Indonesia’s Jurassic Park and Environmental Valuation

Rinca Island (Photo by Azis Pradana on Unsplash)

Hey you guys!

So last semester I took a class called “Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services.” One of the assignments that we needed to submit and present was to find a news on the internet and correlate it with environmental valuation and how the valuation can help in this regards. As someone who is really interested in environmental economics, I was, of course, really enjoyed the class and the assignments.

In this post I would like to tell you a bit about the paper that I have wrote in 2020. So here you go, the short version of my assignment:

Komodo National Park, which aims to conserve the unique Komodo dragon and its habitat, is located in the center of Indonesia archipelago at East Nusa Tenggara Province. However, the government unveiled controversial plans to turn part of the site (Rinca island) into a Jurassic Park-style tourist attraction as a premium tourism site in October 2019. In addition, it is reported that the Komodo dragon will be lured into the site after the project is finished as the main attraction of the island.

This project will damage the overall ecosystem of the island due to landscape changes and concrete heavy system. This, of course, will affect the Komodo dragons’ survival rate and behavior. For instance, the intentional feeding will make the accustom to receiving food from humans and act aggressive towards human. Furthermore, this project might contaminate groundwater from drilling wells and produce CO2 emissions from diesel generator. This project affects not only wildlife, but also locals. Despite the opposition by many, this project is still ongoing and is predicted to be finished by June 2021.

The government did not provide the monetary value projection which will be gained from this project and there is no information on the value of the damaged ecosystem. In other words, there is no information that can be used to compare the two. Hence, environmental valuation can help the decision-makers to measure the effects of environmental change on monetary scale. In this case, cost benefit analysis (CBA) can’t be done as it is typically conducted before a project is implemented and it is unlikely that the government suddenly decide to stop the construction. Therefore, technical use can be applied to assess the natural resource damage after the project is completed. In addition, informative use to see the value of the national park in general can also be done to increase awareness of the value of nature.

If you wanna find out more about the news, you could read it here:

1. BBC: Viral photo sparks concerns about Indonesia’s ‘Jurassic Park’
2. TEMPO: Facts Behind the Jurassic Park-esque Project at Komodo’s Habitat
3. TEMPO: Locals Strongly Reject ‘Jurassic Park’ Project at Komodo National Park Area
4. Jakarta Post: Govt denies ‘Jurassic Park’ claims amid controversy surrounding Rinca Island project
5. ABC Australia: Indonesia’s Jurassic Park-inspired tourist attraction worries Komodo dragon fans

(This academic paper was written while studying the M.Sc. “Environmental Management” at Christian-Albrechts Universität (CAU) in Kiel, Germany)

Cheers,

Kemmy

Ga Ngomongin Suka, Cuma Duka: Ga enaknya tinggal di luar negeri (Part 2) – edisi COVID19

Hey you guys!

Mau ngoceh lagi lah gua ga enaknya tinggal di luar negeri (part 1 bisa cek disini ya). Buat seneng-seneng keluh kesah aja ya ini (hah gimana maksudnya), jangan terlalu dibawa serius okeeeh? Ini cuma based on duka gua aja wkwkw sukanya tetep ada kok tapi mau ngomongin duka aja wk. Nah kali ini gue mau ngomongin ga enaknya tinggal di LN edisi covid. Ehem, gue tinggal di Jerman udah mau 2 tahun tapi 1.5 tahun COVID yaelah apaan sih :””””) eh udah curhat aja oke kita mulai

Hore sekolah di eropa! Eh covid.

Udah seneng seneng ya akhirnya bisa kuliah ke LN, melebarkan horizon (azek) ke kancah international macem Agnez Mo eh corona. Ya Tuhan. Tidak ada lah itu jalan jalan keliling yurop dan foto fotonya. Yang ada aku makin ngendep di kamar. Boro boro keluar kota melihat dunia luar, diajak main ke rumah temen/ke taman aja aku moh. Jadi ya itu, duka pertama covid edition yaaa coronanya :”)

Tutup buka tutup buka eh janjian dulu dong

Jambu~ janji janji mu janji busuk. eh ini mah buat gebetan yang ga ada kejelasan ya? *plak* Waktu winter 2020 kemarin itu penuh dengan kebingungan. Angka turun, orang orang senang, toko buka, eh besoknya naik lagi, terus toko langsung suruh tutup lagi. Eh turun lagi, hore buka lagi, eh gajadi tutup lagi. Gituuuu aja terus sampe bingung. Toko yang gue maksud disini itu yang ga essential ya kayak resto (beberapa masih sediain pick up take away/delivery), baju, toko macam ikea. Kalo supermarket, apotek, optik gitu ya tetep buka. Kadang ga jelas gitu, kadang dibuka sistem Termin atau buat janji dulu mau ketemuan (?) cem mau ketemu gebetan dah wkwkw

“Eh sekarang lagi maksimal berapa orang sama berapa household?”

Iya, kayak point sebelumnya. Aturannya ganti ganti mulu. Bingung akutuuu. Selang seminggu beda aturan, lah auk aku pusing. Pas natal tahun baru ada aturan berbeda juga. Auk ah wkwk. Disini dibatesin kalo mau ketemu orang mau indoor atau outdoor gitu. Dulu aturannya sempet maksimal 10 orang outdoor dari 2 household berbeda, atau maksimal 5 orang dari 2 household berbeda untuk indoor daaan semacamnya. Bingung lah pokoknya. Maka dari itu point selanjutnya adalah…

“Lo gabisa ke tempat gue ya, udah maksimal”

Iyaps, ngusir orang wkwkwk. Yah gapapa sih cuma agak susah buat gue ngatur jadwal ketemuan sama temen gua. Misal nih ya gue kan biasa main bareng Arki dan Hanif tapi karena ada aturan maks 2 household ya gue cuma bisa ketemu 1 orang: either Hanif atau Arki. Waw aku direbutin 2 lelaki. Gak sih, tempat gue yang diperebutkan. Yah sedih. Kadang kasian aja gitu misalnya sama Hanif soalnya gue sama arki mulu main bareng. Dan kayak poin pertama, gue suka ogah diajak ketemu orang. “Kem, main yuuuk” “Moh.” Which leads to my next duka duka tinggal di LN edisi corona:

Mau ketemu orang kayak cari temen bobo bareng (eh): Kamu ‘bersih‘ ga?

Iya. Beneran ini mah. Kayak kalo kalian mau cari temen bobo bareng entah itu ONS atau FWB, cek dulu orang ini ada STD apa ga gitu gitu (if you dont do this, please do. Atau seenggaknya pake pengaman yes biar terlindungi dari STD. loh jadi ceramah). Gue selalu cek riwayat si orang yang mau ketemu gue dulu, dia sering ketemu orang lain apa gak, suka keluar keluar rumah apa ga dan lain lain. Kalo jawabannya iya, ya aku moh ketemu wk. Ribet sumpah kalo udah kena atau taunya mereka positif terus lo harus karantina ditelponin tiap hari dag dig dug seer takut tiba tiba bergejala terus harus begini begitu banyak sekali~ udah sakit, ribet lagi. Ah malas. Misalnya orang yang mau ketemu gue somehow “clean,” tapi dia tinggal sama orang yang ga percaya corona/meremehkan/sering ketemu orang dan macamnya, YA AKU MOH JUGA DONG HAHA. Udahlah gua ga punya temen

Pusing liat layar mulu tapi kuliah tetep bayar yak?

Kuliah semua onlen tapi kuliah ku harganya tetap mahal yak. aha aha aha… Gue kira bakal berkurang gt ya seenggaknya kan gua di rumah aja sister bruder. Oh tidak semudah itu ferguso. Tapi semester depan berkurang jauh sih kuliah gua. Kemana aja hey aku udah mau lulus :”) Oh iya bayaran semester gue itu sebetulnya buat bayar semester ticket gitu, dan kita akan masuk ke duka selanjutnya:….

Punya semester ticket buat 2 negara bagian, tapi ga guna juga. Yah

Gak. Guna. Gitu aja sih wk. Bayar 200an euro tapi aku di rumah saja. Paling keluar naik bis seminggu sekali buat apa? belanja mingguan. Dah.

Terakhir sih:

Siap siap dapet kabar buruk dari orang terdekat di Indo

Yah ini sih sedih karena sekarang situasi di indo lagi serem dan gue selalu takut siapin diri buat denger kabar buruk dari indo. Terutama karena gue jauh dan gabisa apa apa dari sini gitu. Mau pulang juga ga gampang, jauh, mahal dan macem macemnya.

Udahan ah sedih jadinya wk. Jadi ya gitu lah duka gue di Jerman selama corona. Ya jelas ada suka nya juga disini selama covid kayak lebih terkendali misalnya atau kalau mau vaksin juga gue ada kejelasan walau gue emang dapetnya lama karena bukan group prioritas.

Anyway, stay safe and stay sane ya semua! Kalau dapet kesempatan untuk divaksin, please take it. Jangan pilih pilih vaksin karena vaksin terbaik ya yang kamu bisa dapetin saat ini. Dan juga stay at home! Iya tau capek/jenuh dll tapi emang harus ada yang dikorbanin untuk bisa dapet situasi pandemi yang terkendali. So yea, stay at home, stay safe, stay healthy and most importantly stay sane! Go get your vaccine!

Cheers,

Kemmy

# 13 Momo

Hey you guys!

I am back with my 30 days writing challenge with 7 months of delay. HAHA.

Eh. I just gonna post the challenge whenever i want.

I have posted about my number 1 favorite book actually it’s the Book of Lost Things. It’s literally my favorite as I have bought it again when I am in Germany. I could not find it in ID so I was so happy when I found it on amazon!

Well, since I have talked about it before I guess I could just post about other book. It’s an old novel by Michael Ende (1973) called Momo or The Grey Gentlemen or The Men in Grey. I first found out about this book from a friend during our class in last summer term. So we had to bring one thing and explain it why it correlates with you. And he showed this book. At that time, I was heart broken (uwu~) and I just bury my sorrow with books. Yea, when I was heart-broken I accomplished more than now. ahahaha sad.

Anywaaay, I dont usually read novel and I dont particularly enjoy novel (though my fave book is a novel (????)) but this book seemed interesting. So i just gave it a try. And oh boy, the story is just muach. *chef’s kiss.*

I wont say many about this book so you can check it out yourselves but if you have read the Little Prince, then yea, the lessons kinda remind you of Little Prince. You can reaaaally relate the story with your life especially when you’re currently adulting. Momo is telling you the concept of time and how it is used. I have many fave quotes from this book, but I’ll pick three of them:

People never seemed to notice that, by saving time, they were losing something else

Most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time

Why should I care as long as I get my wages at the end of the week

For me these quotes relate with my daily life. A LOT. Oh how I just go with my life without paying attention of time, thinking as long as my work is done and i’m paid a decent amount of money everything will be fine.

So, what do you think? I hope you’re interested in the book as I am! Lemme know if you read the book and tell me what do you think 😀

Cheers,

Kemmy