KEBUTUHAN AIR DI KOTA KETAPANG

KEBUTUHAN AIR DI KOTA KETAPANG

APA KABAR AIR?

Sudah kurang lebih 2 bulan kemarau melanda ketapang… hujan hanya sekali2 dengan intensitas yang kecil. Terakhir hujan turun di ketapang sekitar 16 agustus 2009 lalu.Air asin mulai masuk ke sungai pawan sampai ke daerah negeri baru. Air terasa payau.Bagi masyarakt kebanyakan, air sangat dibutuhkan sekali terutama air bersih untuk minum dan mandi mereka sehari–hari. Rata–rata orang dalam sehari bisa mengahabiskan air 20–25 galon sehari hanya untuk kebutuhan MCK.Keadaan ini mengakibatkan masyarakat yang mempergunakan air sungai pawan untuk keperluan MCK mulai terganggu dan mulai sulit untuk memperoleh air tawar.Belum lagi di perparah dengan semakin banyakya supur (perigi) yang mulai mongering, bahkan tidak banyak sumur yang terinterupsi air asin.

- Kita bayangkan apabila 10–20 tahun lagi air telah benar–benar habis..Bahkan mungkin dalam satu hari kita hanya bisa menikmati setengah gelas kecil saja yang bisa kita teguk tidak pada 20 tahun kemarin…kita bisa minum 8-10 gelas/hari. Apakah kita masih bisa menikmati air yang selama ini kita buang begitu saja?? Apakah kita masih bisa mandi dengan air yang banyak untuk menyegarkan tubuh kita? Apakah kita masih bisa minum untuk menghilangkan rasa haus pada diri kita? Kemungkinan itu mungkin masih bisa,tapi sangat tipis sekali… Apakah masih ada orang – orang yang menjajakan air untuk di jual??jawaban nya, masih dan itu pasti dengan harga yang sangat tinggi sekali..mungkin untuk 1 liter air saja bisa mencapai jutaan bahkan puluha juta rupiah…percayakah anda???

- Bagaimana masyarakat memperoleh air tawar untuk kepentingan konsumsi dan MCK di ketapang pada musin kemarau ini?

Kebanyakan manusia sekarang untuk mendapatkan air tawar demi kebutuhan, mereka membuat parit atau sumur galian,dan biasanya juga mereka membeli air kepada perusahaan PDAM.

Bagaimana cara mengatasinya?? Mencoaba untuk memulai lah dari sekarang tanamkan sikap peduli lingkungan, buang sampah pada tempat nya, dan coba lah untuk menanam pohon walaupun hanya 1 batang saja. Menanam pohon sangat berharga untuk masa depan bumi kita, karena pohon dapat menyerap karbondioksida sepanjang hidupnya,dan siklus air secara terus menerus( pohon mennyerap air dan menguap ke udara sehingga membentuk awan yang kemudian menjadi hujan). Menanam pohon sangat berharga untuk masa depan bumi kita, karena pohon dapat menyerap karbondioksida sepanjang hidupnya

Mungkin hal inilah yang bisa kita tanamkan mulai dari sekarang untuk masa depan yang lebih cerah…GO GREEN.

Perjalan Si Pongo

Di sebuah hutan yang lebat... tiba-tiba ada seekor Orangutan yang sedang menaiki pohon.
Orangutan itu kelihatannya sangat lapar sekali dan memakan pucuk daunan yang masih hijau muda. Ketika Orangutan itu merasa kenyang akhirnya dia turun dan mencari tempat yang baru lagi. Pada saat dia berjalan di sebuah perkampungan masyarakat, ia melihat rumahnya ( Hutan) penuh dengan api yang sangat bekobar... Orangutan itu berpikir"Aku Harus Cari Makanan dimana Lagi"...!!! Dan kenapa ini harus terjadi???

Inconsistent policies accelerate forest destruction: NGOs

Adianto P. Simamora , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 08/13/2009 9:36 AM | National

Environmental groups said Wednesday inconsistency in government policies had played an important role in forest destruction, leading to continual forest fires and deforestation across the country.

The statement was made jointly by Greenpeace, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and Indigenous People’s Alliance-West Borneo (AMAN). Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said government policies issued this year were systematically destroying the country’s forests. “Such inconsistent policies have an impact on forest fires and deforestation in Indonesia,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

He said the government had issued a policy to stop illegal logging in Riau in December 2008.

“But, in March 2009, the government issued annual clearing permits for Riau, which then lead to forest fires and deforestation,” he said.

He said in January 2009, the government issued a policy to extend the pulp and paper industry’s time frame to use natural forest timber until 2014.

In addition, under the 2009 ministerial decree, the clearing permit decision-making process was taken over by the central government from the provincial administration. “The issuance of new plantation permits has triggered forest fires, like in Riau, Sumatra and Kalimantan,” Bustar said.

Greenpeace detected 161 hotspots in Riau alone, 532 in Sumatra and 2,012 in Kalimantan on Aug. 4.

Activists from the three organizations staged rallies in concession areas belonging to the country’s oil palm and paper company, Sinar Mas, around Sentrarum Lake National Park in West Kalimantan last week in protest the government’s inaction in stopping the continual forest fires and ongoing deforestation.

“This sensitive region is one of the largest wetlands in the world, the water source for Indonesia’s largest and longest Kapuas river and the main source of protein for West Kalimantan’s 4.5 million people,” Bustar said.

Representatives of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a subsidiary of the Sinar Mas Group, also attended the press conference at the Greenpeace office on Wednesday and distributed a official statement from APP regarding the forest fires.

“It is misleading and plainly illogical to suggest that APP and its pulpwood suppliers are the cause of forest fires in Indonesia. In fact, APP has a strict ‘no burn’ policy. Forest fires are damaging to our investments, our pulpwood suppliers’ plantations, and to protected conservation forests.

“We work hard to avoid, detect and contain them,” the statement said, adding that the company spent US$2 million annually on fire management, for pumps, helicopters and fire-fighting training.
In July, it identified 213 forests fires on land belonging to the pulpwood suppliers, 199 of which were caused by illegal forest encroachment by local communities and 14 by illegal logging activities.

The Office of the State Ministry for the Environment found hotspots spread across concessions belonging to 77 companies in Riau in the first seven months of the year.

Greenpeace renewed calls on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to prioritize forest protection to save the forests and help alleviate global warming.

“His promise to the international community to reduce hotspots by 50 percent by 2009 to deal with global warming could fail if President Yudhoyono does not take strict action now,” Bustar said.

Dry Season

Here in West Kalimantan we are well into the dry season. While there are some nice things about this time of year - it is easier to get around as the roads are more dirt than mud, and we've has some great fruit harvests over the last month with durian, mangosteen and rambutans all over the place.

But one of the biggest downsides to the dry season is that it also becomes the burning season here. Everyday you can see little towers of smoke dotting the hills from slash-and-burn agriculture. It's bad enough when you think about all that smoke entering the atmosphere, but even worse when you realize that many of the areas being cleared were forests only days before.

In Ketapang, an alarmingly high number of people have respiratory issues. I haven't seen any official statistics, but there are plenty of children and adults that complain of asthma-type conditions. Fortunately this year the fires do not seem to be too great, relatively - perhaps the massive deforestation means less to burn, but the fires are still small enough, that the effects have been relatively mild compared to a few years ago, or our neighbors. About 250 kilometers north of us, forests fires continue to have severe effects on the district capital of Pontianak. The smoke gets so thick that airplanes are often delayed or canceled due to poor visibility, and the pollution causes health problems such as stomach ulcers. Visitors from Pontianak often talk about how nice it is to be able to breathe fresh air here, but every morning, with each new plume coming from the hills, one has to wonder for how much longer that image will last.

Orangutan Terdesak ke Tepian Sungai

Kamis, 11 Juni 2009 17:48 WIB

Simpang Hilir, Kalbar (ANTARA News) - Pembukaan lahan di seputar kawasan Taman Nasional Gunung Palung (TNGP) di Kabupaten Kayong Utara, Kalbar, memaksa orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) terdesak ke hutan yang tersisa di tepian sungai.

Yusuf (20), seorang pekerja di permukiman Blok Q PT Jalin Vaneo di Kecamatan Simpang Hilir, Kamis, mengaku kerap melihat orangutan di pinggir Sungai Semadang.

"Orangutan itu tengah memakan umbut tanaman nipah yang banyak terdapat di tepian sungai," kata Yusuf.

Yusuf sudah satu bulan bekerja di permukiman yang berjarak sekitar 20 kilometer dari Desa Batu Barat, Kecamatan Simpang Hilir tersebut.

Ia melihat dua ekor orangutan dewasa dalam hari yang berbeda. Namun waktunya sama, sekitar pukul 11:00 WIB.

Joni (17), pekerja pembersihan lahan PT Jalin Vaneo di Blok L hampir setiap hari juga melihat orangutan di tepian Sungai Semadang.

Blok L sekitar 30 menit ke arah hulu dari kawasan Blok P PT Jalin Vaneo bila ditempuh dengan speed boat bertenaga 40 tenaga kuda.

"Orangutan itu juga makan umbut tanaman nipah," kata Joni. Terkadang ada dua ekor orangutan di tepian sungai. Joni sudah bekerja di Blok L sejak Januari tahun 2008.

Menurut dia, sewaktu hutan di kawasan itu masih baik, agak sulit menemukan orangutan. Namun setelah pembersihan lahan dilakukan, orangutan mulai sering terlihat. Perusahaan perkebunan kelapa sawit PT Jalin Vaneo menyisakan areal hutan dengan lebar dari tepi sungai sekitar 100 meter.

"Di hutan tepi sungai itu kerap terlihat orangutan," kata Joni.

Manajer Perlindungan Hewan Yayasan Palung Tito P Indrawan mengatakan, satu ekor orangutan jantan membutuhkan luas kawasan hutan dua kilometer persegi.

"Kalau saat ini mereka kerap terlihat di tepian sungai, terpaksa karena hanya itu hutan yang tersisa di kawasan itu," kata Tito P Indrawan.

Orangutan, lanjut dia, bersifat individual sehingga kalau habitatnya tergusur akan sulit untuk beradaptasi di daerah lain.

Humas PT Jalin Vaneo dan PT Cipta Usaha Sejahtera, Omay Kamaruzzaman mengatakan, mereka menyediakan sebagian lahan perkebunan untuk hutan konservasi.

PT Jalin Vaneo dan PT Cipta Usaha Sejahtera mendapat konsesi lahan masing-masing 20 ribu hektare di Kecamatan Simpang Hilir.

Perusahaan juga siap untuk membantu evakuasi orangutan yang terjebak di areal perkebunan dan permukiman penduduk setempat.
(*)

Uji coba Jalur Presentasi Pusat Pembelajaran-YP

3-5 Mei 2009, sebanyak 24 siswa yang terdiri dari 3 sekolah (SMAN 2 Ketapang, SMAN 1 Sukadana dan SMKN 1 Sukadana) tersebut melakukan uji coba jalur presentasi di Pusat Pembelajaran-Yayasan palung di Desa Pampang Harapan.

Selain itu, mereka juga menerapkan praktek THAB (Teknik Hidup Alam Bebas), survival dan belajar meng-inventarisasi tumbuhan dengan metode petak tunggal di beberapa tipe habitat yang terdapat di sepanjang jalur, tipe hutan sekunder, tipe hutan primer dan ekoton (batas) antara kedua tipe habitat tersebut, dan membuat herbarium dari sampel tumbuhan.

Tujuan penggabungan 3 sekolah di dua kabupaten dalam kegiatan ini, agar para siswa dapat berkolaborasi, bertukar informasi dan pengalaman yang mereka dapat dari latar belakang yang berbeda.

Di harapkan, dalam kegiatan ini terbentuk mental dan kepribadian siswa yang mandiri, peduli terhadap hutan dan pelestariannya, sehingga di masa depan mereka dapat memanfaatkan sumber daya alam yang ada dengan arif dan bijaksana.

Trip to Cabang Panti

Yayasan Palung grew out of conservation activities initiated by Dr. Cheryl Knott about a decade ago in West Borneo. Dr. Knott had been researching the orangutan population in Gunung Palung National Park since the early 1990s, and our organization continues to work closely with international research projects in the park. This week, the Yayasan Palung staff visited the Cabang Panti site in the park, where international and Indonesian researchers are observing the behaviors of orangutans, gibbons and leaf monkeys.

Although most of the staff grew up in Ketapang or Kayong Utara regencies, one of the very last places in the world which still have wild orangutans, and have been working for years on orangutan conservation, few of us had ever seen an orangutan in the wild. We regularly have orangutans go through our transit center - but these animals are usually sick and miserable, having been taken from the forests, usually severely malnourished and kept in unsanitary conditions as pets. Maybe it was just my imagination, but when the wild orangutans looked at us I did not see the same sadness or pain that I see in the rescued domesticated animals.

We were lucky - wild orangutans are known to be solitary and hard to find, but the researchers identified several animals. Two groups of Yayasan Palung staff were able to see a total of six animals in one day - one adult male, one adult female, and two mothers each with one child (the pictures are of some of these animals, taken by researcher Tri Wahyu Susnto). While we were very excited to see such a healthy orangutan population, our trip also gave us sufficient cause for concern. On our hike up to the camp and back out of the park two days later, we heard trees being felled and saw multiple signs of illegal logging and hunting actively taking place withing the National Park boundaries.

When we got home, I was exhausted. Still I knew that the work before us to protect the orangutan of West Kalimantan is going to be much more difficult that the dozens of hours we spent hiking through leech-infested forests and swamps. But now, should I ever feel tired or frustrated with setbacks we might face in building a conservation movement here, I can reflect back to how much happier the orangutans look in the wild, and should easily be able to draw the strength to keep on working to keep them there.