Umweltschutz für Realisten | Volunteering for Borneo

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Next stop: Ara Dinanwan, a tiny island off Borneo. We had come to support an environmental organization (“ADRECC”) as volunteer helpers. It was all the more surprising to find our own plastic packaging, which we had actually thrown in the trash can, as “fertilizer” between the trees during the papaya harvest.

The journey of our garbage from our hands to its final destination was pretty short: over the bin to the small garbage dump, where it was either burned or redistributed by the wind. The organic waste often ended up directly in the sea. The environmental sins that happen behind opaque walls in Germany are given to us here on a plate. Almost inevitably a process of changing considerations, judgements and opinions was set in motion. In our case, it caused us to undergo a metamorphosis from Western smartypants over frustrated disillusionists to supporting realists.

As Germans, we both live with the understanding that we are waste separation professionals and support the recycling of raw materials. It takes heavy artillery to wake us up and let us realize that Germany actually dumps a large part of its plastic waste in countries like Malaysia (a recent study showed that Germany is the third largest plastic trash exporteur to Asia). Recycling is apparently reserved for the elite of the plastic upper class. Malaysia makes it much easier: you search in vain for a general disposal system – and the garbage becomes a pretty personal problem… as on our island.

Conversations with the people of ADRECC made quickly clear that they actually do care a lot about what happens with the garbage. But the big hurdles already start with the logistical problems “where to store?” or “how to transport”. It was all the more frustrating to see how the first ad-hoc measures were torpedoed and how locals as well as Asian tourists skilfully ignored our newly erected recycling containers. Of course, deep down inside we knew that the separation refuseniks didn’t want to make a political statement with their disregard. They simply lacked the conviction and awareness for waste separation.

But it took these “detours” to internalize what everyone knows anyway: “acting” is better than “lamenting”. Instead of complaining about the status quo, we built signages for the island and drove the creation of a video clip in order to raise the awareness and responsibility among locals and tourists in dealing with the island. The local government on Borneo is apparently planning its very own way of educating the people. As an employee of the Fishery department told us enthusiastically: whoever is caught fish bombing will soon be punished with whipping again.

Speaking of fish bombing: Many coral reefs in Southeast Asia are severely damaged by this fishing technique, which is now strictly forbidden. The preservation and propagation of the reefs around Ara Dinawan are a major focus of ADRECC. We were very lucky to be on the island at the same time as Anuar, Kaleb and Johanna from Ocean Quest. From them we learned how to revive damaged reefs with a method developed by Anuar over decades. It was nice to help create countable added value for nature, rather than focus on doing less of the harmful things, as so often. And so we directly planned with Anuar to meet him for further projects elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Ara Dinawan made it very easy for us to work for its preservation. A tropical idyll with colorful coral reefs just a finstroke away from camp. In the mornings, we saw the sun rising over Mount Kinabalu on Borneo from our tents. And once we got up, on the way to breakfast we only had to bend down a few times to pick up the fallen mangos – delicious “flight mangos” so to speak. For our feeling of well-being it also helped that we shared our island time with people in whose cordiality we could make ourselves really comfortable. We extended the initially planned 2 weeks directly by another one to delay the farewell.

Like every good contract the island had its catch – in this case it was a countless number of insidious Asian tiger mosquitoes. They even landed on freshly applied mosquito repellent (of which we used 6 bottles) to start their meal. The bites at least made sure that after leaving the island for good a constant itching reminded us of the unforgettable time…