Tri Hita Karana and Tourism in Bali (12)
Environment Protection (Palemahan) Needs More Attention

Bali is a small island with limited natural resources. However, it creates plenty of environment dilemmas which are caused by the high population density. Related to hotel environment issue in Bali, a few interesting aspects need to be illuminated such as the trash problem, industrial waste, biological variety, clean water, and others.

The hotel should set aside an area like teba (a back yard in pekarangan or household site). This spot is beneficially for germ plasma stock for genetic resource conservation importance. Unfortunately, the teba area in city site and border town are now rare because they are pressurised by the home stay.
Several hotel participants of THK Awards & Accreditations, like Alam Kulkul Boutique Resort, use most of the yard for medical herbs, so it is multiple in function. It appears also in Bali Hyatt Hotel Sanur that uses its park as a gardening tour and is beneficial economically. In several events, some of tourists even paid hundreds thousand rupiahs to participate in planting the trees with the condition that his/her name must be immortalized on that tree.
The hotel surroundings can also used as education media for the children by introducing flora-fauna, such as, naming the trees so they will easy to identify. Through an interesting explanation about the plant and animal roles in conservation, the children may be aroused to take apart in conservation program.
Good conservation will succeed in serving a comfortable habitat for wild animals. It can be noticed in Nusa Dua tourism area. Hundreds of birds lived peacefully or just visit at certain time that location, so this area can be claimed as bird watching tourism. There are at least 30 species of bird; half of them are rare, migrant, and endemic species.
In Bali, there is a term that known as bengang (an open-area or space divider) between village and sub village, which functioned as ‘brain washer for the villager’. Unfortunately, those bengang are slap away by the building and occupied by the unsystematically ‘outsider’, so they a dirtiness. Indirectly, the bengang missing is potentially causing the disease infection within villages, and stress as well.
Those less respecting behaviour through the environment also found at a hotel in Ayung River area, which ’generosity’ cut through half of the natural vegetation especially the bushes for other plants. Besides disturbing the phenomena of a real nature while rafting activity along Ayung River, it is danger also for the conservation importance from erosion.
Other awful example is the placing of stuffed turtles – as seen in front of Hapel Hotel (Jembrana) – may bother the tourist emotion considering that turtle is a rare and protected animal.
Area Function Exchange
Other negative effects that need to be solved is the high function exchange of the farmland and garden, which is become the occupying house, store, hotel, villa, etc. On average, there is 1.000 hectare of converted farmland in Bali per year, whereas the farmland is rice resource, beauty resource, and cultural attraction.
Reconsidered idea that should observed is cooperation between hotel and local farmer in serving harvesting result for hotel consumption. If it executed well, the local farmer may survive much longer in facing the money assault for selling their farmland, which is later been exchange in function to become other facilities.

Waste and Junk
Waste and junk is a serious trouble in Bali, especially at Sarbagita (Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar, Tabanan). The garbage disposal location should extend become recycling location. The best step that needs to think is garbage separation from its source, all pressing the industry at once to reduce the plastic material utilizing, because it hard to destroy naturally.
This plastic dilemma becomes more complicated connected with the lower classes of society aware of cleanness. It is still difficult to get rid of the usual attitude of throwing the rubbish in the canal or river so it often causes flooding during the rainy season. This bad attitude – usually committed by tricky hotels – is getting worrying A drift stimulant from farm activities and other materials that carried by waste can cause the waters getting too fertile so it can stimulate the algal bloom and demolishing the coral fish, including wholly of coral fish ecosystem, which later on will bring a horrific effect water tourism industry (marine).
At present the Bali Government has a system of waste handling with WWG system (Waste Water Garden) by enzyme increment to accelerate the waste recycling and smell eradication that offered by Green environment. This elucidation can also used as educating media. Beside that, half of the elucidation is in observation process by the student of MIPA faculty Udayana University whom making the paper about eco-tourism.
Several hotels in Nusa Dua area are already reusing its recycling sewage to water the garden, golf field, and fill the fishpond.

Clean Water
Water frequently becomes the main issue in environment problem in Bali. The crisis of clean water outdone by illicit timber at the upper course, covering an area by concrete, also under-water removal that exceed the load capacity.
The exceed taking of under-water subtraction will motivating seawater intrusion, which can cause saltiness of well water. This thing happens at Kuta surrounding also several areas of southern Bali.
Small industries, especially of garment, in Pedungan and Pemogan (Denpasar) that are not good at handling in waste, cause the river water to become coloured, and irritating the people who use it. Recently, the research study of PPLH Udayana University also finds the pollution at several rivers in Gianyar.

Importance Conflict
Ayung’s river water that at first was only for basic human needs – bathing, washing, and drinking resource – now is use for the tourism industrial business (rafting). What a pity that some hotels are still throwing waste to that river. The cause is of conflict affair between rafting entrepreneur and hotels entrepreneur. Here, the government role in upholding the rule and public control absolutely needed. If not, the tourism development (rafting) that absorb and support half of the people will impended.
(By THK Awards & Accreditations Team, A. A. Gde Raka Dalem, and B. Ashrama editor)