How to build local people awareness
“Life
improvement through eco-tourism”
By
Jimmy Pontoh
Aerbanua
village
From Manado city, it takes about 3 hours to Aerbanua
village on Talise island. A small island that is isolated but beautiful and
rich in natural resources.
The people are friendly and hardworking with a total
population of 570 people. Their incomes are from fishing, agriculture, and as
farm laborers in other areas.
This village has limited access and facilities such as
transportation, electricity, markets, schools, health, and event information.
Some residents were forced to move temporarily to cities
or other places to work. Because of this, the village only looked crowded on
the weekends when they returned home.
In addition to fish and agricultural products, the village
also has the potential to become a new tourist destination to encourage rural
economic growth. It will provide more business and work opportunities for the
community.
Aproachement
To become an ecotourism village, first, I approach the
local government, the communities, and the school. It takes careful planning and
time management for this.
During these meetings, I provided motivation, ideas, and
alternative solutions to build community awareness of the importance of
preserving nature and its benefits for the economic growth of villagers.
The second action is a follow-up through programs such
as;
- Planting trees, including AEON Japan work camp
coordinated by JAFS
- Cleaning the beach of plastic waste
Obstacles
There are many obstacles, including failures that are
encountered, like long distances, time management, and the most difficult is how
to approach building community awareness about the natural potential for them.
To gain their trust, I must understand the character and
habits of the local people by regularly visiting and communicating with them. The
considerable distance from where I live is quite difficult to manage the
schedule of activities and operational costs.
Results
From the activities that have been carried out, now the
government and village communities have implemented several programs as a
result, such as;
1. One person plants one tree; each person will plant and
maintain one tree.
2. Saturday clean program; clean the beach from plastic
waste.
3. Establishment of the Tourist Development Community
4. Protecting forests and wildlife
5. Protecting fish and coral
No,w Airbanua village, is starting to get attention and
piloting from surrounding villages about activities related to environmental
conservation.
For maximum results, this village still needs help for
environmental conservation activities until it can become independent and a
pilot village for other villages.
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