✨It seems that almost every day there is another story about pollution of one form or another. It relates to the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. Very often our own actions lead to that pollution and in many cases we can do something about it. When traveling to Indonesia, one cannot avoid the topic of sea pollution. When swimming close to one of the Gili Islands that are located next to Lombok and Bali, it happens regularly that a plastic bottle or an old cigarette stub is next to you. At least, this is what happened to me when snorkeling on Gili Trawangan. It was such an experience, that I have organized an ad-hoc trash walk at the beach during sunset. Some tourists and some locals joined and we managed to collect more than 4 big plastic bags of trash within less than an hour. During this walk, I was asked whether I know the Gili Eco Trust. This is how our partnership has been starting.
✨Our local partner, the Gili Eco Trust, is based on Gili Trawangan in Indonesia. The trust was originally set up in the year 2000 to protect and restore the coral reefs around the 3 Gili Islands from destructive fishing methods. During the last decades, it has been shown that pure environmental efforts as e.g. waste management and recycling initiatives with businesses in the tourism sector alone are not sufficient. Education, in particular of local communities, is required. Since then, our Gili partner has been regularly set up weekly environmental lessons and activity days with locals working in the sustainable tourism area. Along with zero waste workshops, green and blue energy engineering strategies, the NGO is working with the government to provide experience and advice to further improve Gili Trawangan.
✨We feel very glad to support their intiatives. Each activity day we host together with the trust can reach up to 200 kids on the so-called “Green Da”y and 50 children on the so-called “Ocean day”. Further, we support there efforts to organize weekly after school environment clubs that is attended by around 45 children.
