Reef Check Indonesia Helps Sanur, Bali Become ‘Clean and Green’

Reef Check Foundation Indonesia has congratulated Sanur Village Festival organizing committee for a successful event.

Reef Check recently assisted the Sanur Village Festival committee to run a beach cleanup in the lead up to the launch as well as taking part in the “Blue and Green Community” stall at the festival.

Involving many schools, other local environmental groups, staff from local businesses and community members, Dewi Sri from Reef Check says the cleanup at Sanur’s popular beach was a big success.

“We were really impressed by the number of people who took part in the cleanup,” she said.

“There was really great support from many of Sanur’s local businesses – including all of those that provided their staff to help pick up rubbish and those that supplied food for all the volunteers.”

“Importantly, in just a couple of hours the group collected a total of more than 300kgs of rubbish. That’s a big pile of rubbish that would otherwise be ruining our beaches and reefs and choking birds and animals.”

“While the cleanup was successful, we really want to encourage all of Sanur’s residents and visitors to avoid littering in the first place.

“Rubbish in our marine areas is one of the biggest threats to Indonesia’s coral reefs and all the animals that live within the reef.

An underwater cleanup at Semawang was held for the first time, thanks to support and donations from some local dive centres.  About 150 traditional ceremonial trees were donated by the government, planted near the beach and adopted by the community.

At the “Blue and Green Community” stall, approximately 10 local environmental organizations and NGOs including Reef Check were involved in running an education program for kids.

Activities included environmental educational games, storytelling, movies and books for kids, as well as local traditional gamelan, dalang and wayang shows performed by kids for other kids.

Live reptile displays were particularly popular, and many kids took up the opportunity to draw a picture on canvas bag which they could then take home to reduce plastic bag use in the future.

Other activities at the stall included a recycling competition and sale of compost made and plants grown by the community. An expert seminar about traditional Balinese ceremony plants and their role in the environment was well attended by more than 100 people.

“Hundreds of kids came to the stall during the festival. It was really great to see so many kids get involved, because they are the next generation and they will inherit the environment around them.

“We try to teach the kids that Bali is our home, so let’s do the right thing and keep it clean.”