IPB Students Selected to be the Indonesia’s Representative for the International Symposium in South Africa
Two students of the Faculty of Forestry of Bogor Agricultural University (FAHUTAN IPB) had been given opportunity to represent Indonesia in the 45th International Forestry Students Symposium event last month in South Africa. At the annual event held by the International Forestry Students Association (IFSA), Ari Bima Putra from the Department of Forest Products Technology (Dept. THH) and Fitri Nadhira from the Department of Forest Resources and Ecotourism Conservation (Dept.KSHE) were elected to be the delegation to the land of the rainbow . The two IPB students represented the International Forestry Students' Association Local Committee of IPB (IFSA LC-IPB).
The event, which was previously held in Austria and Germany, was attended by over 150 forestry students from all over the world. The theme of the present event is "Practicing forestry in a diverse environment 'Siyaphi': Where to from here?". The theme is presented as a representation of the diversity of natural wealth in the southernmost countries in the African continent.
The IFSA LC-IPB delegations presented a scientific article on the community-based mangrove edu-ecotourism management. The theme of peat forest is very interesting to be exposed as not all countries in the world have this kind of forest. Supported by Indonesia's large mangrove forest area, 23% of the world's mangrove forest. The mangrove forest areas in Indonesia continue to decline every year as the result of coastal reclamation and land conversion for other uses, such situation is really interesting to be taken as the theme for their presentation. FAO (2007) notes that in the last three decades Indonesia has lost 40% of its mangrove forests.
"Management of community-based mangrove ecotourism is expected to be the solution in managing mangrove forests in Indonesia, as the cultural practices such gotong-royong (cooperation by members of a community to achieve a common goal) as of mutual assistance in Indonesia has been well-imlemented. So such good cultures must be promoted to be applied in building sustainable mangrove forest ecotourism. Of course this is very interesting to be discussed in this international forest forum, "said Bima.
They hope that mangrove forests can be managed properly. Like coral reefs, mangrove forests are extremely productive ecosystems that provide numerous good and services both to the marine environment and people. Besides the dense root systems of mangrove forests trap sediments flowing down rivers and off the land. This helps stabilizes the coastline and prevents erosion from waves and storms. Mangroves have an important role in protecting the beach from waves, wind, and storms, mangroves are also shown to play an important role in protecting the coast from the onslaught of the storm. Mangroves will become a means of tourism by utilizing the community around the coast to manage and maintain the area. So it can provide social and economic benefits with regard to forest ecology.
The theme of this international symposium was changing the dimensions of the forest in recent decades. "Siyaphi" is the language of Xhosa which means in the Indonesian language "where will we go?" Although it has a broad meaning, this theme prioritizes current world forestry issues such as on clean water issues as well as carbon exchanges .Items of the program were General Assembly, Student Presentation, Workshop and Fieldtrip, which took place in 5 cities in Eastern Cape, western cape, Mpumalanga, KwaZuli-Natal and Gauteng. However, the activities were centered at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, George, Western Cape.
These two representatives of IPB had the opportunity to visit some of the historic and distinctive places in South Africa. One of them is the Biko Center which is a museum that exhibit many memorabilia of the struggle of black people in fighting for racism and injustice. In addition, they were scheduled to visit the interesting place the Kruger National Park, an area that presents the exotic savanna region. Some other places are also very interesting like the highly developed South African forest industries.
"This international event is also the media to promote the Indonesian culture and also the beauty of the forest from each country," he said. (Wied)
