Bali, Beaches & Baby Coral Reefs at the Horniman Museum and Gardens
- swepstravel
- Jun 21, 2021
- 3 min read
Barong Landung Masks and the Environment
'A participant wears a Barong Landung mask during a rally to oppose the Benoa Bay reclamation project in front of the Bajra Sandhi monument in Denpasar, Bali, on Tuesday. Hundreds of residents and activists took part in the cultural performance aimed at rejecting the reclamation project.' (Jakarta Post July 8, 2015) [1]
[2] ForBali Protest rally - protestor wearing a Barong mask. (note Barong Landung mask photo not available)
ForBali is a protest group and movement who are against the development of Benoa Bay in the South of Bali. The collective is formed from NGO's, students, academics, film makers, musicians, Balinese and ex-pats who are all committed to saving the Benoa Bay which is a marine conservation area, containing mango groves and corals. The developer TWBI proposes to build a muliti- billion dollar complex, creating artificial islands built into the 700 hectares of the lake, including: shopping malls, golf courses, a Disney attraction and luxury villa complexes.
Jonas Drobik discusses the reasons in this short video for needing to take action to stop the destruction of Benoa Bay
[3] Jonas Drobik, Stop Destruction
Bali is already struggling with a water shortage and wide spread plastic pollution on its beaches and in its water ways. If such a development was to go ahead it would put Bali under inscreasing ecological threat already struggling from the weight of an influx of over 16 million tourists who visit the island each year.
[4] ForBali protestors
Tourism is already putting the Island of Bali under strain as water resources for the local people are limited who do not have enough to bath and cook and yet luxury hotels and villas have swimming pools, baths full of lushious green gardens to lounge in.
[5] Dry river bed in Bali, Aljazeera news 2020
ForBali's Reasons for Protesting against the Benoa Bay Development
1: Loss of a healthy marine conservation area.
2: Increased flooding
3: Heightened vulnerability to disastors
4: Destruction of coral reefs
5: Threatened mangrove ecosystem
6: Accelerated coastal abrasion
7: Ecological damage throughout the reclamination supply chain
8: Transfer of wealth from Balinese people to the investor
9: Policies corruptly affordable to the investor
10: Inequitable development
11: Investors misleading promise
12: Violation of the national Coral Triangle Initivative protecting coral reefs
13: Cultural and spiritual bankruptcy of the tourism sector
[6] 13 points from Coastal Reclamation and Balinese Identity paper.
Over 7,000 miles away from Bali the same committment to saving our environment is taking place at the Hormiman Museum and Gardens. In 2019 the Museum declaired a Climate Emergency and pledged to put environmental issues at the centre of its work and exhibitions.
Before 2019 the Horniman Museum and Gardens had already been engaged in ecological and sustainable initiatives and programmes. One of those was Project Coral which to date has produced 130,000 eggs through in vitro fertilisation. Five of the points listed above by ForBali in their reasons to protest against the Benoa Bay development link to protecting marine environments, specifically Coral reefs. The Horniman Museum and Gardens in London has been running a Coral reproductive research project on its site in its aquarium. The video explores how the team led by Jamie Craggs Aquarium Curator became the first institution to produce coral artificially.
[7] Horniman Museum and Gardens: Project Coral spawning
Project Coral has created a network of partners including: University of Derby, The Florida Aquarium, Secore International all working together to share research and create a legacy for others to replicate and continue to safegaurd our Coral and Marine life.
References
[1] Jakarta Post (2015) - https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/07/08/culturally-rejected.html
[2] Protester wearing mask - ForBali rally https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=forbali13&set=a.1089804974381385
[3] Benoa Bay stop destruction video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyIk05ialmw
[4] Image courtesy of ForBALI - Protestors hold giant sign on the beach.
[5] Neubaur, I. (2020) Photograph of Bali dry river bed https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/1/bali-the-tropical-indonesian-island-that-is-running-out-of-water
[6] Tans. R. (2020) Coastal Reclamation and Balinese Identity https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aspp.12563
[7] Horniman Museum Project Coral Spawning https://www.horniman.ac.uk/project/project-coral/