The mother of two children encourages the community to fight rubbish and preserve the environment. Dozens of trash bins made from used plastic bottles were to be seen on every street corner on Pramuka island, one of the biggest islands in Thousand Islands, Jakarta on Saturday (26/6/2019).
The recycled plastic bins are evidence of the struggle of the Thousand Islands community against plastic waste. They are aware that trash is the main enemy of tourism in Thousand Islands. Imagine surfing around the beach and finding plastic bottles, detergent packs and plastic bags floating in every square meter of the sea.
Broadly speaking, there are three sources of waste in Thousand Islands, namely marine waste, garbage from the island and garbage from the mainland of Jakarta. Thousand Islands does not have its own landfill. Waste from Thousand Islands is collected and then transported by ship to the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java.
The transportation costs of the garbage can reach tens of millions of rupiah for each shipment because the local administration has to rent a ship to transport the garbage. The waste shipment is carried out once a week. "We want to create a shortcut so that part of the waste can be managed here. The rest is sent to Bantar Gebang," said Mahariah, the chairperson of the Rural Counseling and Conservation Center (SPKP), which is engaged in education, environmental rehabilitation and the creation of environment-based alternative livelihoods.
As the chairperson of the organization, Mahariah has guided the residents of Thousand Islands not to throw away their garbage, but to process it into products with economic value such as trash cans, chairs, and decorative lamps.
The war on waste began in 2006 when Mahariah was entrusted by residents with the chairmanship of the SPKP. Mariah, who is also a teacher at the Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Negeri 17 Islamic elementary school in Panggang Island taught the local residents to manage their own waste. She did her extra work after finishing teaching at the school. As a result, part of the garbage problem on Pramuka Island has been overcome. In addition, there is also growing awareness among the island communities about reducing the use of plastic bags.
Mahariah then targeted schoolchildren. Every week, she holds a special class on environmental conservation at elementary schools with the help of high school students, who act as mentors for the elementary school students.
Scorn
However, Mahariah’s good intentions were not well received by the local community. Some of them sneered and thought that Mahariah was just looking for a “project” for money. Another challenge was that when the effort to fight the waste had begun to show its results, the residents asked for a return for what they had done. This made Mahariah aware that every effort to save the environment must be accompanied by an economic approach. Therefore, when she expanded her fight against garbage to mangrove-planting activities, she gave a "reward" to the residents who took part in the program.
Mahariah, for example, asked residents to look for mangrove seeds and buy the seeds at Rp 100 each. This approach worked well. More people joined the movement. Initially, there were only between 10 and 15 people involved, and now the number has reached hundreds. The results are truly encouraging.
Now, some 11 islands in Thousand Islands have been planted with mangroves since 2007. The area that has been planted with mangroves amounts to about 1,000 hectares. "To maintain the sustainability of planting mangroves, I taught them how to plant mangroves correctly. After a while they become guides and get fees from mangrove-planting events held for tourists," she said.
Ideally, every 1 meter there should be a biopore.
Mahariah did not stop there. She went further by inviting residents to make biopores and infiltration wells. Currently, there are 10 infiltration wells on Pramuka Island. That number is still insufficient. "Ideally, every 1 meter there should be a biopore," she said.
The development of tourism in Thousand Islands also concerns Mahariah. As the number of tourists increases, the homestay business also grows and is becoming out of control. This situation threatens green open spaces and rainwater catchment areas on Pramuka Island.
To overcome this, she proposes the concept of building “floating" homes for the tourists. The idea is still awaiting realization. As a result of the various environmental-conservation efforts undertaken by Mahariah, the mother-of-two was awarded the Kalpataru national environmental award in 2017 for her dedication as an environmental activist. She was very honored by the award.
However, what Mahariah really wants is the environmental rescue movement she initiated in Thousand Islands to also be implemented in the mainland of Jakarta.
Mahariah
Born:Thousand Islands, December 30, 1969
Husband:Ahmad (late)
Children:Intan Syahriani (25)
Education:
- SD 01 elementary school, Panggang Island
- SMP 133 junior high school, Pramuka Island
- SMA 69 senior high school, Pramuka Island
- S-1 Islamic Education, Salahudiin Al Ayubi Islamic Higher Education., Jakarta
Occupation: Teacher at Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Negeri 17 Islamic elementary school, Panggang Island
Award: Kalpataru from the President of Indonesia in 2017 for her dedication as an environmental activist