National Parks
The island has only one national park, the Taman Nasional Bali Barat (West Bali National Park). This protected area hosts a wide variety of ecosystems (mangroves, savannahs, grasslands, rainforest, marine areas) and a remarkable diversity of fauna and flora.
The challenges of agriculture
The island based its development on rice farming, before the advent of tourism. Two of these rice fields are now classified as UNESCO World Heritage sites, but a number of them have been sold for the construction of hotel complexes. Ancestral rice farming was based on "commons", i.e. the sharing of resources including water, and cooperation. Today these commons are crumbling, and water is being overused for tourist infrastructure. In a country where more than 70% of the population is made up of rice farmers, conflicts over water are emerging between farmers and hoteliers. The environment is also affected by new practices, such as the introduction of pesticides, which have environmental and health impacts.
And tourism was
The 1960s saw the development of mass tourism, with the construction of resorts and an airport. While tourism brought better living conditions for many inhabitants, it also contributed to the erosion of part of the local culture, based on the Tri Hita Karanae, a philosophy that advocates the search for a certain harmony with the living. Natural building materials (including bamboo) have been replaced by cement, and banana leaves used as packaging have given way to plastic. The sanitation of domestic water, including those related to tourism, is still insufficient. The introduction of plastic and the sharp increase in waste production have not been followed by the establishment of a sufficient and adequate waste collection and treatment system. The construction of the first airport and the project to build a second one is generating an increasing number of visitors and greenhouse gases, and this in a context of climate change, already palpable on the island. Global warming is causing an increase in sea temperature, which has deleterious effects on corals. It also contributes to a greater intensity of certain phenomena (rain, drought), while reducing the rainy season, which affects biodiversity but also anthropic activities including agriculture.
The ravages of plastic
The facts speak for themselves: in 2019, a sperm whale was found stranded on the Indonesian coast. The autopsy reveals 6 kg of plastic in its stomach. The image of Bali is also that of mounds of waste that litter the beaches and the sea. The flow of waste is linked to different factors. The gradual introduction of plastic in packaging and mass tourism have contributed to a significant increase in waste production on the island. The ban on the import of plastic waste in China, which no longer wishes to be the dumping ground for many countries (including European countries) has shifted the flow of this waste to Indonesia, where reprocessing is insufficient. This situation generates strong environmental and health issues. Thus, in 2017, Bali had to declare a "state of waste emergency" in the face of a situation that had become untenable. Only a part of the waste is sent to recycling channels, the other part being disseminated in nature, deposited in landfills or burned. These facts reveal a global pollution, which can only be stopped by a reduction of waste at the source, which includes a ban or a drastic limitation of plastic. Among the actions implemented on the island, awareness raising has been carried out with children but also with professionals. Pollution is sometimes invisible to the naked eye, such as that linked to microplastics and nanoplastics present in our clothes, household products and cosmetics which, after passing through the washing machine, ends up in rivers and oceans. Preventive actions exist, such as the ban on single-use plastic in Bali in 2019, or "zero waste" approaches, implemented in some shops on the island for example. Choosing your consumer products well - by taking care to read the labels - is a way to reduce plastic pollution. Finally, you should know that it is possible to install micro-plastic filters in washing machines. To go further: www.zerowastefrance.org.
Initiatives are being put in place
Various initiatives are being deployed on the island to preserve biodiversity, limit pollution and adapt to climate change. These initiatives are based on raising awareness of the inhabitants, but also of tourists, to the management of waste and plastic pollution of the oceans. Thus, the association is working on the collection and recycling of the island's waste(www.PeduliAlam.org). NGOs are also working in the field to set up programs for the preservation of coral reefs, such as the Reef Check Foundation(www.ReefCheck.org). An "ecological" school, called Green School, initiated by Anglo-Saxons, has been created with a coherent and inclusive approach: eco-materials, natural ventilation, mixed organic canteen, learning oriented towards ecology, practical work, etc. Another example is 4Ocean, a company with a mission founded by two former students from Florida, after a trip to Bali, which revealed to them the extent of plastic pollution. 4Ocean has already cleaned up more than 7,800 tons of trash since 2017 around the world. The company is rolling out its work in Bali, where it also conducts outreach and employs local employees(www.4ocean.com). Faced with the ecological crisis, every gesture counts and we can all act. To measure your carbon footprint: https: //nosgestesclimat.fr/simulateur/bilan. To help preserve marine biodiversity, consider alternatives to chemical filter sunscreens.
