Archive for February, 2008

A Celebration of Wetlands in Belize

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Lois Morrison, conservation supporter and friend of Rare, recently joined Rare on a trip to Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

February 1, 2008

World Wetlands Day, an annual celebration and promotion of international wetlands, was the perfect backdrop for Rare’s visit to the village of Crooked Tree and Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize. Nearly ten years ago the Crooked Tree lagoon became Belize’s first wetland area added to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. The extensive lagoon area experiences dramatic seasonal shifts in water levels. The resulting mosaic of freshwater and terrestrial habitats provides refuge for an amazing diversity of native plants and animals, including the rare and endangered Jabiru Stork.


Lois Morrison, enjoying a boat trip in Belize 

The group visiting Crooked Tree included Rare Board Members, Rare staff, guests, and representatives from the National Audubon Society. We were hosted by staff and trustees of the Belize Audubon Society. Our morning began with a birding trip. My group explored the sanctuary by boat. Thanks to the expert staff from the Belize Audubon Society and the Bird’s Eye View Lodge, we logged around 70 different species of birds, including the small, brilliantly colored Vermilion Flycatcher, the Bare-throated Tiger Heron, and the majestic Snail Kite.  

Although the birding was phenomenal, highlights from the Crooked Tree visit included the people, their stories and first-hand insight into the evolving methodology and increased rigor that is being applied to initiate a Rare Pride campaign. We had an opportunity to meet with some members of the community and learn about the Belize Audubon Society to better understand the context for the new Rare Pride campaign in Crooked Tree. Most importantly, we met Olivia Carballo-Avilez, the manager for this Pride campaign. Olivia walked us through the systematic methodology she is piloting to develop her campaign’s work-plan. Everyone was impressed and energized to support Olivia, her partners, and the community in its successful implementation.


Olivia’s Jabiru Mascot with local school children. 

Our time at Crooked Tree ended with World Wetlands Day celebration events. School kids from the community were creating arts and crafts, going on nature walks, and exploring the lagoon by boat. This event is where the Crooked Tree Pride campaign’s new mascot – the yet-to-be-named Jabiru Stork –made its debut.

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Songs That Create Big Change

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

Rare Course Manager, Hari Kushardanto, got a chance to visit Rare Pride Campaign Manager Agus Wiyono in East Java Indonesia, and see the band Suket Teki perform.

Camat,  a young man from Dayurejo Village, never thought he’d be recognized because of a conservation song. This long haired young man was simply motivated by a challenge from Rare Pride Campaign Manager Agus Wiyono of the Kaliandra Sejati Foundation, who asked him to make a conservation song about protecting the Grand Forest Park from forest fires, something that often happens in the area. In the beginning, Agus was in doubt that this young man and his band could make a song because they’re not professional musicians. They make their daily living as farmers, grass harvesting workers, or in other agricultural jobs. Playing music was only a hobby for them.


Camat, the song’s composer from the band Suket Teki [Photo by: Hari Kushardanto/Rare]

But, by the end, they made three songs. Not only that, Camat and his band, Suket Teki, recorded a CD with support from Yayasan Kaliandra. Agus and the Kaliandra Sejati Foundation then distributed the CDs to groups of farmers in two target villages: Desa Dayurejo and Desa Jatiarjo.

Suket Teki and their song are now famous in the community. Many people ask them to perform live at weddings or music events. They were also asked by Pasuruan Forest Service (Dinas Kehutanan Pasuruan) to sing their song at a national reforestation week event, where many government officials attended. The band had also performed at an event where the Head of Pasuruan District of East Java Province attended. The Head of The Pasuruan District, impressed by their performance, spontaneously rewarded them for their accomplishment. For the community of Dayurejo and Jatiarjo, they are surely celebrities now.


Camat and his band Suket Teki, with Agus Wiyono (Yayasan Kaliandra) and Hari Kushardanto (Rare) [Photo by: Hari Kushardanto/Rare]

Nevertheless, besides those achievements the most important thing is that their songs have made a change. From radio play to live events, their conservation song is heard by thousands of people in Indonesia. The song sends an important message about saving the Great Forest Park. Their song has contributed to a significant decrease of fires in the area, compared with the number of forest fires in 2006. Camat and the rest of the Suket Teki band are now conservation activists. They comprehend and practice what they sing in their song by partaking in conservation activities, and always reminding the people in the villages about the dangerous consequences of forest fires.

>>Hear all three Suket Teki songs here!

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The Maven from Bromo-Tengger-Semeru NP

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

This post is written by Hari Kushardanto, a Pride Course Manager based out of Rare’s Bogor, Indonesia office.

Malcolm Gladwell in his international bestseller “Tipping Point” writes about mavens, a group of people who are socially motivated to talk to other people; convince other people about one specific topic or product as if they are the expert and ignite social epidemics. The question is how to find these people and what these people look like.

When we meet Sukan, a young guy from Gading Kembar village, a village that is situated adjacent to Bromo-Tengger-Semeru NP where most of the people here depend on firewood as an energy source, we will not think that he meets all criteria of a maven. He used to be the head of local youth group here and has the charisma to be a leader. He does not have lots of cattle nor land, but he is very smart and always thinks way beyond what other men at his age think. One important feature is that, as Gladwell says, he knows something that other people do not.


Sukan, the “maven” from Gading Kembar village

Collecting firewood is the main obvious threat to forest area in the park. The growth of the population here coupled with a lack of alternative energy sources and weak law enforcement have forced local people here to further infringe on the park and cut trees for firewood. As the forest gets destroyed the water also gets scarce, especially during the dry season.

Magi, the Pride Campaign Manager has identified this. He also sees that the strategy to reduce the threat is by increasing knowledge of local people here about the importance of the forest for maintaining hydrological systems, and by introducing alternative energy sources. Many farmers here have cattle so he thinks that creating a biogas system is one answer. The second option is through introducing energy-efficient stoves for those who do not have cattle. Of course the ultimate objective is to have interconnected biogas systems that electrify every house here. So people will no longer use firewood and therefore the forest remains natural.


Magi, the Pride Campaign Manager, with one local firewood collector

The challenge that Magi faced in the beginning was to find the right people who can help him convince other people about the importance to take action now and who want to adopt more sustainable energy sources. He did not have to wait long until he met with Sukan. For several consecutive nights, Magi spoke with him about forest conservation, the impact of forest degradation to local people in the village, ways to shift from using firewood and of course his Pride Campaign. Magi then invited him to his first stakeholder workshop, asked him to help Magi with his group discussions and survey.

Over time, Sukan’s understanding about forest conservation grew. He also helps Magi talk to other people in the village with confidence that what he is talking about is not only for the sake of the environment but also their current and future generations. In one community meeting, where everybody was blaming weak law enforcement and lack of government support as the cause of ignorance, Sukan eloquently said that this is not the time to seek who is to blame. He further said: “we will live in this village forever so we need to take care of our forest and the environment well … we need to hand-in-hand find the solution for our own problem otherwise we will suffer first”.

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Conservation Singing Contest: Building Pride in East Java

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

Agus Wiyono is a Rare Campaign Manager running his Pride campaign at R. Soerjo Great Park Forest in East Java, Indonesia in partnership with the Kaliandra Sejati Foundation. 

On January 14th, children, young people, senior people, and village government officers, gathered at Kaliandra’s center stage to see their community idol compete in the finale of a conservation singing contest. Dangdut – a popular music genre in Indonesia – has the emotional power to raise spirits and enthusiasm; it is also the popular music style of the community. This phenomenon, inspired us – the Rare Pride team from Kaliandra Sejati – to have a karaoke festival on the Pride conservation songs, which mostly are in the dangdut genre. The event was a collaboration effort of  Pasuruan’s Forest Farmers group (Paguyuban Kelompok Tani Tahura Pasuruan), Gumandar community group (Kelompok Swadaya Masyarakat Gumandar), and Suket Teki – a youth group who had composed and performed the Pride conservation songs. Hear these three Suket Teki songs here.


A karoake contestant belts out conservation songs

The committee prepared the contest by giving out announcements to 9 villages within 3 sub-district in Pasuruan District. These villages are located in the surroundings of the great park forest. Each contestant had to register and pay Rp 5,000 (approx. USD 0.50), in which he/she will received a CD containing the conservation songs composed and sung by Suket Teki. As for the registration fees, it goes to the forest rehabilitation fund managed by Pasuruan’s Forest Farmer group. 21 singers from 7 villages registered as contestant for this event. Each contestant had to sing one of the Suket Teki’s songs: Alas Kobong (Our forest’s on fire), Reboisasi (Forest Rehabilitation), or Tahura (Great Park Forest). In addition, they also had to perform their own choice of song that has an environmental message. An audition was conducted in December and resulted in 10 final singers.


Winner trophies featuring the Jaguar mascot from Agus’ Pride campaign

One of Kaliandra’s Advisory Council, had invited Irianti Erningpraja – a popular singer in the 90s – to be one of the jurors for the finale. Her participation in this event was really a wonderful surprise for the contestant and the audience! This event was held together with a tree planting event and the launching of Kaliandra’s arboretum. Various local organizations also attended the event: Perhutani KPH Pasuruan, Bapedal Propinsi Jatim, Purwodadi Botanical Garden, Education Office of Pasuruan, Village governments, LMDH, KTT, Pramuka Tegak Desa (the village scout group), students, and all community members also come to enjoy the festival. Irianti, came one day before the festival, and she spent time discussing the winner criteria with the group of jurors for the singing contest.


Irianti dancing and singing on stage at the karoake finale

The 1st winner of the contest is Hadi from Dayurejo village; in 2nd place is Mentari from Pakukerto village, and in 3rd place is Abdul Manan from Cendono village. Irianti, in her speech for the contestants, said “This is an interesting event, not only it is entertaining but it also built awareness towards the important of forest conservation. I would like to encourage you all, being a winner or not, all of you should be a spokesperson in sending messages on the importance of  taking care of the  Great Park Forest”.


The karaoke winners proudly displaying their trophies

The event ended with 2 songs from Irianti with music played by street children. 

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