The death of six fellow mine workers in landslides became a turning point in the life of Marwandi. He works hard to be a conservationist so that the environment remains beautiful.
By
RHAMA PURNA JATI
·4 minutes read
KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI
Marwandi
The death of six fellow mine workers in landslides became a turning point in the life of Marwandi, 38. The resident of Juru Seberang village, Tanjung Pandan, decided to become a guardian of the mangrove forest. He works hard to be a conservationist so that the environment remains beautiful in the Bangka Belitung region.
Marwandi had been involved in illegal tin mining for 26 years, since he was in junior high school. "By mining tin, I can make money faster," Marwandi said in an interview in the Belitung Mangrove Park in mid-October.
For Marwandi, it was not difficult to earn tens or hundreds of millions of rupiah at that time. The high price of tin had made him a successful miner in Belitung. Usually in one digging, he worked on an area of half a hectare. "I once got as much as one ton in one day," he said. At that time the price of tin was about Rp 150,000 per kilogram.
Being a tin miner has indirectly shaped him into a person who is greedy and never satisfied with his results. "I mined from morning to night. I almost forgot my family," he said.
It\'s not easy to do that because mining has become a culture.
On the other hand, working on tin mining land is also risky. In each digging, the worker is under grave threat. The biggest risk is being buried alive. In fact, during his life as a miner at least six of his colleagues died that way.
Seeing the damaging impact of illegal mining, in 2012 Marwandi decided to stop. He chose to return to Juru Seberang village where he lived. In 1981, the village was damaged by offshore mining that had been taking place since 1943.
As a native son who is also a former miner, Marwandi tried to make people aware of preserving their surroundings. As a result, residents also started to share the same vision, especially the fishermen who began to make it happen. "They realize the natural damage also affects the fish catches of residents who have been working as fishermen," he said.
They filled up the old mine hole with soil and planted it with plants. On the other hand, residents also urged miners to stop. "It\'s not easy to do that because mining has become a culture," Marwandi said.
Assistance
Eventually, help from the government came. It turned the area into a Community Forest Zone in 2013. As a result, the community could also manage it.
Various kinds of assistance came from several parties, ranging from the Indonesia Climate Change Trust Fund (ICCTF) to the Terangi Foundation, which helped develop residents and built a number of facilities worth Rp 2 billion for 18 months from February 2017 to June 2018.
By returning the mangrove function, the ecosystem will improve again
The project was able to collect assistance from other agencies amounting to Rp 21.9 billion. Since then, the Belitung Mangrove Park has been opened, which has a direct economic impact on the local community.
With this assistance, the rehabilitation program is becoming more and more intense. The mangrove rehabilitation area covers 45 hectares and the income of residents increases. There are 203 residents included in the management, about 40 of whom work to manage the area, including rehabilitating the area by planting mangroves. "By returning the mangrove function, the ecosystem will improve again," said Marwandi.
In fact, the community forest is able to collect income of up to Rp 60 million per year from tourist visits. In 2018, the number of visitors reached 74,000, an increase compared to the previous year of only 34,000. Until October 2019, the number of visitors to the Belitung Mangrove Park area was 65,000 people.
KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI
Marwandi
The community members’ interest in conducting rehabilitation is very high. They realize that by rehabilitating mangroves they get many benefits, both in terms of an improved environment and income from increased catches. In the Belitung Mangrove Park, residents who are members are involved in managing the tourism park, ranging from the involvement of the local tribes in making attractions to crab cultivation.
Indeed, the income Marwandi earned when managing the forest was not as much as when he was a miner. "My income has decreased by 90 percent," he said. However, guilt for destroying the environment no longer haunts him. That feeling has changed to satisfaction because he has a role in protecting the environment for future generations.
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