About the Scholarship/ and University The University of Tampere was established on 1 January 2019 from the merger of University of Tampere and Tampere University of Technology, and now it is called as Tampere University. This university is also the major shareholder of Tampere University of Applied Sciences. Both Tampere University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences offer a number of scholarships for fee-paying students in order to provide excellent international students with high-quality yet affordable, education. Scholarships are not available for students in tailored degree education provided for a third party.
Requirements
To be considered for the Tampere University global student award for academic excellence scholarship or the Tampere University tuition fee scholarship, you must apply for the scholarship on your application for admission. To apply a scholarship, you must describe your academic qualification and motivation on the application form in writing (a maximum of 3500 characters allowed). The scholarship applications are processed by the Faculties and a University scholarship council.
The decision on the granted scholarship will be communicated to you together with information on admission. The early bird scholarship is available to all fee-paying students without a separate application.
Awards/ Grants
The programme consists of the following scholarships awarded at admission:
Tampere University global student award for academic excellence scholarships include a €7,000 annual scholarship to cover the student’s living expenses during the first year of the Bachelor’s or Master’s degree programme as well as a tuition fee scholarship covering 100% of the tuition fees in a three-year Bachelor’s or a two-year Master’s degree programme or both if the study right granted leads from Bachelor’s degree to a Master’s degree.
Tampere University tuition fee scholarships cover 100% of the tuition fees in a three-year Bachelor’s or a two-year Master’s degree programme or both if the study right granted leads from Bachelor’s degree to a Master’s degree.
Early bird scholarships covering 50% of the tuition fee during the first year of studies, available to all fee-paying students.
Application Process
Applicants have to take admission in the degree program at the University. To apply this opportunity an applicant must have a completed university-level Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in the field of the desired program or in a closely related subject. University accepts the following tests as proof of a good command of English. Please be notified that the application deadline is on 15 January 2020, and for further information, it is strongly advised to visit this Scholarship Link.
Global Warming and Climate Change (Image Credited to NASA)
Even if we stop pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and limit global warming to 2 centigrade, a cascade of tipping points may result in warming of 4 or 5 degree of Celsius, warns a group of 16 climate scientists. With that would come additional sea level rise of between 10 and 60 metre.
For most of the past half billion years, the Earth has been much hotter than today, with no permanent ice at the poles; the hothouse Earth state. Three million years ago, as carbon dioxide levels fell, it began oscillating between two cooler states: ice ages with great ice sheets covering much land in the northern hemisphere and interglacial periods like the present.
If Will Steffen at Stockholm University in Sweden and his colleagues are correct, we might be on the brink of pushing the planet out of the present interglacial state and into the hothouse Earth state. This means that even if all our greenhouse gas emissions ceased and we managed to limit warming to 2 Celsius by 2100 – we are currently on course for 3 or 4 Celsius by then – warming would continue over the next few centuries. The group also argues that existing models underestimate warming by at least 0.5 Celsius, because they don’t include all feedbacks, such as less carbon being stored in oceans or forest dieback. As Earth warms, more will be triggered. The team stresses it is pointing out a risk that needs studying, not something that is certain to happen. Some climate scientists expressed scepticism at the claim, although others thought it was reasonable.
As an Indonesian, we live in a multicultural society with different process of perspectives. With the current developing stages, people particularly within in well-educated group must be able to integrate the context of scientific thoughts into the behavior, so that it can be implemented throughout academic-based solutions either in policies or fixed technical aspects. To achieve these solutions, a good understanding is a must as it is needed to transform them based on philosophical principles. However, it seems that misunderstanding in defining the term itself has pushed us away from the basis.
The philosophical approach of the industrial revolution 4.0
According to the historical aspect, the beginning of industrial evolution was conducted in western society. It was the United Kingdom’s (UK) communities who had started the revolution throughout their transformations by changing the biological energy into machinery. This event has changed the views of people in conducting the social activities which lead to certain social conflicts. We cannot avoid that during the first stage of revolution, many social issues have been emerged among societies, and all of them have been connected to the way we live.
One of the most significant impacts that have been becoming the global issues is the environmental problems. Global warming and climatic change have been affected the global-related activities, for instance the food and agriculture, industrial sectors, and economic growth. People involving to these sectors have been trying to get out from these problematic issues. To solve these problems by analyzing the problems, doing research, and implementing the solutions based on the research. However, only certain communities have succeeded to manifest these solutions.
So, what is the industrial revolution 4.0? As it is explained primarily that the first stage of industrial revolution in the UK resulted environmental problems, the next phases of the revolutions have been considered to be produced certain-related problems. In the next revolutions, large scale productions supported by high demands of energy with the integration of automatic computerization systems have been conducted ever since the presence of technological advancements. However, these systems still produce the same issue which is the unfriendly environmental.
Therefore, the industrial revolution 4.0 is pointed out to design systems which our suitable to our biological factors. The biocompatibility reasons must be becoming the basis of policies or solutions, and this approach is popular with the name of sustainable.
Moving on from MDGs to SDGs
The declaration of the United Nations in September 2000 produced the program called as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which has been becoming the pioneer of global movements. However, the MDGs project was published to solve certain social issues such as child mortality and maternal health as well as the eradicating of poverty and global hunger. It seems that these policies were not completely success for global as in January 2016, the UNDP issued the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). So, what are they?
When the MDG achievements, such as the decreasing of mortality, had been conducted, the environmental problems are getting higher and higher. The increasing of global temperatures in certain parts of the world has been considering as the grand issue. As a result, the SDGs project which is started with the term “No Poverty” is interconnected to other specific problems such as hunger, health, education, equality, energy and legal. The 17 global projects must be able to be transformed into practical projects, such as what Ethiopians have been doing in the last decade.
To be concluded, with the rising of tension during the political year of Indonesia, the misunderstanding in defining the industrial revolution 4.0 is the key for developing the nation. With the support of cultural and religion factors, the vision of the future Indonesia indicated by the long-term solutions guided by the UN will become the holistically solutions. And what are they?
Nitrogen Pollution Increases The Population of Algae in Freshwater (image is credited to http://www.msrivercollab.org)
It has been arguably statement that Nitrogen could be affected the climate change as it is demanded importantly for our food preservation. However, the data could not be avoided that Nitrogen could cause more damage to the environment. Subsequently, we need to think deeper about how we use the fertilizers particularly those which related to nitrogen-integrated ecosystem.
Nitrogen (N2) is one of the inert gases which is needed for certain activities and those are including in farming sector. The agriculture aspect demands the gas for the growth of plants, such as vegetables. However, the more nitrogen we demand, the higher risk will be gotten. Nitrogen itself could be improving the growth of blue-green algae which is considered as toxic plant impacting the ecosystem. According to the recent events, the problems associated to nitrogen produce lots of greenhouse gasses resulting to ammonia, nitrogen oxide, and nitrous oxide, which contribute to acid rain or matter. Therefore, to counter this problem, scientists and farmers must reform the way of growing plants by using fertilizers.
Compared to the carbon dioxide pollution, chemical compounds based on nitrogen is far higher in impacting the climate change. As we mentioned previously, the leakage of nitrogen affects the ecosystem life in freshwater such as in river, basin and lake. In the United States (US) itself, the effects contribute up to 24 percent of contamination in Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin, while in the Europe itself it is estimated that more than 70 billion Euros of costs in preventing the pollution. How it happens?
The causes of compounds based on nitrogen
The beginning of the nitrogen pollution is started by the burning of fossil fuels in large-scale such as coal and oil. In petroleum industries, the nitrogen is used to prevent the process of ignition while at the same time it can reduce the corrosion in a vessel/tank. On the other hand, the discovery of Haber-Bosch process which allows the N2 to become inert contributes to the presence of ammonia in synthesizing valuable and cheaper fertilizers, which are needed to supply the global demands. As a result, either Nitric Oxide (NO) or Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and some acidic compounds are produced. The question is how are we going to reduce the contamination of nitrogen?
In addition to reduce the nitrogen pollution, we must avoid exaggeration use of nitrogen based compounds, such as in large scale use of nitrogen fertilizers. On the other hand, the declining utilization of fossil fuels in combustion process must be avoided particularly in providing the electricity.
Tempeh is one of food that is made from biotechnological aspect
One of the best solution in preventing the world hunger is by implementing the biotechnology in the world of wood preservation. Actually, biotechnology has been used for a long time ago since the humanity knew about how to preserve the food. The traditional activities in making dairy products like cheese and curd, beverage such as wine and beer are the part of biotechnology.
In biotechnology, the involvement of microorganism plays important role. Genetic changes of organisms during the process of making or preserving the food or beverages are essential process. For instance, in the process of fermentation, the preparation and manufacturing are started by providing the microorganisms with glucose which can be obtained from alcohol, wine, milk, vinegar. However, in the world of biotechnology, the process of fermentation which is similar with the previous explanation is called as traditional biotechnology. Although it can be considered that the fermentation process involved the yeast or bacteria as the working organism, still the method is traditional.
Regarding to the modern biotechnology, the process of making food or preserving food actually is similar with the traditional biotechnology. The difference lies only on the method, the others things including the use of living organisms are the same.
What is the definition of Biotechnology
If we translate it literally, the biotechnology comes from two words which are biology and technology. Literally speaking, we might have understood that the meaning of biotechnology is the use of technology based on biological aspect. However, it sounds to general. Therefore, according to high qualified institution, the biotechnology is defined as the process of controlling living things or organisms or biological agents to produce biological components that can be utilized for any aspects of life. And one of those utilization is the food preservation.
The history has been informing us about the use of biotechnology. In ancient times, the biotechnology is used to produce herbs for medicine, making bread, wine, and beer. And sometimes the biotechnology is used to preserve the food like in the production of yogurt and cheese which was used to save the rest of uneaten milk.
Ancient Indus people who lived in the Indus river, now in India, used the biotechnology to prepare fermented foods, beverages, and medicines. For the ancient civilization of Egypt and Sumeria, they used the biotechnology to brew wine by using yeast and to bake bread. On the other hand, the utilization and functionalization of bacteria in addition to produce vinegar had been used by the People in Mesopotamia. Today, for instance, the Indonesian people use yeast to produce Tempeh from soy bean and also to produce Tapeh from the rice, cassava and many more.
Traffic signs in Medan are not understood by the citizens properly
It has not been neglected that the traffic congestion happening daily in Medan was caused by the misbehavior conducted by the traffic users. On the other hand, the traffic facilities and infrastructure installed by the local government indicate that some of the students do not aware at all. This implies to the daily congestion which can actually be prevented by implementing certain solutions. But, what are the solutions?
As it is mentioned earlier, one of the cause-effect situation is the awareness of citizens in using the road. The first thing the government should have done is to educate and motivate the future users in using the roads which means the children itself. For instance, students from primary school, secondary schools which are junior and senior high school must be taught and trained correctly and properly in using or understanding the traffic signs in the road either by vehicles or walking. Social services must be also implemented by the government to raise the awareness of road safety to the students.
This solution actually can improve to reduce the numbers of traffic congestion which are caused by the misbehaving. However, what is the association of traffic signs with the solution mentioned previously?
Traffic signs help the user to understand how to use the road efficiently and effectively. On the one hand, the signs will guide the users about the road itself, for instance, the contour of the road which can provide safety for the users. The traffic signs also are designed to warn the users about the possibility of dangerous aspects of the road when using the road. However, the problems occurring among the users are not only about the presence of the traffic signs, which is the understanding of the users itself. I beg your pardon?
Well, mostly the traffic signs are not understood properly. In Indonesia particularly in Medan, the knowledge of traffic signs is merely taught to the people every time they want to take driving license test. Apparently, the education aspect of traffic signs is considered important only for adult people which is not suitable on the aspect of educating and motivating. Therefore, early education about traffic signs and regulation must be educated from early age so in the future their awareness related to traffic regulations will be higher than previous generation.
Consequently, the traffic congestion which is mentioned previously, caused by the lack of integrity of the road users in obeying the regulations, was occurred because of the low understanding. An illustration of this is the traffic congestion which happen daily nearby the educational institution. The education of traffic regulations is not taught by the schools or universities, while the related governmental institutions do not educate the society optimally. As a result, traffic congestion will be happening in the future in more numbers if the society is not educated well.
In conclusion, the traffic congestion happened in Medan are caused by the lack of knowledge of the traffic users particularly about the traffic signs. Furthermore, education and promotion to the society is the better method to improve the knowledge.
Impatient of citizens of Medan becomes the key factor of traffic congestion too
As one of the biggest city in Indonesia, Medan still tries to improve the facilities and infrastructure to support the economic activities. One of those is the improvement of road to reduce the traffic which always happened particularly in the weekdays. However, the restoration of the roads is only used to avoid damaged on the road so it can affect the transportation system. Do the traffic congestion can be reduced by improving the road?
Similar to many cities in developing countries, the condition of big cities is the traffic congestion occurring in the rush hours. Normally, these hours are started in the morning after dawn and in the afternoon around 4 to 7 pm. If these are not organized well, the traffic congestion could be happening for the next four or five hours. This phenomenon must be solved quickly and thoroughly, but we must elaborate the issue firstly.
Traffic congestion in big city, for instance capital cities, is occurred because of the overcrowding in certain times. Due to the demands of life, many people working in big cities are originated from suburb areas. When the workhours are started, massif people move collectively from different areas to central region creating stacking which leads to traffic congestion. The overcrowding is the cause of traffic congestion because the many people use vehicles to go from house to the workplaces. Therefore, to reduce the traffic congestion, it is simply just to reduce the amount of vehicles. But, how can we do that? There are three things which can be elaborated to address this issue.
The first thing that the government can do is by providing the Mass Rapid Transportation (MRT) system. This MRT system could have transported many people from their houses to the workplaces. In Medan, this capital city is surrounded by many suburb areas such as Binjai, Tembung, Marelan, and Simalingkar areas which are respectively from North, South, East, and West. However, one of the MRT which is train is not operated except from Binjai creating congestion in the direction of Medan-Binjai. On the other hand, the others suburb areas generate heavy congestion as the society use cars and motorcycles to work.
Another thing is about the time of activities. The traffic congestion happens when people move from suburb areas to the central area which implies to the temporal over-population. To reduce the temporal over-crowding, the government must distribute the location of workplaces into several areas. Interestingly, schools and universities which are distributed in several areas in Medan cause the traffic congestion too as the students either are transported by their parents with vehicles or using private vehicles. The solution of this is by providing schools based transportation system organized by the government is promising while alternating the time schedule looks promising too.
However, the last thing we should have been aware is the increasing numbers of vehicles. These numbers were influenced by the ease of purchasing the vehicles throughout the monthly-credit system provided by insurance companies. An illustration of this is in one family which consists five people has five different vehicles because there is no expected transportation system.
Bottles of water produced by private companies are sold in higher price
Water is available everywhere in certain places, and this good is needed essentially for supporting the life. Water is used to do household activities such as washing and bathing, while in certain area, it is utilized to generate electricity by taking advantage of the flow. Despite of its utilization for household, the demand of drinking cannot be neglected because it is needed by public. Therefore, it is an obligation for the government in organizing, managing, and processing the water from all resources.
In Indonesia, there is national company which is responsible in managing the water. In local language it is called PT Perusahaan Air Minum (PT PAM) or in English is National Drinking Water Corporation. In respect of vast resources of natural water, the corporation manages the business by dividing the corporation into many divisions based on the region. For instance, in North Sumatera Province, the name of corporation is changed into PT Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum Tirtanadi (PDAM Tirtanadi), or in English Local Drinking Water Corporation. The word of Tirta means water indicating it is centrally led by the central company.
However, the story of these companies were stopped in term of drinking water. The water provided by PT PAM is rarely to be drunk by citizens. People intend to drink water from private companies which have been producing water bottle. This trend has been growing until now although in the first selling, people thought how can we buy water. But more importantly, this is crucial and important regarding the public health of citizens.
Although the drinking water is bought by the citizens in form of water bottle, the company still provides the drinking water for certain citizens particularly for them who cannot afford the water. However, in term of public health, the national company or the government itself should have managed it directly. Technically speaking, the national company should have launched the drinking water products so it can stabilize the market of drinking water conducted by private enterprises.
According to the Indonesian constitutional of 1945, stated in the section XIV about National Economy and Social Welfare article 33, clearly written that “the land and waters as well as natural riches therein are to be controlled by the state to be exploited to the greatest benefit of the people”. By understanding this constitutional law, the government should organize every water resources regarding the side whose controls. Hence, in this context, natural resources are utilized for social welfare not merely for private sector.
The most important thing comes to our mind, what is the association between the private sectors which control and exploit the water resources commercially with the society itself?
As we mentioned earlier that the natural resources which in this case is water for drinking is utilized and to be exploited for the greatest benefit of Indonesian. In many developed countries, the utilization of water provided by the government can be consumed by the citizens without charge. It means this can help the people who are in poverty to reduce their expenses in drinking water. Although the Indonesia’s national company has been providing the source of drinking water, the location of affording the water is not yet distributed very well because it is only available in the branch office.
On the other hand, the presence of free healthy drinking water provided by the governments will improve the government to maintain public health in higher quality. This will affect significantly for poor people who live in urban areas or big cities. But how is that related to the public health?
Mostly, water resources in developing countries are contaminated by dangerous materials such as heavy metals. Meanwhile, the products of bottle water and drinking water has been growing in the past ten years as several local companies has been monopolizing the market itself. Additionally, the importing policy opens the gate for foreign products to be marketed and promoted to the society.
Consequently, the price of buying products provided either by several local companies or foreign companies increases the price and these cannot be afforded by many people. As a result, unqualified companies which sell drinking water comes to answer the higher price by providing affordable products.
Okay, so what is the association?
Many of these mentioned companies are not accredited and standardized by Indonesian department of health regarding of the organizational and healthy aspects of water exploitation. This can increase the risk of spreading infected diseases such as typhoid while in Canada air-borne diseases such as giardiasis, schistosomiasis and trachoma are associated to unprofessional exploitation of water resources.
More importantly, most of these companies use metal-made tank which probably is oxidized in transporting the source of the water to their pumping station. The facilities and infrastructures provided by these companies increase the risk of contaminated water which can be spreading publicly. In big cities, another type of people who consume this water is university students. These people which are originated from rural sites are more likely to afford this type of water in saving their monthly living cost.
Overall, the demand of drinking water is increasing while the price of many products is also becoming more expensive. Therefore, to prevent the air-borne infected diseases which can generate national medical issues, the national company must provide affordable drinking water. Economically speaking, the presence of drinking water provided by local and national government companies would provide workforce too.
Indonesia's fish market mostly are constructed in open area
When fishing, the demands of cooling storage in order to keep the freshness for the fish are high among the fishermen. In particular, Indonesia’s fishermen which are still utilizing traditional and conventional method in fishing. Therefore, they seem to do fishing in quick way without expending too much energy. Therefore, trawling is one of the domino results of one of this issue. So, could this be one of the best solution for Indonesia fishermen?
Indonesia is a country which has sea as natural resources. This vast natural resources are not being utilized well yet, because of the imperfect method in fishing. One of the problem is the lack of knowledge of fishing which can lead to the understanding of preserving freshness on the fish. As a result, quick thinking about trawling which can provides lots of money because of the freshness is considered as win-win solution. However, the problem is trawling which can damage the reef as the main source of the fish.
Therefore, reducing one of the energy cost is one of the solution. In this article, the writer intends to explore the efficient method of using solar-powered refrigerator for keep the freshness of the fish. While the solar-powered machine may have explained in the future article.
The choosing of solar-powered energy for Indonesia fishermen is chosen because of the geographical condition in Indonesia. As tropical country, Indonesia has the beneficial aspect in term of the duration of sunlight. The solar radiation in Indonesia employs about 12 hours every season unless the rainy season depending on the weather. On the other hand, Indonesia’s solar irradiation data that had been collected by Meita Rumbayan and Ken Nagasaka in Jakarta in 2011 was between 15 to 25 MJ/m2 indicating high potential of solar energy [1].
Therefore, functionalization of solar cell or photovoltaic material in certain places to support certain industries is highly recommended and one of them is the fishery industries. The fisheries industries mainly are located nearby the shore implying the area that is opened wide meaning direct solar radiation contact. Generally speaking, with the total numbers of shoreline in Indonesia, cooling storage could improve fishery industries in Indonesia regarding the quality of the product.
The use of solar-powered cooling storage also can reduce the demands of power plant which has been used for generating electricity to society or household. On the other hand, Indonesia traditional fishermen which are mostly lack of budget in preserving the fish eventually would be aided by the presence of communal solar-powered cooling storage nearby the port.
To conclude, in improving the quality of fishery product the active participation by the government is crucial because the government has budget to improve facilities and infrastructures. One of the solution to obtain high-quality-exported fishery product is by constructing cooling storage which can preserve the freshness of the fish. By applying the solar cell technology, the government would not be worried regarding the energy consumption.
References
[1] M. Rumbayan and K. Nagasaka, "Estimation of daily global solar irradiation in Indonesia with Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method," in Proceeding of the International Conference on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology 2011, Putrajaya, 2011.
Farmers in Indonesia still depend on the solar activity for processing the salt
The decision of government opening the importing process of Sodium Chloride or Salt from Australia generated nonsensical explanation. It was only due to the weather anomalies, such as raining, the production and processing of salt could have not been achieved, so the ministry of trade decided to import the Salt from the others countries. The decision is not solving the issue because the salt makers are not well supported either in facilities and infrastructures and also they are not trained and educated well about the production and processing. How can the government decided to import salt?
Salt or in chemical term called as sodium chloride is one of the common product for consumption. In cooking, salt is responsible in generating bitterness which makes the cooking delicious. Despite of seasoning, salt is also utilized to keep the food fresh in traditional method of food preservation. Hence, salt is one of the essential product for human.
Consumption of salt is also important for metabolism, but consuming it excessively can cause many diseases including hypertension which lead to heart attack. Surprisingly, lack of salt could disturb the metabolism system as it supports the electrolyte and osmosis mechanisms.
Salt is produced and processed by crystallizing the seawater throughout radiating from sunlight traditionally and this method is called solar production and processing method. However, the production of salt in Indonesia met challenges because of the weather anomalies. Although weather particularly the sunlight is crucial and essential in producing and processing the salt, the production does not merely depend on the presence of sunlight. Optimization in salt manufacturing could be higher by applying technology in the method.
However, the government of Indonesia through the ministry of trade, fishery and marine as the authorized ministries do not have awareness in the technology of processing of salt yet. “The reason that the production of salt only reached about 0.23 of total target in Cirebon was caused by rain so the farmers could have not produced it”, stated by the official of local government of fishery and marine [1]. Technically speaking, this is the factual evidence that the related ministries put small awareness about the production. If weather is the problem, the solution is by constructing the production plant that can absorb sunlight without getting wet. Hence, the green house is one of the solutions.
In the meantime, in solving thus, the government issued the regulation to import the salt from another country which was considered as nonsensical solution. Importing is not a solution because we have the resources, but production plant is not constructed and operated effectively and efficiently. (note that Indonesia has one of the longest shoreline in the world).
Based on the data issued by the ministry of fishery and marine showed that the production of salt conducted by local communities had increased from 2011 to 2015 for 32 per cent averagely for a year. [2]. The referenced data suggested that in 2013 the production was the lowest as the hot season during that year was only two months.
From 2011 to 2015, the productions of salt accounted by the local communities were more than half, while the national and private enterprises produced less than a third from the national total. Surprisingly, the countries that imported salt to Indonesia were less-shoreline countries than Indonesia (Australia, India, China, New Zealand, and Thailand).
To conclude, the salt production in Indonesia was limited because of the lack of understanding in optimizing the quantities. Weather is not the main reason regarding of the production. Constructing the facilities and infrastructures, such as, green house is efficient and effective for traditional method. Whilst, the technology must be applied by implementing the crystallization method.
References
[1] B. Hermawan, "Cuaca Buruk Membuat Produksi Garam Rakyat Cirebon Turun," Antara, 26 November 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.republika.co.id/berita/nasional/daerah/16/11/26/oh8baf354-cuaca-buruk-membuat-produksi-garam-rakyat-cirebon-turun. [Accessed 07 August 2017].
[2] K. I. "Produksi Garam Indonesia," 2015. [Online]. Available: http://statistik.kkp.go.id/sidatik-dev/Berita/Analisis%20Produksi%20Garam%20Indonesia.pdf. [Accessed 07 August 2017].
[3] Image is credited form www.thejakartapost.com
Transforming Deli River into tourism attraction site and hydro power plant
(image is downloaded from https://upload.wikimedia.org)
Thousands of years ago, civilization begun nearby rivers. In order from the oldest, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indus, and China civilizations were the four top civilizations that influence the world so society established the fundament principles in life. Interestingly, those civilizations were firstly established nearby the rivers not merely for foods. So, why do not we manage it again like the old’s time did?
Respectively, Tigris and Euphrates; Nile; Indus and Yangtze/ Yellow rivers are the places for those societies for establishing their own civilizations and cultures. The decisions of rivers were firstly occurred as the source of water and it also provides food availability. Interestingly, with the growing of traditions and culture which produced knowledge and educations, the rivers also become part of social facilities and infrastructures including agricultural, transportation, storage, and nowadays tourism and energy.
Started back around 3000 to 3500 thousands BC, the Mesopotamian and Egyptian utilized the water availability not only for water preservation but also to do farming and even more they were able to determine the cropping season by observing the quantity of water on the rivers. On the other hand, Indus and China use it as new source of energy by converting the rivers’ flow into kinetic energy water wheel while the next civilizations used it to mill seeds in producing flour and others utilizations [1]. Interestingly, today’s civilizations utilized it for creating electricity by constructing dams.
Rivers were considered as source of foods and other utilizations. The same goes on today, water management for drinking, household utilization, agricultural and farming, but the interesting thing is the use for producing electricity.
In Indonesia, there are many provinces which have high current of rivers. Technically speaking, some of the rivers also formed in wide shape with high quantity of debits. However, as we know constructing rivers containing wider width and high current could become the main challenges whereas the small river produces small obstacles. Therefore, utilization and functionalization the small rivers’ flows in order to produce electricity are considered as better solution to that. Micro-hydro plant is the solution because it is environmentally friendly and the accessibility to build and operate is easy.
Medan is a capital city of North Sumatera Province and it has one river that flows centrally in the city. The Deli river starts in the eastern sites of the province located in Sibolangit in Deli regency and it flows to Medan towards to Labuhan Deli, Percut Sei Tuan, Medan Labuhan [2]. Interestingly, it is predicted it can generate 12.5 Mega Watt of electricity if the river banks is utilized completely [3]. This high potential of new resources of electricity is big which can answer the electric crisis in Medan particularly North Sumatera.
However, as the construction takes big expenses, the solution is the Micro-hydro power plant. This power plant is harvested from low current of river’s water so it is considered as renewable power plant which is friendly to the environment. Hence, the other good advantages are the ease of operation and low-cost of construction [4]. Fortunately, the interesting points about the re-transforming of Deli River also comes on the ecotourism aspect. Constructing the micro-power plant means conserving the river banks which can prevent the biodiversity in stable condition.
On the other hand, for example the river banks on Jalan Deli located in sub-district Glugur, can become one of the attractive place either in the morning or afternoon. There are three elements that must be fulfilled to improve a place into attractive area so the tourists interested to visit. They are the elements of transportation, related facilities and infrastructures such as water station, dock, and the attractiveness and tourist activities such boat. However, the river that can be tourist destination must aware about these six things[5], they are
The condition of riverside must be well maintained and utilized in proper ways
The potential for water attractions such as the flow, the riverside
The landslides of the river embankment must be reconstructed and it has low risk of avalanche
Additional facilities to support the good landscape such lights and benches or safety indicators
Community support from the people living nearby
Facilities related to the tourism services such as bridges, cafes or restaurants
To conclude, there are potential of Deli river to be utilized and functionalized for micro-hydro power plant and ecotourism. That potential area is in the riverside on Jalan Deli. The micro-hydro power plant is utilized to prevent high risk of disasters which can be occurred as the related area also is used for ecotourism to improve the communal finance.
References
[1] W. "Water wheel," Wikipedia, 23 July 2017. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_wheel. [Accessed 01 August 2017].
[2] E. Ridiza, "Pelestarian Daerah Aliran Sungai (DAS) Deli," wordpress.com, 12 June 2015. [Online]. Available: https://elsaridiza.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/pelestarian-daerah-aliran-sungai-das-deli/. [Accessed 02 August 2017].
[3] K. P. U. "Pola pengelolaan sumber daya air wilayah sungai belawan ular padang," Kementrian Pekerjaan Umum, Medan, 2012.
[4] Y. R. Pasalli and A. B. Rehiara, "Design Planning of Micro-hydro power plant in Hink River," Procedia Environmental Sciences, no. 20, pp. 55-63, 2014.
[5] H. T. Fachruddin and M. D. Lubis, "Planning for riverside area as water tourism destination to improve quality of life local residents, case study: Batuan-Sikambing River, Medan, Indonesia," Procedia Social and Behavioral sciences, no. 234, pp. 434-441, 2016.
[6] Video is accessed 02 August 2017 from Youtube.com
Samosir Island is formed from the super-eruption of Toba Volcano
(photograph was taken by the writer in 2016)
What do we know about Toba Volcanoes? If you visit Indonesia, there is the Indonesian largest lake named Toba Lake or in local language called “Danau Toba”. It is a tectonic-volcanic lake which had been established since early Miocene. And some scientists predicted that the Toba volcano had erupted in that era suggesting enormous scale of eruption which can alter the Earth’s climate.
The research about Toba-scale eruption has been being attracted by many geologists and earth science’s scientists. This occurs because of the formation of Toba Lake which was formed by the activity of two major tectonic lineaments [1]. Geologically speaking, these two major tectonic lineaments which are the Eurasian and Australian are one of the most active lineaments in the world in term of seismic activity. As a result, the Indonesian archipelago is composed by many active volcanoes including the Toba Volcanoes.
However, the writer which is also the local citizen of North Sumatera – the province which Toba Lake is located – seems reluctant as the region nearby the Toba Lake is merely a highland. More importantly, the concern about the “Toba volcano” is active was coined by the theory of Toba catastrophe theory which stated about the super-eruption happened in 75 thousands years ago [2]. According to the theory, the Toba Eruption or Toba Event was dated by the presence of potassium argon and it was the fourth eruptions.
But, the theory suggested that the eruption had caused long-term of climatic change. Although it resulted super eruption which produced airborne volcanic materials to the atmosphere, “the eruption did not appear in switching the climate in general into a new mode” according to Oxford’s archaeologist [3]. Nevertheless, one thing that is certain is the formation of Toba Lake and it is surely formed because of the tectonic-volcanic activities.
The interesting point coined out by the theory is the changing of climate. The 73 ka eruption affected three areas which were Eastern and Southern Africa, India and South-East Asia regions based on the simulation involving the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991 [4]. Hence, the results found that the human society was not affected by the eruption indicating there could be slight changing in the climate. The questions are how it did not affect the climate at all? And how the conditions of the Earth at that time?
The world-map published by Princeton University suggested that the Indonesian archipelago particularly the western and central area of Indonesia is joined together to the Asia Continent connected throughout the Malay Peninsula [5]. Based on the map, the change could be slight because the environment attributes which are simulated are the monsoon and temperature. Due to the ice caps spread in the northern Asia and Europe, the monsoon and temperature anomalies which exceed above normal term became stable after five to six years since the eruption [4].
To conclude, the thing that super-eruption of Toba Volcano occurred 75 thousands years ago was beyond normal. The temperature was abnormal for five to six years after eruption prevail one to two minus Kelvin which affected daily minimum temperatures accounted for 10 centigrade for months [4]. However, living things at that time particularly the Neanderthals (or Neandertals) had survived by adaptation process including staying in the cave. However, the eruption has shown that the Young Toba Tuff is considered as super volcano.
References
[1] M. Williams, "The ~ 73 ka Toba super-eruption and its impact: History of a debate," Quaternary International, no. 258, pp. 19-29, 2012.
[2] W. "Toba catastrophe theory," Wikipedia, 29 July 2017. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory. [Accessed 30 July 2017].
[3] J. Amos, "Toba super-volcano catastrophe idea 'dismissed'," BBC, 30 April 2013. [Online]. Available: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-22355515. [Accessed 30 July 2017].
[4] C. Timmreck, H.-F. Graf, D. Zanchettin, S. Hagemann, T. Kleinen and K. Kruger, "Climate response to the Toba super-eruption: Regional changes," Quartenary International, no. 258, pp. 30-44, 2012.
[5] P. U. P. "100000–11000 years ago - Princeton University Press," [Online]. Available: press.princeton.edu/chapters/haywood/s2_9519.pdf. [Accessed 30 July 2017].
The present of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) provides many advantages for Indonesia particularly throughout the tourism aspect. Economically speaking, the AEC gives open room for Indonesian societies to promote their own culture and natural resources. With the growing market, Indonesia can take advantages throughout ecotourism.
Riding sumatera elephant to explore the jungle is part of the ecotourism activities in Indonesia (image is credited from http://blog.aseankorea.org)
The beginning of twentieth century gives the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to be important role in world economic agenda. This is based on the demographical bonus occurring in those countries. In 2010, the population of ASEAN countries accounted for nine percent of the total world’s population and it is predicted to grow in the next few decades (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 2010). Currently, the ASEAN countries have become top destination for world’s electronic corporation in selling their products.
On the other hand, the numbers of visitors who arrive in ASEAN countries is also high. From the data provided by the ASEAN’s website accounted that there were significant numbers of tourist visiting ASEAN countries from 2010 to 2014. Respectively the number was 73,752,000 to 105,083,000 people (Association of Southeast Nations, 2017). For Indonesia itself, the tourist’s arrival numbers were seven million to nine millions of people.
The opportunity of taking profitable aspect from tourism is clearly can be achieved. Tourists are more likely to visit unique places such as historical sites or protected areas. Indonesia has promising places that are related to these unique places including the protected forests and seas.
Ecotourism in Indonesia
Indonesia is located between two big oceans and continents. With this location also, Indonesia stands above two earth crusts which are Eurasia and Australia and they cause the arrangement of active volcanoes started from the western part of Sumatera Island along on the southern part of Java and going above to Sulawesi island. The Australia crust provide spectacular factors of nature in the eastern part of Indonesia.
Basically, Indonesia is full with natural tourism site with biodiversity either in land or sea. However, the organizing and management of natural tourism sites must be maintained properly otherwise it will be destroyed which can cause natural disaster. Therefore, one of the best method in maintaining this issue is by providing ecotourism. Collectively, we could prevent our environment getting damaged from the act of tourism.
Ecotourism is similar to protected areas which is one of important tool in conversing the biodiversity (Chape, Harrison, Spalding, & Lysenko, 2005). One of the great example about ecotourism is provided by the Misool Foundation. This foundation is established by Shawn Heinrichs after observing the overfishing of sharks and manta rays in Asia. The Misool Foundation has been improving the quality of wildlife and society particularly in environment and education throughout ecotourism they provide.
Ecotourism relates to the activity of tourism that involves the process of educating, conserving, protecting the area. Ecotourism activity possesses low-impact of behavior done by the visitors which can lead into sustainable benefits either for the nature itself or the local communities. Indonesia has many ethnicities and natural resources. For example, as we mentioned before the Misool Fondation cooperates with local community to stop hunting manta and whale shark. The foundation suggests the local community to provide services such as swimming with manta ray, doing scuba diving and many more.
Unlike Misool foundation, Bukit Lawang which is located near to national park of Gunung Leuser provides tourists a jungle exploration throughout riding Sumatranese elephants. While, the Rinjani National Park in West Nusa Tenggara serves the tourists with camping and trekking trail which is provided by the local community (Sadikin, Arifin, Pramudya, & Mulatsih, 2017). Economically speaking, these ecotourism sites produce workforces.
Improvement in Tourism Sector in Indonesia
One of the biggest problem in improving the ecotourism in Indonesia is about the accessibility either in form soft or hard aspects. For example, to get to eastern part of Indonesia which is rich of underwater world, the trip takes lot of time around 3-5 days. On the other hand, the facilities and infrastructures of the road is not yet constructed optimally. However, today’s government has been addressing this issue by developing the area itself.
Meanwhile, the quality of human resources is still not optimal. Providing high quality of services is still low in several areas because the local community is not well educated. Therefore, the government must provide related soft skills so local communities can be the professional host for tourists.
References
[1] Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (2010). ASEAN economic community chartbook 2010. Jakarta: The Asean Secretariat.
[2] Association of Southeast Nations. (2017, July 26). Tourism Statistics. Retrieved from asean.org: http://asean.org/?static_post=tourism-statistics
[3] Chape, S., Harrison, J., Spalding, M., & Lysenko, I. (2005). Measuring the extent and effectiveness of protected areas as an indicator for meeting global biodiversity targets. Philosophical transactions of the royal society B, 443-455.
[4] Sadikin, P. N., Arifin, H. S., Pramudya, B., & Mulatsih, S. (2017). Carrying capacity to preserve biodiversity on ecotourism in Mount Rinjani National Park, Indonesia. Biodiversitas, 978-989.
Open-air disposal field in Medan City – the health problem occurs. As Medan expanding its area, the overcrowding is higher to which generate problem particularly in disposal system. Being metropolitan city, Medan must have prepared the system effectively and efficiently. However, the growing numbers of people including the building generates solid waste problem which are open dumping in certain location of the city. Doesn’t it produce health issue? Well, the government slightly reacts to it.
Open dumping garbage of landfills on Jalan Jamin Ginting, Medan, Indonesia
According to the opinion of the writer, Medan has produced lots of open dumping which is located in crowding area. There are two sites that is utilized for solid waste. They are located on Jalan Asrama on district Helvetia/ Tanjung Gusta and Jalan Jamin Ginting in front of the cemetery. These two locations are very near to residence and they are considered as one of the most overcrowding area in Medan. More importantly, since the writer started his own university studying in 2008, these two open dumping have been established until now.
As we know that the disposal waste contains so many waste not only organic but also inorganic. With the unprofessional act provided by the government, Medan has never conducted the recycling system yet, as far as the writer’s knowledge. Until now, the location is available for people to left their waste whenever they want. Based on the observation conducted by the driver, these two locations are not treated professionally particularly when the thread of health infection to nearby society attacking.
Based on the data provided by the website of department of health of Indonesia, in 2013 three from eight people are infected by malaria in 1 kilometer square of area. This is very high since the overcrowding in Medan around 7912/ kilometer square (Departemen Kesehatan Republik Indonesia, 2017).
The health issues provided by the open-air disposal field in Medan
The growing numbers of people is influenced by the rate of urbanization and the numbers of workforce. Mostly, the city area becomes overcrowding during the time of 8 o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock in the evening because of economic activity. At the same time, these numbers of hours generate big amount of waste either in form solid or liquid. The organic and inorganic waste that are produced by the community living standards are respectively food leftover and plastic.
Open dumping of garbage landfills on Jalan Asrama-Ringroad, Medan, Indonesia
Technically speaking, if the waste is stacking then it increases threats particularly from the infection. Study conducted in India in 2016 suggested that open dumping increases the risk of malaria, diarrhea, dengue and also other such detrimental health disorders (De & Debnath, 2016). It means, until this article is being written, the citizens living nearby these two sites are in high risk of getting attacks by malaria, dengue and diarrhea.
However, the problem occurring within the society about open dumping of the garbage is the awareness of people nearby. As the writer mentioned previously that these garbage landfills are located in city’s streets meaning not only the society but also the government itself do not see this as something crucial. And, unfortunately in landfill that is located on Jalan Jamin Ginting is nearby the university and community health clinic.
Removing the open dumping of garbage landfills in Medan
Medan is a big city, and it is considered as the third biggest city in Indonesia. This city is inhabited by almost two until three millions of people. With this numbers, Medan may produce waste either organic or inorganic tonnes of garbage. In order to prevent the infected diseases produced by the open dumping landfills, the government must react quickly particularly in organizing the waste by doing the recycling system.
The organic waste can be collected together in the evening while the inorganic compound is in the morning. The organic waste can be recycled into several commercial products such as fertilizer. Meanwhile, the inorganic waste can be recycled by chemically organizing it into recycle materials such as recycled plastics. However, the main purpose of green environment is to increase the society’s awareness. Therefore, the government must participate actively throughout frequent counseling and workshops.
References
[1] De, S., & Debnath, B. (2016). Prevalence of health hazards associated with solid waste disposal- A case study of Kolkata, India. Procedia Environmental Science, 201-208.
[2] Departemen Kesehatan Republik Indonesia. (2017, July 22). Database Kesehatan Per Kabupaten. Retrieved from Bank Data Departemen Kesehatan: http://www.bankdata.depkes.go.id
[3] Photographs were taken from google street view
Clean energy has been becoming intriguing factors in the last two-three decades. One of the factors is the greenhouse effect which can create the global warming. Others suggest that because we are running out of fossil fuels. The demands of another energy resources are growing astronomically. To answer it, scientists in several world has come with bioenergy and one of it is from liquid-waste tofu.
The pulp and liquid-waste of tofu is generated from tofu manufacturing (image is credited by https://media.treehugger.com)
Tofu is one of the popular food among Indonesian. It has been considering by many ethnicities in Indonesia used tofu for their daily consumption. There are so many traditional culinary that use tofu as their main ingredient such as Kupat Tahu, Karedok, Gado Gado and many snacks which use that also.
Tofu is manufactured from soybean and it is coagulated for nights. The production has been increasing from micro-production to macro-production and as the result generates two wastes which are liquid and pulp. On the other hand, because the liquid-waste generating from manufacturing is high, the demands of water in making tofu is high too. This gives big impact to the environment so in addition to prevent the damage, scientists take advantage from the chemical components of the waste by turning it into bioenergy throughout microbial fuel cell reactors that can generate electricity.
Microbial fuel cell system in producing electricity from tofu
In producing the electricity, the normal reactor must be filled by the required chemical substance which are flammable and volatile to create electricity from the machinery. But, in microbial fuel cell (MFC) system, the difference is only located on the source of the electron. In normal machine, the source of the electron is generated by the converting process of heat energy to move the electric motor. In the contrary, the source of electron in microbial fuel cell is processed from the oxidation of organic compounds created by the microorganisms (Watanabe, 2008). So, when the electron arrives on the anode of the MFC, it will be delivered directly to cathode as the difference of potential between two metals and this lead to oxidation process in forming water (Mathuriya & Sharma, 2010).
In short, we need to things which are the agent oxidation and the bridge to connect the electron. As the agent, we used biological living things or microorganisms such as Geobacter sulfurreducens (Trinh, Park, & Kim, 2009) and Lactobacillus bulgaricus (Inayati, Aminin, & Suyati, 2015). As we know that one of the bridge in connecting the electron is the substrate which is similar like we do in electrochemical process. Therefore, electrolyte solution is required and the required solution is processed by the microorganism by creating the acid solution. Consequently, the electrolyte solutions have to be solutions that can be medium for growing the microorganisms.
In processing tofu, the demand of water is high so the results of the waste are pulp and liquid. These two wastes are potentially to be utilized because of containing compounds of glucose within it. Therefore, the amount of glucose is used by the bacteria as the main source of food and the results is the converting process into acid or electrolyte solutions.
The electron can be moving because of the salt bridge (image is credited by https://chemistry.stackexchange.com)
In addition to make it connected, the use of salt bridge in important. But chemically speaking, the salt bridge here is used so the electron could be in balancing system as the electrons is always moving to find the lowest potential. This moving which flows from one cell to another cell creates electricity or bioelectricity.
Tofu liquid-waste as the bioelectricity source
The liquid-waste of manufacturing tofu creates the source of glucose for the microorganisms into acid solutions. This bio-chemical process is occurred in process of oxidation of the glucose creating the free electrons. By transferring the electrons, it can produce electricity. However, the bioelectricity that is produced from this anaerob reactor generates little voltage around 30 to 60 mV (Ismawati, Aminin, & Suyati, 2015).
References
[1] Inayati, N. S., Aminin, A. L., & Suyati, L. (2015). The bioelectricity of tofu whey in microbial fuel cell system with Lactobacillus bulgaricus. Jurnal Sains dan Matematika, 32-38.
[2] Ismawati, N., Aminin, A. L., & Suyati, L. (2015). Whey Tahu sebagai penghasil bioelektrisitas pada sistem microbial fuel cell dengan Lactobacillus Plantarum. Jurnal Sains dan Matematika, 43-49.
[3] Mathuriya, A. S., & Sharma, V. N. (2010). Bioelectricity production from various wastewaters through microbial fuel cell technology. Journal of Biochemical Technology, 133-137.
[4] Trinh, N., Park, J., & Kim, B. (2009). Increased generation of electricity in a microbial fuel cell using Geobacter sulfurreducens. Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, 748-753.
Watanabe, K. (2008). Recent developments in microbial fuel cell technologies for sustainable bioenergy. Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, 528-536.
Indonesia once experienced food sovereignty during the President Soeharto specifically in field of rice. During his era, cropping rice was one of the main agenda to make Indonesia better than before. It was proved by the exporting the rice to several south-east countries. However, in this millennium era, Indonesian is one of the biggest importer of rice even though its land is wide and vast. So, what is the main problem here?
Harvesting day could give fungus to grow as the straw is leftover
(image is credited by http://bbpadi.litbang.pertanian.go.id)
President Soeharto governed the Republic of Indonesia from 1965 to 1998. His government was the longest one about 32 years so it generates many social-political-economic issues. However, his government also produced amazing results and one of them was the food sovereignty in rice. His government created the "Swasembada Pangan" so the reserve of rice for national consumption was stable for five to ten years. So, people in Indonesia were securely safe from the starvation.
The food sovereignty currently is being planned again by today’s government. Throughout the program of Nawa Cita, the government of Indonesia intends to improve the production of rice from many provinces. Unfortunately, this requires lots of budgets including in constructing the facilities and infrastructures. Despite of those aspects, the government also is warned by the natural threats such as climate change, natural disasters and biological attacks from pests in the quantity of harvesting rice.
What challenges due to achieve food sovereignty in Indonesia
As we mentioned before on the previous articles, one of the problems in managing and organizing the natural resources in Indonesia is unprofessionalism (Ullah, Febriamansyah, & Yonariza, 2017). For example, the demands of maintaining land for cropping rice is treated unexpectedly. The owner of the land will abandon the land after harvesting period and maintain it before the cropping season started. This reckless and unprofessional act will make the land quality for cropping rice low which can disturb the production of the rice itself.
This unprofessional act was caused by the lack of knowledge among the farmers or growers. The solution is simple, the government must conduct training for the growers so that they can maintain and treat their land. Scientifically speaking, the maintenance the land will prevent the minerals within it kept which can be beneficial for the crops planted on it.
One of the next challenges along with the educational aspects of the growers is the biological attacks from pests. However, environmentally speaking, the pests attack the farm based on the seasons except the fungus. One of the most pathogenic fungus that can account a third loss in rice production is Magnaporthe oryzae during the harvesting season (Nalley, Tsiboe, Durand-Morat, Shew, & Thoma, 2016). This pathogen fungus colonized the farms when the farmers left uncontrollably the straw rice in farm itself based on the paper.
Those two issues address the government of Indonesia to be concerned about the lack of knowledge among the farmers.
Solution in increasing the opportunity of food sovereignty in rice production
Therefore, based on the analysis of issues during the production of the rice that unprofessionalism in managing the farms is the most important reason. The government should actively participate throughout the local unit in addressing this issue. To improve the production, engineers, biologists, or even scientists which are employed by the government must go to the farms and control those. On the other hand, the universities which have faculty of agricultural technology must monitor the scientific issue during the process of controlling.
Due to the lack of knowledge, socialization, training and workshops must be conducted so the farmers or growers can protect the farms from unexpected issues such as the presence of fungus. These two solutions are one of the effective and efficient solution in solving these two issues.
References
[1] Nalley, L., Tsiboe, F., Durand-Morat, A., Shew, A., & Thoma, G. (2016). Economic and environmental impact of rice blast phatogen (Magnaporthe oryzae) alleviation in the United States. PLoS ONE 11 (12), e0167295.
[2] Ullah, R., Febriamansyah, R., & Yonariza. (2017). Challenges of Managing Natural Resources in West Sumatera Indonesia. Redefining Diversity and Dynamics of Natural Resources Management in Asia, 3-10.
The quantity of natural resources in Indonesia is abundant. With these resources, Indonesia could have received many profitable aspects such as social development, education, health and social security. However, the results are far beyond Indonesians expected. Throughout hundreds of national company, we are not able to improve social welfare yet.
Mining always becomes conflict in Indonesia (image is credited http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu)
The government of Indonesia currently operates hundreds of national companies. They are called as Badan Usaha Milik Negara, or literally translating, as National Enterprises. These companies work in several fields such as transportation, oil and gas, electricity, mining, telecommunication, industries, agricultural and farming, and forestry including tourism. Based on the website, there are 119 of national companies (Kementrian BUMN, 2017).
However, those 119 of national companies are owned by central government. The local government also has prerogative right to establish local companies in addition to improve local social welfare. For instance, Bank Sumut, Bank BJB, Bank DKI, Bank Aceh are the examples of local companies established by the government of provinces in Indonesia. But, again not all local and central –government companies are able to improve the quality of life in Indonesia.
What challenges occurred in managing the natural resources in Indonesia
According to writer’s opinion, one of the main challenges happened to this issue is unprofessionalism occurred during the managerial of natural resources. The organization of BUMNs were established to manage the resources in Indonesia. For example, the PT ANTAM (Aneka Tambang) which has been operating in managing several mining sites, owned by the government, was established to manage the minerals such as gold. Nonetheless, the profits earned by the company are utilized for expenditure of the government.
According to paper authorized by (Ullah, Febriamansyah, & Yonariza, 2017), one of the most problem in Sumatera Island, which is an island consisting seven provinces in Indonesia, is the forest management. There are four natural issues in Sumatera island itself, they are:
Deforestation in Sumatera. Despite of in Sumatera, major deforestation happened in Kalimantan island, which was caused by expansion of crude palm oil plantations and mining
Over-depending of Land resources. Many of Indonesian surviving for the life being depends on the natural resources such as food, utilization of land for farming and agriculture
Water availability. The contamination of water whether from fresh water or the river was resulted by the uncontrollable activities of the society
Unaware reaction of biodiversity and protected areas. For local people, biodiversity which is comprised in national protected forest is common natural resources. As long as they could get the profitable from the forest without concerning of biodiversity, they will do everything to get wealth from it
Those four aspects indicate two important things about the society. Firstly, the society does not even consider the environmental impact because they need nature for their life. And the second aspect is about the educational and preventive actions provided by the government.
Based on study conducted by (Harahap, Silveira, & Khatiwada, 2017), found that the government’s objectives for several sectoral demands including biofuel, agricultural, climate and forest are the reasons to manage the natural resources.
Solution in managing and organizing natural resources in Indonesia
Indonesia’s national constitution of 1945 section XIV about National Economy and Social Welfare article 33 point two and three clearly stated that “production sectors that are vital to the state and that affect the livelihood of a considerable part of the population are to be controlled by the state” and it followed by “the land and the waters as well as natural riches therein are to be controlled by the state to be exploited to the greatest benefit of the people”. This constitution protects the natural resources mentioned above are to be managed and organized by the state.
To prevent dependency of society to the natural resources, the government must actively participate by developing effective methods to perform sustainable environment. By creating the community-based natural resource management could be effective. For example, the tradition of lubuk larangan which is conducted by local people in Tapanuli Selatan invites them to prevent uncontrollable fishing. This tradition somehow produces greater impact in fishing and water sustainability in the society. However, the demands of fish will be increasing in certain times but it can be solved by the aids provided by the government throughout seed of fish.
The development of facilities and infrastructures related to the challenges can be an effective solution. Local people in Indonesia use firewood to do cooking and utilize water from the river for bathing and washing. The government must provide energy and water for this issue so the natural resources can be prevented from contamination.
References
[1] Harahap, F., Silveira, S., & Khatiwada, D. (2017). Land allocation to meet sectoral goals in Indonesia - An analysis of policy coherence. Land Use Policy, 451-465.
[2] Kementrian BUMN. (2017, July 4). http://bumn.go.id/halaman/situs/. Retrieved July 4, 2017
[3] Ullah, R., Febriamansyah, R., & Yonariza. (2017). Challenges of Managing Natural Resources in West Sumatera Indonesia. Redefining Diversity and Dynamics of Natural Resources Management in Asia, 3-10.
The 2004 tsunami stroke the Sumatra island into devastating place. Unfortunately, Aceh was one of the most damaged area because of this natural disaster. Today, after almost fifteen years, the land has been reconstructing with the help of human. However, recent topological survey shows different perspective. What is happening to Aceh?
West coast of Aceh after 2004 Tsunami
After the Earthquake on Sunday, 24 December 2004, the tsunami was striking the Indonesia and it took numbers of victims. Even since that day, the changing of geological and geographical plain is common thing in Aceh. However, one thing that we do not realize yet that the event transforms the western coast of Aceh into ridge and swale area. Beach maintenance is crucial for islands countries, particularly Indonesia, so the land will not be covered by the water.
On the other hand, maintaining the beach has become the major issue as it affects the stability of marine ecosystem. During the erosion happened in the area of shoreline, the mangrove forest which is located nearby the beach will be disturbed. As a result, the ecosystem becomes unstable which can make the marine life within it endangered. When the habitats of the fish are disturbed, the effect directly influences to the life nearby including the human.
Erosion after tsunami Aceh is not merely caused by the sea wave
One thing that is sure about the 2004 tsunami in Aceh is the changing of ecosystem, ecology and geological aspect of west coast of Aceh. Topography study conducted by team of scientists in Aceh from March 2009 to June 2013 showed the beach ridge patterns in Aceh had elevated naturally up to 1.7 meters. The elevating process was in respond of the co-seismic activity and it included the large earthquakes influenced by northern Sunda trench (Monecke, et al., 2015). Although the changing was significant, the scientists suggested that this can be utilized to do reconstructing in order to prevent unexpected situations if the earthquake strikes.
The fact that after 2004 tsunami, the condition of coastal Sumatera particularly in western coast of Aceh has been alternating into ridge plain, becomes national issue. More importantly, the changing of coastal environment was not merely caused by large earthquakes. Well, this natural disaster becomes trigger to initiate another natural phenomenon which is in this case affects the shoreline condition. Based on the survey which was conducted by them found the strongest reason of the changing and it was not from the earthquake.
Significant aspect of natural transforming was caused by the wind. This natural process has been transporting the sediment redistribution significantly.
Is there any causes after tsunami Aceh in 2004?
The study also found that the causes of ridge patterns in West Aceh were not merely caused by the wind and the earthquake. In fact, in some events, the covered-land earthquake process which is occurred in cyclic system becomes the reason of reconstructing. This cyclic behavior of soils generates the redistribution of soil in the shoreline and it makes the ridge patterns.
As we know that the tsunami 2004 triggered the geological process inside the crust of the earth. Geologically speaking, the tectonic system in Indonesia is quite complex as the meeting point presents there. This system also operates in frequent time in different of earthquake size, but the system is occurred in cyclic which makes the plates move. According to the Wikipedia, the Great Sumatran Fault is connected to the Australian plate located on the western part of Sumatera – including Aceh – to southern part of Java along with the northern part of Australia. It means, if the plate in Australia moves then the Sumatera will get affected.
Conclusion
This study shows the process of changing the beach condition naturally. However, by understanding the geological aspect of Sumatra Island which has long crust met with the Sunda trench, it can be assumed the pattern of ridge beach along on western coastal of Sumatera is influenced by these plates. Therefore, preventive action can be employed for example by doing rehabilitating the soil condition to prevent the erosion even though the tsunami could make the erosion happens again.
Reference
[1] Monecke, K. et al., 2015. Beach ridge patterns in West Aceh, Indonesia, and their response to large earthquakes along the northern Sunda trench. Quaternay Science Reviews, Issue 113, pp. 159-170.
