INDONESIA, Tiwoho, North Sulawesi - November 2001
Construction of a Community Coastal Resource Centre for mangrove/sea grass bed preservation
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The island of Sulawesi is defined by the longest continuous coastline in all of Indonesia, exceeding that of the continental United States. As such, a significant percentage of island residents are highly dependent on the naturally rich marine resources for their survival and livelihood. However, Sulawesi's coastal marine ecosystems have sustained significant degradation due to unchecked resource extraction and development pressures. Seacology is assisting local organization Kelola and the Mangrove Action Project in constructing a Community Coastal Resource Centre (CCRC). Based on the success of a similar Seacology project in Sri Lanka, the new center will be a mangrove demonstration site, environmental education center, and a meeting place for villagers and local organizations.
UPDATE November 2003 - According to Ben Brown at Mangrove Action Project, the building is structurally complete but has yet to be furnished. Two workshops have already been held in the building. INSIST, a NGO capacity-building organization, has decided to assist in the completion of the center, thus allowing four local NGOs and the community to use the building for trainings, meetings, workshops, demonstrations, etc. INSIST will outfit the building's library as well as provide for a computer room/multimedia lab. The Tiwoho community has been working to restore old shrimp ponds to mangrove habitat.
UPDATE April 2004 - The CCRC buildings are expected to be completed by this summer.
UPDATE January 2005 - Seacology's field representative Arnaz Mehta and a Mangrove Action Project representative carefully monitored the management of the final stages of construction. The community center was completed in July 2004. The new center is a mangrove demonstration site, environmental education center and a meeting place for villagers and local organizations. In August 2004, Duane Silverstein and board member Doug Herst visited the site and took a tour of the Tiwoho Community Center.
