JEJAK GARUDA GOES TO MALUKU JUNE 2013

Rethink Where You Stay

Beaches are attractive. Fishes are attractive. Corals are attractive. Resorts are the most attractive (?)

It will not take a long time for us to be so attracted with lovely beaches of Indonesia, and amongst many, one shining diamond in the Islands of Herbs, a beach named Ora. We can easily say I love the view and once you snorkel into the water youll have more Whoaaah before you say another I love the underwater view and have another 10 minutes automatic brain wash by the super charming view that you can think for the rest of your life you can be so in love with corals. But the loveliest thing of Ora is the lodge, the so-called Eco Resort which stands romantically above the coastal water1, in an area very close to the healthy corals just outside your windows. The idea of bungalows above the water has been adopted by numerous lodges around the world, notably those ones in Maldives and Bora-Bora.2 Similar as in Indonesia, anywhere people have this opportunity to make this kind of tourists dream come true resort, they will indeed provide the tourists demand. While the law in Indonesia recognizes a minimum sterile conservation area of 100 meters3 from the highest tide as coastal border4, the practice shows that eco-tourism resorts still build its resort even above the coastal water, either under strict legal requirements or without specific stricter environmental requirement.

Pict 1: The view of corals from outside the Resort of Ora Beach (source: Margaretha Quina)

The terminology for beach (pantai) and coast (pesisir) differs in certain degree in its legal aspect, while beach considered as a part of the coast. Beach is the meeting point between the highest tide with the land, while coast covers areas which in between the impacts to the land cover the areas where the impact of the sea still occur (i.e. wind, temperature, vegetation, etc), vice versa to the sea (i.e. sedimentation, pollutant, etc).See: S.A. Diraputra, Sistem Hukum dan Kelembagaan dalam Pengelolaan Wilayah Pesisir Secara Terpadu In: Koleksi Dokumen Proyek Pesisir 1997-2003, (Knight, M. dan S. Tighe, editor), Rhode Island, USA: Coastal Resources Center, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, 2003
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Another examples are from Sampoerna (Malaysia), Dubai, and Punta Caracol (Panama). Reef World, Australia is the best practice so far, with its own electricity generated from the solar panel, and a well-planned waste management.
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Coastal beach is by law categorized as conservation area. See: Article 13 and Article 14 of Presidential Decree no. 32 of 1990 regarding Management of Conservation Area
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Known as sempadan pantai in its Indonesian term, further elaboration in par. 3. See: The Decree of Ministry of Marine and Fisheries no. 10 of 2002. See also: Nanin T. Sugito and Dede Supandi, Urgensi Penentuan dan Penegakan Hukum Kawasan Sempadan Pantai, Bandung: Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, 2007

JEJAK GARUDA GOES TO MALUKU JUNE 2013

Since discussing the legality of the resort is none of our business, it might be more interesting for us to firstly look into the reason beyond the coastal border regulation. The coastal border covers areas along the coast dedicated for securing and conserving the beach, which functions to prevent abrasion and protect the beach from the destructive activities which might harm the preservation of coastal function.5It also aims to keep the coastal area from the pollution caused by human activities, and preventing the siltation of river estuary. 6While we talk about the coral ecosystem itself, more details on corals vulnerability will raise into the debate regarding the impact of human activities around corals. Human activity is one of the contributing factors to the death of corals. Development of coastal areas, bad management plan in land-use and land-use change, excessive exploitation of marine resources, also waste dumping and pollution from the marine vessels - all of them have negative impact upon the corals.7 In Indonesia, the practice varies, but we can see its developing. W ithout reference to thousands of lodges so-thatsuper-close to the coastal baseline (in other words, doesnt give a damn to the coastal border), I notice Derawan, Karimun Jawa, Misool, and Ora Resort which operates its tourism activity above the coastal water, or say coral ecosystem. More sadly, I surf through Google8 and found 3,6 millions of references of resort above the beach water in Indonesia and the first 10 pages did not mention anything about conservation. Most of the writings come from travel magazine or blogs or community journal, all emphasizing on beauty, uniqueness, luxury (or in contrast, cheap budget), and other promotional matters. Almost none of it comes along combining the idea of promotion with the critical thoughts on the site preservation, or at least, on the awareness raising about consciousness to travel sustainably in the coral-rich areas. Honestly I still had more expectation to travel writers before I finally give up on finding the writings on conservational efforts or research mentioning the legal Pict 2: Some resorts in Indonesia are built above the regulation and enforcement to ensure the sustainable tourism sea water (source: Margaretha Quina) in the biodiversity-rich area. Its probably one of the reasons why in all of my beach-trip I always found myself shouting to someone who recklessly step on corals for so long. First thing first, travelers, awareness: Are Indonesian travelers and tourist operators ready, in terms of attitude, to consciously act sustainably?

5 6 7

Ibid. Minister of General Affairs Regulation no. 09/PRT/M/2010 regarding Guidelines on the Coastal Safekeeping

Susie Westmacott, et. al., Pengelolaan Terumbu Karang yang Telah Memutih dan Rusak Kritis, Cambridge: The World Conservation Union (2000), pp. 4-5
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June 19, 2013 at 10:03 PM (GMT+7)

JEJAK GARUDA GOES TO MALUKU JUNE 2013

Then it will come further to the role of the state to keep the good conditions of its nature, as we know not only human but also the trees, the marine biota, have legal standing.9 State seen as the custodian of nature in its territory, and it is concretized in the legislative power to legislate, executive power to make and implement policies and regulation, and judiciary power to enforce the law. 10 It is the role of the state to authorize permission for anyone who wants to build a resort above the coral-rich areas, as in legal term, permit is a regime of exception to prohibition. In here we talk about the standard-setting how the state ensure before giving the permission that they know how waste management should be planned and arranged, what impact will the resort contribute to the natural environment, how to reduce and mitigate the impact, etc. Legal requirements actually put burden to the government for data collection and problem identification in managing the coastal border.11 But you can ask the resort operator about the legal requirement they need regarding the coral preservation, and we will see how strong the state has authorize its power. It will goes further again to the legal implementation. It is also the role of the state to ensure the compliance to the permission it has given. You can also ask to the operator what kind of effort they really do to preserve the corals to its maximum extent, and recheck it to them how the monitoring / inspection has been done by the legal government to ensure compliance. If someone from the group is impulsive enough to go to the local Environmental Department or Marine Department, Im not quite sure they can provide data regarding the monitoring and evaluation of environmental compliance from the resort.12But well, thats a mere assumption, and if any of you curious enough to do that I will be gladly waiting for the data.

Pict 3: Its the responsibility of government to ensure the resorts conduct will not harm this kind of beauty (source: Margaretha Quina)

Making bungalows above the rich-coral areas is not as simple as the two or three days stay tourists made during their holiday. People come and go, but the impacts accumulate. The world has seem to agree that the concept of sustainability doesnt mean 100% conservation, while in the other hand each traveler understands in their mind
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Law no. 32 of 2009 recognizes environmental legal standing in Article 92, incorporated under the NGO legal standing. See also: Christopher D. Stone, Should Trees Have Standing?: Law, Morality, and the Environment, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
10 11 12

Jimly Asshiddiqie, Hukum Tata Negara dan Pilar-pilar Demokrasi, Jakarta: Konstitusi Press, 2005. Ministry of General Affairs, Op. cit.

Ministry of Marine and Fisheries have a guideline regarding the Utilization of Water Conservation Area for the Water Tourism Activity since 2011. However the website doesnt provide the file. In 2012, the Ministry also issued a decree regarding Guideline on Evaluation of Management Effectivity of the Water Conservation Area. See: SK Dirjen Kelautan, Pesisir dan Pulau-pulau Kecil No: 44/KP3K/2012 tentang Pedoman Teknis Evaluasi Efektivitas Pengelolaan Kawasan Konservasi Perairan, Pesisir dan Pulau-pulau Kecil (E-KKP3K), 2012.

JEJAK GARUDA GOES TO MALUKU JUNE 2013

that in each journey they made they add more carbon footprints as well as environmental footprints to their dilemmatic list of stories. While reading this article, you probably think why putting the burden into tourism while there are so many coastal communities causing more damage to the environment? Why dont you just put the blame to the state as we paid taxes? And while the destructive habit and behavior of some poor coastal people13 roots so deep and structured, why should we give a damn for a high respect to the nature while weve paid high amount to enjoy it? The answer is in your money you paid to the tourist operators. The ball is yours. You are the consumers, the demand side, the kings who determines the life of the tourism industry who have all the demanding power while you raise their concern and speak together. Youve been taught with ideals, youve learnt the lessons you from your disciplines and as you know, youre in a more economically and educationally possible position compared to the poor community to preserve the romantic beauty that probably youll remember for the rest of your life. So, keep your eyes open, travelers!

Activism is the rent we pay for being in this planet Anita Roddick14, 1942 2007 Warm hugs, Margaretha Quina

See also: Ekologi Ora Eco Resort http://bongsochicha.blogspot.com/2013/03/ora-beach-ora-eco-resort.html Be A Carbon Conscious & Responsible Traveler! Sustaining Tourism Website http://www.sustainabletourism.net/index.html

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Bring in your mind that there are also too much good example of local wisdom defended by those so-called poor coastal people which have made significant impact to the preservation of the environment, i.e. the Adat Law which prohibit the utilization of bomb in fishery in Sikka, NTT, etc.
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Founder of the Body Shop