NASIONALXPOS.CO.ID, BADUNG ——The Student Executive Board (BEM) of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Udayana University is holding Mangrove Clean Up 2023 in collaboration with the Sungai Watch community at Mangrove Last Point, Denpasar. Last Friday (10/2/2023).
Environmental care activities are a form of community service carried out by the BEM FEB Unud with the title “Social Environmental Equilibrium Campaign“. The Mangrove Clean Up 2023 activity was carried out as a form of concrete action for Udayana University’s concern for the surrounding environment, as well as in commemoration of National Waste Care Day which falls on Tuesday (21/2).
Nevertheless, the specific purpose of carrying out this activity is to carry out real actions to care for the environment and take first steps together, so that, we can quickly overcome environmental problems by reaching out to the wider community, especially the millennial generation, to play an active role in keeping the environment clean.
This waste problem is still volatile and sustainable, especially plastic waste which is difficult to decompose, because it can damage the mangrove forest ecosystem. Usually, the trash in the mangrove forest comes from trash that is wasted and drifts into the river and ends up in the sea.
In commemorating National Waste Awareness Day, BEM FEB Unud is promoting environmental care by involving one of the communities, namely Sungai Watch. BEM FEB Unud collaborates with communities that play an active role in cleaning rivers in Bali, by working directly together to clean up trash in the mangrove forest area. Not only that, this collaboration also aims to spread public awareness, especially the younger generation, to care for the environment.
Judging from the large amount of waste that has accumulated during forest clearing, it is reflected that people’s awareness in waste management and in protecting the environment is still very lacking. Based on the cleaning activities in the forest, 151 sacks with a total weight of 992 kg of waste were collected.
I Made Dwi Bagiasa as the Head Patrol of Sungai Watch revealed that the origin of the waste piled up at Mangrove Last Point, Denpasar comes from several river points.
“In this channel, each village has a different river path, the source is the Badung tributary, the waste comes from Abian Tegal, Pemogan Kaja, Pedungan (a little), the rest is Pemogan, Suung, and Islamic Village,” he said.
Sungai Watch has made various efforts to overcome this crucial waste problem, one of which is by constructing 10 trash barriers along the river which are managed by Sungai Watch. The purpose of making this trash barrier is to filter waste so it does not disturb the habitat of living things in the mangrove forest. This trash barrier can filter around 90% of the waste from upstream, then about 10% of the waste will pass through the filter.
Even though cleaning in the mangrove river area is carried out consistently and continuously, garbage is still sent every day from several surrounding rivers. This shows that even though there are many regulations and prohibitions against littering, especially in rivers, there are still many people who are not aware and continue to violate the rules.
Dwi Bagiasa emphasized that in the future law enforcement related to the problem of littering, the government must pay more attention and tighten it up, in order to increase public awareness of the environment, especially rivers, as a source of life on earth, because solving this problem cannot be solved by one party alone, but it needs the contribution of all elements of society. Collaboration is one way to establish cooperation with various parties, in order to solve the waste problem that is still not over.
This Mangrove Clean Up activity is a real implementation of the BEM FEB Unud tagline in 2023 namely, Action Collaboration as a form of contributing to preserving the environment by collaborating with external parties to make the event a success. Nature provides everything that humans need, and it is a shared responsibility to keep it sustainable.
In line with this, Dwi Bagiasa invites all human beings to remind each other to take care of nature including mangrove forests, one of which is to maintain water and air quality.
“To deal with waste, we must work together wisely and diligently remind each other that nature always meets our needs and nature provides us shelter. So, take care of them if you want beauty and a peaceful environment together,” he stressed. “In the future I hope that the community can move and help become volunteers to join activities at Sungai Watch by checking our Instagram account @sungaiwatch,” he added, as well as representing the expectations of Sungai Watch.
In line with Dwi Bagiasa, Head of BEM FEB Unud for the 2023 period, Anak Agung Bagus Ngurah Nararya Nata, also revealed to take one step first, one step further, by trying to take action together in every activity, including cleaning up all the trash with involve outsiders.
“I hope that all students in the economics community can be involved, so that this activity can be compared to the mangroves under construction. So, we all act together to realize positive steps around us,” he said. (Uchan)
