choreographed by prominent dancers Sentot Sudiarto and Boi G. Sakti.

The ceremony director, Erick J. Turangan, on Friday said the ceremony would be different and "a lot more exotic" than ceremonies held at world-class sporting events like the Olympics.

Erick said the choice of venue, Garuda Wisnu Kencana, was perfect for the Games and would show to the world how unique Bali is.

"What makes this opening ceremony different from the Olympics, for example, is that we did not choose a stadium as the venue, unlike other sporting events," he added.

Garuda Wisnu Kencana is located 20 kilometers north of downtown Kuta.

Over 1,500 very important guests, such International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, Olympic Council of Asia President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and Jordan's Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein, will attend the ceremony. Four thousand invitees, mostly from the Olympics Council of Asia members, will also be present.

The main event, which will start at 8 p.m. local time, will also be live broadcasted by local Trans7 television station, and relayed by ANTV and state-owned TVRI.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

One-metre sea-level rise this century, scientists say

Berlin (ANTARA News) - Global warming calculations have been too optimistic, and the sea level round the globe is likely to rise a full metre this century, two senior German scientists warned Wednesday.

 

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who heads the Potsdam Institute for Research on Global Warming Effects and Jochem Marotzke, a leading meteorologist, said UN-backed data on climate change, predicting a rise of 18 to 59 centimetres, was out of date.

 

"We now have to expect that the sea level will rise by a metre this century," Schellnhuber was quoted by DPA as saying in Berlin.

 

He said international plans to limit the rise in average global temperatures to just 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, mainly by limiting growth in carbon dioxide emissions, were only achievable with enormous effort.

 

Schnellnhuber, who is official adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on climate-change issues, said the new findings employed data unavailable to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for its most recent global warming report.

 

The two experts said the IPCC report had been based on data up to 2005 only, but since then ice loss in the Arctic had doubled or tripled.

 

Schnellhuber charged that 20 per cent of the loss of the ice sheet on Greenland could be directly linked to the added carbon dioxide emissions from new Chinese coal-fired power stations.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Clean-up Day unites communities

Luh De Suriyani, Contributor, The Jakarta Post, Klungkung

Hundreds of elementary school students joined forces with environmental activists and divers last Saturday to clean up the sandy beach and lush coral reefs of Nusa Lembongan island.

The event was part of International Coastal Clean-up Day. Nusa Lembongan was selected as a clean-up site because it is a fast-growing tourist destination with a picturesque coastline and mesmerizing underwater beauty.

Nusa Lembongan is one of three islands in the southeastern waters of Bali. The other two are Nusa Penida and Nusa Ceningan. The islands fall under the jurisdiction of Klungkung regency.

The activity started early in the morning when several divers jumped into the blue water of Buyuk, one of the most popular diving sites in Lembongan. They dived down into Buyuk's majestic landscape of coral reefs and started cleaning. This underwater clean-up was organized by World Diving, one of the island's many dive operators. The participating divers came from several different dive operators.

"We found out some plastic and other trash that could damage the coral reef," World Diving instructor John Chapman said.

Later in the afternoon, hundreds of elementary school students from Jungut Batu and Lembongan villages walked to the beaches of their respective villages. They were accompanied by activists from the Reef Check Foundation and Yayasan Gelombang Udara Segar (GUS Foundation) and also by scores of foreign visitors and local tourism operators.

At Jungut Batu beach, the activists divided the children into five different groups before distributing several tools -- gloves, broom and garbage bags -- which the children received with noisy enthusiasm.

"The groups will compete to gather the most garbage. The one with the most garbage will get a special gift and all the participating students will receive certificates from the organizing committee," an activist from Reef Check, Pariama Hutasoit, said.

When the competition started, the groups moved quickly to their respective garbage-gathering areas.

One hour later, the weight of the garbage inside their bags had begun to take its toll on the children's stamina. Two fifth-graders, Made Suroanto and Nabiana, had to drag their garbage bags when they were unable to lift them. The bags were completely filled with plastic garbage.

"Most of this garbage was buried under the sand. People are getting smart these days; they bury their garbage so nobody will see it," Suroanto said.

The buried garbage does not stay that way for long. One villager, Dakon, disclosed that during certain months the tide is much higher and stronger than usual and sweeps the beach with such force it drags the buried garbage to the surface.

When that happens, the beach along the Jungut Batu coastline becomes a dirty place. Dakon admitted Nusa Lembongan had yet to implement an environmentally sound garbage management system based on recycling principles.

Most of the island's residents throw their garbage into their yards or into empty lots.

"Garbage is a big problem for this island. We haven't found an effective way to reduce the growing heaps of garbage," said Sue Beebe, a British dive operator who has lived in Nusa Lembongan for three years.

Reef Check, GUS Foundation, World Diving and the local communities are now working together to solve the garbage problem. They plan to build a community-based garbage management system, which will involve recycling and composting programs.

Tourism lures island's youth away from seaweed trade

Luh De Suryani, Contributor The Jakarta Post, Klungkung    

 

Nusa Lembongan Island, which boasts luxurious mansions owned by seaweed farmers who contribute significantly to the island's economy, may be losing it's next generation of such farmers.

 

The late Made Kawijaya, also known as Pan Tarsin, was the pioneer of seaweed farming in Lembongan. In 1986, the man who used to poach sea turtles was awarded the Kalpataru award, the country's highest award for nature conservation.

 

That Pan Tarsin received the Kalpataru was in itself shocking, says his son Wayan Tarzan.

 

"They used to call my father a criminal for hunting endangered sea turtles and coral reefs, before he became a seaweed farmer," he says.

 

In the 1980s, Pan Tarsin was a notorious poacher of sea turtles. Battling high waves and chill ocean winds was part of his daily ritual. At the time, there was little else a man could do but hunt sea turtles and other prized bounty, including coral reefs and giant clams.

 

The endangered giant clams were especially valuable. The flesh, high in protein, and the shell, coveted material for high-quality ornaments, could help feed a family for a whole month back then.

 

But then there arrived on the island an official from the Klungkung Agriculture Agency, asking residents to start cultivating seaweed.

 

"He brought two types of seaweed, five kilograms of each. And since the hunters weren't catching enough sea turtles, they began learning how to farm seaweed," recalls Tarzan, part of the second generation of seaweed farmers in Nusa Lembongan.

 

The first harvest was a failure, and so was the second. Seaweed farmers did not make any money because the seaweed they produced was bartered for basic commodities, such as rice.

 

And then one day a customer from Ujung Pandang, now Makassar, in South Sulawesi, came with an offer to buy seaweed at Rp 300 (3 US cents) per kilogram. The farmers were buoyed by new hopes -- a rare commodity in what had always been one of the poorest regions in Bali province.

 

That hope was further strengthened by the advent of the island's tourism industry. Visitors and holidaymakers began trickling into the island.

 

Bali is now Indonesia's largest producer of seaweed after West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Central Sulawesi and South Sulawesi.

 

The cotonii and spinosum are the most commonly cultivated types.

 

In addition to seaweed, Pan Tarsin and his son began looking for opportunities in the tourism industry, deciding to build a hostel called Johny Losmen, one of the oldest in Nusa Lembongan.

 

The island's draw for visitors now revolves around two main attractions: the seaweed fields peppered around the island, and marine activities such as diving and surfing.

 

The seaweed farmers tending their plants, and the thousands of small boats scattered along the coast, have become a permanent fixture.

 

But the future is not looking very rosy for those who helped pull this island to its feet.

 

Tarsin was cremated this year. Tarzan has switched professions to become a contractor for hotel developments in his village after the tourism industry began garnering more local attention.

 

"All of my kids said they don't want to be farmers and decided to learn more about tourism in Bali. I'm pretty confused myself. What's going to happen to seaweed farming in the future?" Tarzan says.

 

A number of farmers have begun outsourcing their work to people from outside Nusa Lembongan.

 

The areas that used to be the heart of the seaweed industry are mostly populated by old women laboring over the post-harvest work of drying and seed-preparing.

 

"There are very few young people who are willing to farm seaweed. I suppose it can be called rough work," says Made Wiyata, 35, a farmer in Jungut Batu village.

 

Wiyata says his generation could be the last of Nusa Lembongan's seaweed farmers, adding he wasn't even sure whether he could still tend to his own farms due to stiff competition.

 

The number of non-Nusa Lembongan natives who have taken up seaweed cultivation on the island is on the rise. The increased supply has naturally caused price fluctuations.

 

"Right now it's only Rp 5,000 per kilogram of dry seaweed. Last month it reached Rp 13,000. I don't understand how the price can fall that much," Wiyata says.

 

Wiyata, who owns six seaweed fields inside a 600-square-meter area, can produce about one ton of dry seaweed, making about Rp 5 million a month at the current price of Rp 5,000 per kilogram.

 

His net income is only half that, but he remains stoic about it.

 

"It's not bad," he says.

 

"It's just a pity the young people are more willing to work in the tourism industry."



Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Greenpeace ship visits Indonesia to promote forest conservation

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, will arrive in Indonesia on October 6 to promote forest and climate conservation as part of the environmentalist organization`s `Forest for Climate` campaign, a spokesperson said.


The Esperanza would arrive in Jayapura, Papua, on October 6 and remain until Nov 15 to spotlight the need to defend the last remaining natural forests in Indonesia, according to Greenpeace media campaigner Nabiha Shahab in an e-mail to Antara on Saturday.


"The last natural forests are to be found in a belt that stretches from South East Asia through Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands in the Pacific," she said.


The natural forests consist of tropical rain, mangrove , coastal and peatland forests that are home to many kinds of plants and animals non-existent in other parts of the world. These forests also held hundreds of original cultures and traditions.


"Indonesia`s forests are shrinking at a very fast rate. Deforestation destroys people, cultures, and biodiversity. It also accounts for about 20 percent of the world`s gas emission which eventually causes climate change," said Rustar Maitar, spokesperson for Southeast Asia Greenpeace`s Forest Campaign.


The campaign director of Southeast Asia Greenpeace, Shailendra Yashwant, said Esperanza`s visit to Indonesia was meant to urge the government to implement a moratorium soon on all forms of forest conversion, including industrial deforestation, expansion of oil palm plantations, and other activities which can cause deforestation.


Esperanza is the biggest ship in Greenpeace`s fleet. Launched in February 2002, it is 72m long and can cruise at a maximum speed of 16 knots.


On its journey to Indonesia, the ship will have Madeline Habib as captain.