It is no longer a secret that environmental damage is a major problem for living things today. Environmental damage has a detrimental impact on plants, animals, and also humans who live on earth. Of course self-awareness is the most necessary thing in order to protect and protect this already vulnerable earth.
One way to make someone can have self-awareness is to bring them directly to see and feel. Like what the participants of the School of EcoDiplomacy 2019, Manokwari, did on the second day through field trip activities. There are two predetermined locations, the Gunung Meja Nature Park and Petrus Kafiar Beach.
Both places provide lessons for participants. Divided into forest groups and sea groups, they make a drama show of this activity and compile an action plan on what to do about the issues they get from each location.
Forest groups like to be in the Gunung Meja Nature Park because of the tall and shady trees, as well as the chirping of birds they hear. But unfortunately they still see the amount of garbage scattered.
“It would be more fun if the trada is eh eh? Tourists and local residents must be the same to take care of it. There are already many in the front, how about in it.”
Seeing and feeling how waste makes them uneasy, forest groups create action plans such as socializing types of waste and their impacts, utilizing plastic waste for recycling, community empowerment, and finally providing a trash bin.
Turn to the sea groups that explore Petrus Kafiar Beach by getting the history of the beach. They also found that the livelihoods of the local people here were fishermen and farmers, the results of which were consumed by themselves. The beach, which was established by the tourism office in collaboration with the University of Papua and others, used to have a lot of turtles, but because of the ignorant hands of turtles are now rarely seen.
The action plan that the marine group wants to do is by making trash bins, cleaning the beach once a month, doing 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), making gasoline from plastic waste that can help the economy of the community, challenge friends, and provide community information for counseling.
“We want to build awareness in the Manokwari community and not forget to remind the community’s economy too. Hand in hand to protect nature that God has given to us. Never ask about the nature we have given, but ask us what nature has already given.”
