Today, June 8 we continue the idea, originally put forward by the Canadian Government at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, to pay special attention to the world’s oceans. Each year a special theme is chosen which in the past often included for instance the plastic problem. Today’s theme is Life & Livelihoods. Looking at the sad facts that we have already lost 90% of the big fish populations in the oceans and 50% of the world’s coral reefs we can immediately see how relevant the special 2021 theme is.
I am sure most of our Masarang Foundation friends know us best for our land rehabilitation work like reforestation, agroforestry, wildlife conservation, etc. But do not forget the hundreds of thousands of sea turtles hatchlings that went back to the ocean thanks to our work in Tulap and now also in our new Temboan and Salimburung projects. And though still very small scale we are working on helping the coral reefs recover which in itself will help the fish populations recover and that in turn will help the local people with more sustainable jobs and food security.
And let’s not forget that Masarang for years has organized beach clean ups with groups of school children, volunteers and local people and worked on recycling of plastic. We even invested in waste processing equipment for the people of Tomohon and made a masterplan to prevent plastic going to the oceans. Now we are starting a program on integrating ocean plastic waste from our almost 5 kilometers of coral beaches into our work on using local building materials that for instance can isolate walls better and thus safe energy while keeping our beaches cleaner.
On the left the villagers of nearby Mangkit cleaning up the Salimburung beach. On the right an international school from Hong Kong ready to to clean up the Tasikoki Beach
Besides all the past and ongoing work related to the oceans, I feel especially excited about our newest Temboan project. Here we show how the land condition and the coastal waters are intricately connected. By excluding artificial fertilizers and pesticides in our degraded land restoration and improving productivity through agroforestry we not only create sustainable jobs, healthy food production and sequestration of carbon dioxide but also prevent the ever expanding death zones in the oceans and maintain the huge underwater biodiversity in the coral reefs.
Through our work on land in Temboan Masarang is also supporting all the ecosystems above from mangroves and nipah palm forests to coral reefs and sea grass beds. All of them important to protect our coasts and contributing to reducing impacts of climarte change!
71% of the world is covered by oceans and they provide food, generate oxygen, regulate our climate and so much more but almost all that really matters starts from the small coastal zones where coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass are found and where we as Masarang Foundation do our part to ensure a better future that benefits people and our planet. There are so many special days but what really matters is how things are connected. And that is what Masarang is about, integration. If you pull on any single string in nature you will always find that everything else is connected to that. As I often say, nature knows best and we need to learn from nature if we want to safeguard this beautiful planet for all those that will follow us.
Willie Smits
June 8th, 2021
North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Leave a Reply