Rethink Where You Stay

7/28/2019 Rethink Where You Stay

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JEJAK GARUDA GOES TO MALUKU JUNE 2013

Rethink Where You Stay

Beaches are attractive. Fishes are attractive. Corals are attractive. Resorts arethe 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.

1 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

2 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.

3Coastal 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

4Known 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

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


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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 ofhuman 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. Without reference to thousands of lodges so-that-

super-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 saycoral

ecosystem.

More sadly, I surf through Google8 and found 3,6 millions of

references of resort above the beach water in Indonesia andthe 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 legalregulation and enforcement to ensure the sustainable tourism

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?

5Ibid.

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

7 Susie Westmacott, et. al., Pengelolaan Terumbu Karang yang Telah Memutih dan Rusak Kritis, Cambridge: The World

Conservation Union (2000), pp. 4-5

8 June 19, 2013 at 10:03 PM (GMT+7)

Pict 2: Some resorts in Indonesia are built above thesea water (source: Margaretha Quina)


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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-settinghow the state ensure before givingthe 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.

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

9Law 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.

10Jimly Asshiddiqie, Hukum Tata Negara dan Pilar-pilar Demokrasi, Jakarta: Konstitusi Press, 2005.

11 Ministry of General Affairs, Op. cit.

12 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.

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


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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 thinkwhy putting the burden into tourism while there are so many

coastal communities causing more damage to the environment? Why dont you just put theblame 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, 19422007

Warm hugs,

Margaretha Quina

See also:

Ekologi Ora Eco Resorthttp://bongsochicha.blogspot.com/2013/03/ora-beach-ora-eco-resort.html

Be A Carbon Conscious & Responsible Traveler!Sustaining Tourism Websitehttp://www.sustainabletourism.net/index.html

13 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.

14 Founder of the Body Shop
http://bongsochicha.blogspot.com/2013/03/ora-beach-ora-eco-resort.htmlhttp://bongsochicha.blogspot.com/2013/03/ora-beach-ora-eco-resort.htmlhttp://www.sustainabletourism.net/index.htmlhttp://www.sustainabletourism.net/index.htmlhttp://www.sustainabletourism.net/index.htmlhttp://www.sustainabletourism.net/index.htmlhttp://bongsochicha.blogspot.com/2013/03/ora-beach-ora-eco-resort.html

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Rethink Where You Stay