Selarong Cave
Selarong Cave, Bantul District, Yogyakarta


Selarong cave is located about 14 km south of Yogyakarta in the hamlet of Flower putihan precisely, display district, Bantul regency. Selarong cave is a caveas a tourist attraction with its beautiful natural scenery at the top of a hill covered with guava trees and sapodilla tree kecik that are charactdristic of caves Selarongis suitable for camping.
      In the past, the cave was used as the headquarters of Prince Diponegoro guerrillastruggle againts Dutch colonialism. Prince Diponegoro moved after his home in Tegalrejo attacked and burned by the Dutch.
      Around the cave there Selarong woodcraft center that produces sculptures, masksand others are in pedukuha Krebet. Bantul regency government is developing as an object of the Cave Selarong Klengkeng agrotourism with plants.

 Diponegoro Statue and cave gate Selarong

Selarong Cave

Wonderful Indonesia

Problem of environmental pollution caused by industrial waste and electronic

Lately, the use of electronic and industrial goods is increasing. So great was its impact up to now difficult to separate from the life of modern society. It's as if humans are bound by the electronics and industrial goods. Coupled with the increasingly rapid development of technology with features that attract people's purchasing power resulted mainly in developed countries increased. But not only in developed countries it happened. In some areas of developing countries, eg Indonesia, making the purchasing power is so high. Indonesia is one of the strategic areas as the marketing of products abroad resulted in a higher consumption level than the level of domestic production.
        The use of electronics and industrial goods in the absence of control over the use and disposal of a very bad impact on the environment, which makes the increased pollution of land, water, or air. Wastes and electronics industries result in reduced soil fertility and even disappear. Examples such as the disposal of electronic waste in the form of computer components such as those in the country of China. Haphazard disposal of chemical waste into rivers also turn off the natural ecosystems that exist in it like fish, which eventually would be replaced by a new ecosystem that is not really good for the environment, for example, the emergence of water hyacinth on the outskirts of the ecosystem of the river prove that the ecosystem of the river has been polluted, why so? Because the ecosystem water hyacinth can only thrive in polluted river course. Rusty iron that was left submerged in the water can make water taste becomes sour and unfit for consumption.Contonya such as iron or components of the ship that sank in the sea floor. This will result in a changing ecosystem around it due to the content of the rust. Oil waste dumped by offshore oil drilling could also pollute the waters around it. And also sunken and leaking tanker in the open coast would pollute the entire ecosystem flooded by crude oil, such as occurs in offshore Mexico several years ago that resulted in damaged ecosystems of white pelicans and polluted. Ecosystems that were once maintained now be covered with the smell of crude oil and damage the health. In addition, soil pollution is very harmful, especially in developing countries like in Indonesia. Population largely dependent of the present agricultural crops have suffered losses that are not satisfactory due to the loss of soil fertility caused by the indiscriminate disposal of industrial waste and oil fields around sawah.Selain indiscriminate disposal of industrial waste is also influenced by other factors such as the use of pesticides excessive by farmers to fertilize crop plantations. Gold mining is also included in the category of pollution is very severe, because in addition to polluting the river ecosystem, also pollute the soil ecosystems that exist around the mine area. As it happens sidelines rivers in Kalimantan and Papua, and to date the serious problem of soil contamination is a real tough plastic waste can not even be recycled by nature. Because of the seriousness of the problem of waste plastic makes some companies try to make the plastic bags that can be recycled by nature naturally. But it requires a very long time. It may take thousands of years for the waste or waste plastics can be recycled naturally by nature. Only by reducing the excessive use of plastic bags and try to recycle plastic waste into high-value goods that could be an appropriate alternative to reduce plastic waste. In addition, waste that is no less difficult to be recycled naturally by the nature of waste glass. Glass will not deform permanently buried millions of years though, because the glass is permanent and is a solid object. Although a small fraction, waste glass will never change for ever, except by way of recycling in a creative way of course. The advent of air pollution from vehicle and factory pollution and the use of CFC substances in some electronic equipment such as air conditioning results in loss of fresh air in big cities like Jakarta and Surabaya. Walaupan been trying to overcome this by creating urban forests and natural parks, but this has not been able to restore the balance of nature as a whole. Air pollution impact of the illness, especially in the respiratory organs which can cause death, such as ISPA, and coupled with the existence of global warming resulting in climate and Earth's temperature changed dramatically to cause the melting of icebergs in the north and south poles are in some years will lead to sea level rise and have some low-lying areas will be submerged along the sea-ice due to melting of polar ice in the north and south. It did not rule out the big cities in Indonesia, especially the sidelines of the island will be submerged due to rising sea levels, and this only stems from air pollution is not controllable anymore. This is very detrimental to all walks of life. The loss of natural forests for industrial raw materials in some areas also result in the balance of nature terganggu.Selain air pollution, soil, and water, use of electronic equipment with a wave signals such as cellular phones and laptops to excess, especially if it is too often close to the body it can lead to health problems, such as sterility and reduced immunity due to ultraviolet waves emitted or reflected by these objects and passes through the body. And also the use of electronic means in the form of a laptop or television at a distance too close can damage the health of the eye.
           It is not easy to maintain this nature. Nature is never satisfied that we have as long as it can not be changed anymore. But with self-awareness and effort to try to repair may still managed to restore the natural conditions that have this mess.Indeed we should start from now so that someday our children and grandchildren can still see the beautiful nature is as we see today.
           Indeed their excessive use is not good for human life. But that does not mean we should stop using electronic goods or other industrial goods, but by trying to use electronic goods wisely and adults so we can prevent the occurrence of excessive pollution. In addition, recycling may be an alternative to reduce waste and electronics industries that are around us. Some people have argued with the utilization of industrial waste can make money that could be considered a high enough income each year. And you can bet that the recycling of industrial waste and electronic waste can be an alternative for a new business that you should try, certainly with the will and creativity. Hopefully this can bring us all and try to change ourselves for the better for ourselves, others, and our shared environment for the sake of a better future. So, thank you!

Tesso Nilo National Park

Tesso Nilo National Park, Riau Province

The Tesso Nilo forest in Riau Province is one of Sumatra’s last havens for elephants and tigers. With over 4,000 plant species recorded so far and over 200 plant species found per 200-square-meter plot, Tesso Nilo has one the highest level of vascular plant known to science, with many species yet to be discovered.
Only two decades ago, the forest covered half a million hectares. Today, less than 150,000 hectares remain. Of that, just 38,576 hectares is protected as national park. WWF is calling the government to expand the park to provide viable habitats for Sumatran elephant and tiger. In August 2008, the provincial government of Riau, regency government of Palawan and the Ministry of Forestry agreed to expand the national park  to 100.000 hectares.

Since 2005, chain-of-custody monitoring by WWF indicates that illegal logging activities to supply the pulp and paper industry appear to have stopped in this forest. However forest encroachment on a massive scale has replaced this activity, with widespread illegal establishment of settlements and smallholder palm oil plantations. More than 25,000 hectares of forest has been lost to illegal settlements and encroachment, in most cases using the logging corridors built by the pulp industry.  See more on Tesso Nilo here

Flying Squad Elephant Patrol

WWF is running a successful human-elephant conflict mitigation operation called Flying Squad at one site on the border of Tesso Nilo National Park and has been able to convince three companies to adopt its approach. Ready to move out at the shortest notice and drive wild elephants back into the national park, the Flying Squad brings short-term relief to the intense conflict between local communities and wild Sumatran elephants by preventing them to feed on crops and plantations grown in the villages. See more on WWF's Flying Squad and Sumatran Elephant.

Tiger Conservation Unit

In Riau, WWF is collaborating with the Riau Forestry Department, using camera traps to help conduct presence/absence surveys that will provide a range map for tigers in Sumatra's lowland rainforest. The cameras will also help provide a density estimate of tigers in various habitat types and determine whether there are adequate prey species for tigers to subsist. The results could have significant implications for species and forest preservation in Indonesia and around the world. 

Tesso Nilo community forum

In Sumatra's Tesso Nilo National Park, WWF has helped to create a community forum, which directly involves local communities in the management of the park. The forum, known as "Yayasan Taman Nasional Tesso Nilo", represents 22 villages around the Tesso Nilo reserve. It aims to develop new and sustainable ways to derive economic benefit from the forest, anticipate and moderate conflicts, as well as to improve conservation awareness among the local population. This has included support of ecotourism and production of honey from the forest. The forum is also behind the famous Tesso Nilo Flying Squads, teams of elephants and drivers trained to drive wild elephants away from farms and back into the forest, minimizing human-elephant conflict around the park.

Eyes on the Forest

This partnership between WWF's Tesso Nilo program and local environmental groups Jikalahari ("Forest Rescue Network Riau") and Walhi Riau ("Friends of the Earth Indonesia") was launched in 2004 to investigate the state of forest conservation in the Indonesian state of Riau. It serves as a clearinghouse for information, and as a tool for local, national and international NGOs, companies, governments and any other stakeholders who want to take action to conserve forests and protect the rights of local people who rely on them.