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| 20 February 2010 14:36:21 |
| Prigi Arisandi: Saving Surabaya’s river |
| Prigi, an environmental activist, has been vocal for quite some time about improving Surabaya River’s ecosystem. His interest in the river dates back to childhood.
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Every time you take a shower, wash your hands, or boil an egg, think about the activists in Indonesia who are fighting to bring you cleaner water. It’s a tough job, but activist Prigi Arisandi is determined to do it.
Prigi, an environmental activist, has been vocal for quite some time about improving Surabaya River’s ecosystem. His interest in the river dates back to childhood. When Prigi was still small, the Surabaya River was his favorite spot, where he used to play with his friends after school. In the 41-kilometer-long river, which runs from Mojokerto regency to Surabaya city, Prigi used to swim, fish and enjoy other activities.
The man who celebrated his 34th birthday on Jan. 24, still lives on the bank of the Surabaya River, in Bambe village, Driyorejo sub-district, Gresik regency.
As he grew up, he wanted to know more about the environment and the river’s ecosystem diversity. So he concentrated extra hard during his biology lessons at junior high school, since the science is closely related to the continuity of human life.
“As long as humans and the environment exist, our knowledge of biology will continue to grow, especially because Indonesia is rich in natural resources and biodiversity,” he said.
When he was in first grade in senior high school, he formed a group of young scientists whose scientific research concentrated on feeding banana-leaf worms to fatten hens, an advanced area of research for senior high school students at that time.
His knowledge of biology continued to grow as he enrolled at the School of Biology at Airlangga University (Unair) in Surabaya. He spent his time researching environmental development, paying particular attention to issues concerning the Surabaya River.
On campus, Prigi was known as a critical and forward thinker. When the student federation forum rejected his idea of conducting research and creating a riverside and mangrove environment in the East coast, he established Ecoton, the Ecology and Wetland Conservation Institution, through which he developed — with the help of his friends — an environment development concept, which inspired many others to follow suit.
One of his ideas, since developed by the Surabaya local government, was instigating mangrove tours in Surabaya’s East coast.
“My proposal at that time was substantial; at that time the condition of the mangrove ecosystem on the East coast of Surabaya was in a critical situation, on the verge of being totally destroyed,” he said.
Ecoton started building itself a reputation as an institute of research comprising biology students from Airlangga University who at that time were focusing on revitalizing the East coast of Surabaya. The institution soon succeeded in drawing the attention of students across other classes and university departments.
Running Ecoton became a full-time occupation for Prigi, taking him away from his studies. Most of the time he was usually off campus, networking with NGOs and conservationists, carrying out field research and conducting environmental seminars.
However, he felt that his institution could not be involved in the environmental reform movement because it kept coming into conflict with the bureaucratic policy of the campus.
In 2000, Prigi and his colleagues decided to take Ecoton off-campus and transform it into a formal NGO, also officially known as the Research Institute for Ecology and Conservation of Wetlands.
As an NGO, Ecoton’s agenda widened to include not only the East coast area of Surabaya, but also the very polluted Brantas River. Ecoton is the only NGO in East Java focusing its attention on those rivers.
What does Ecoton do now? Well, it pushes issues regarding the Surabaya River as an ecosystem with an integral role in sustaining life, and reports factories located on the banks of Surabaya River illegally dumping their industrial waste in the water.
Ecoton sends legal notices to the governor of East Java, Soekarwo, as he looks after matters pertaining to the classification of rivers.
In 2007, the governor of East Java agreed to include the Surabaya River in its classification system. Why is it so important the Surabaya River come under the government of East Java’s classification system?
Because the status of the Surabaya River has been unclear since 2001, as a result of discrepancies in government regulation.
It has been argued decree 187 should be revised because some aspects related to the burden of contamination of the river have not been defined.
“With this unclear classification and the load on the Surabaya River, law enforcement is difficult. The worst river polluters are only fined Rp 5 million (US$500) for their illegal activities,” Prigi said.
Factories are pouring industrial waste into the river — whose water is used as raw material to produce clean water for communities in Surabaya and surrounding areas — with no incentive to stop, Prigi added.
Prigi’s wife, also an activist working for Ecoton, is right behind him when it comes to conservation activities.
The only goal Prigi has set himself but hasn’t achieved yet is becoming a teacher. But he will continue to build on his knowledge, whatever the future holds.
Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/19/prigi-arisandi-saving-surabaya%E2%80%99s-river.html
JP/Ahmad Faisal |
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| Pemasuk tulisan: Prigi Arisandi |
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