BW INVOLVE STUDENTS AND JOURNALISTS TO VISIT KADO
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Date:
30 Apr 2020 -
Author:
KEHATI
DATE: 22 July 2018
AUTHOR: KEHATI
To increase the awareness and knowledge of the young generation towards the rich biodiversity of the Nusantara, Biodiversity Warriors (BW) together with students of the Citra Alam School (SCA) of Ciganjur, paid a visit to Kampoeng Djamoe Organik (KaDO) (Organic herbs-drink village) , Cikarang, West Java, Thursday (7/19). The visit was also attended by 15 journalists from various national media who have had great attention on environmental issues.
The Executive Director of the Yayasan Keanekaragaman Hayati Indonesia (KEHATI) (Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation), Riki Frindos, on Thursday, said that this activity is part of the BW Goes To School program, which aims to encourage school students to participate in preserving biodiversity in Indonesia and encourage the Citizen Science movement in Indonesia. BW itself is a youth movement initiated by KEHATI to carry out activities related to the introduction and conservation of biodiversity in the surrounding environment.
“Through this activity, it is expected to increase the knowledge and awareness of school students, media and other stakeholders regarding the existence of medicinal plants and their benefit. In addition, we also hope that more young Citizen Scientists will be able to provide reliable information for the public,” said Riki.
Indonesia, according to Riki, is a country with the richest biodiversity in the world, including for the types of medicinal plants. There are around 33,000 species of flora that can be studied for the benefit of beauty and health. KaDO has started by conserving and cultivating more than 500 types of Tanaman Obat, Kosmetika, dan Aromaterapi (TOKA) (Medicinal Plants, Cosmetics and Aromatherapy). The forerunner of a green and environmentally friendly factory. This is what drives KaDO to be chosen as a location for joint visits and learning in BW Goes to School activities this time.
Center for Environmental Education
Martha Tilaar Group Head of Community Development Heru Wardana said that in a 10 hectare land which is a marginal land with the loss of topsoil due to dredging by the community before, it would require quite a long time, around 4-5 years, to restore its fertility. Now on that land has grown several variety of medicinal plants, cosmetics, aromatics (OKA) which are grown organically with the theme of Kampoeng Djamoe Organik (KaDO), precisely located in the middle of Cikarang city. Since it was being managed in 1996, with full dedication and hard work, the vacant land was finally transformed into a green garden which was then inaugurated on January 29, 2009 by PT Martina Berto Tbk. (Martha Tilaar Group). A leading cosmetics and spa company in the world that is concerned with eastern nuances, natural principles, and environmental preservation, through the use of modern technology and research.
In the beginning, continued Heru, the KaDO functioned as an OKA-plant conservation research area that supported the herbal industry’s need for plant-based raw materials. No less than 650 types of native OKA plants in Indonesia are collected in this land. In its development, KaDO functioned as a center for environmental education because it has various collections of native Indonesian medicinal plants that are organically cultivated and managed to produce vegetable raw materials. To produce quality vegetable materials, this area is also equipped with post-harvest facilities which are the continuation of the cultivation and harvest process, to produce high quality and standardized vegetable raw materials.
In the end, KaDO is a supporter of one of the four pillars of the concept of sustainability, which are (1) Beauty Green, (2) Beauty Education, (3) Beauty Culture, and (4) Women Empowerment, and KaDO is the implementation of the beauty green pillar, with the aim of being one of Indonesia’s biodiversity conservation programs, especially TOKA.
As a center for environmental training and educational tourism, KaDO has 5 supporting elements, which are (1) OKA plantations (medicine, cosmetics, aromatics) with a variety of garden facilities, (2) herbal processing plants with CPOTB certificates (good traditional medicine manufacturing methods), (3) Jamu Clinic with modern clinic facilities headed by a herbal medicine doctor, (4) Spa Training Center, a place where we train spa therapists with the full scholarship concept for young women who are economically disadvantaged so they cannot continue their education. This program supports the effort to reduce the case of women trafficking through improving the skills of young women in the field of spa therapists. (5) Healthy Shop which provides a variety of healthy menus for consumption by people who care about domestic products and have health value.
Furthermore, Heru revealed, as an environmental training center, no less than 117 farmer groups from various provinces in Indonesia have been trained in KaDO since 2000 with the concept of the triple helix, a cooperation between the farming community, business, and government which was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture. The training material covers good cultivation methods by applying an organic farming system for planting OKA plants, good harvesting methods, to standard post-harvest handling including drying and packing as well as storage of harvests and then ready to be sent to the factory for processing and extraction. Edutainment facilities for children and the community are provided in the form of various simulations and demonstrations of making herbs and direct education in the field.
In addition, KaDO actively collaborates with schools to provide experiences for students to become more familiar with the environment, plant crops and recognize the ecosystem. Even adults can get to know nature more closely, as well as a means of recreation while walking around the organic garden, and lunch with an organic menu at Kedai Sehat Alami (Natural Healthy Hut).
Strengthen BW
On the same occasion, BW Coordinator Muhammad Khoir said, besides through online channel, the efforts taken by BW were also directed through direct activities (in addition to information sharing activities on the website), one of which was with BW Goes to School to KaDO. It is hoped that BW activities will be more visible and have a real impact on environmental improvement or biodiversity campaigns.
“Through this activity in the field it is also expected that more young people will join BW, so that the target at the end of the year can be achieved,” said Khoir. At the moment, 1.886 BW members have been registered from all over Indonesia. The age are between 16-30 years. Through social networking, BWs can exchange information about biodiversity, both in terms of their uniqueness, benefits, and status (rare or protected, etc.) of biodiversity. That information can be in the form of articles, photos, videos, or popular catalogues of biodiversity sent through the biodiversitywarriors.org website.
“In this 2018, BW is targeting to recruit 200 more members, so that by the end of the year there will be 2,000 members. Thus, there will be more young scientist candidates who care and are committed to the preservation of the biodiversity of the archipelago, “