‘A life-changing experience’ is how a group of Southern Cross University students who worked on conservation and community projects in Indonesia and East Timor have described their New Colombo Plan Scholarship-funded trips. Some helped a Sumatran elephant conservation centre design a tourism strategy, others did orang-utan surveys in Kalimantan, while another group focused on sustainable tourism and produced sales and marketing material, including a website and brochure, for a small Balinese island that is home to a critically endangered bird. Listen to what some of the students said about their experiences when they travelled to Indonesia and East Timor in May and June this year. VIDEO LINK Leah Hays, a third year environmental science student, worked with Indonesian national parks, forestry and conservation workers in the Way Kambas National Park on the island of Sumatra. “There was a positive exchange of knowledge between students and forestry workers: students were taught the effectiveness of camera trapping, and forestry workers were taught by us how to construct effective turtle traps,” she said. Leah said surveying methods like these were essential for determining a species’ abundance measure. “This knowledge is crucial for devising mitigation strategies to avoid further degradation of key wildlife habitat.” Ashleigh Frost, who’s studying a Bachelor of Social Science, created a website called Conserve Nusa Penida http://conservenusapenida.wordpress.com/, which showcased the culture and diverse landscape of Nusa Penida island. She said it was the first online presence designed to attract sustainable tourism to the small island where the Bali starling, a threatened bird, lives. “The website is for those wishing to visit the island as well as an information platform that holds conservation and ecotourism at its core. “The website provides practical information as well as a blog platform that outlines our experiences, information on cultural traditions and manners, and encourages tourism based on cultural education to help us understand the places we visit. The core purpose was to design a website that attracts a certain demographic to the island that values mindful, culturally sensitive tourism in Bali,” Ashleigh said. The pair encouraged students to apply for New Colombo Scholarships. “I found the experience to be incredibly enriching, providing me with clear insight into a line of work I feel very passionate about,” said Leah. “The opportunity to work alongside local Indonesians, in particular the local non-government organisation ALeRT, put into perspective the potential of a small group of people who share a common goal. Together with my team, I was able to look at the bigger vision for the Elephant Conservation Centre and figure out ways in which we could turn the grassroots centre into an eco-sustainability model for other centres throughout Indonesia. Inspired by the achievements of Bali Green School, I was really able to use my love for design, permaculture and wildlife conservation in the development of a comprehensive field report - a tool I hope will be continually built upon as myself and others share future experiences at the ECC. The practical application of knowledge learnt throughout the last three years of my environmental science degree, has really cemented my aspirations for a career in conservation management. I feel better equipped at communicating with large groups of people, even with a language barrier, and most of all, have learnt the value of involving the whole community in a collective vision, so that everyone can feel ownership over project outcomes and feel they are a part of something incredibly special.” Ashleigh said the experience was valuable but challenging. “Being on Nusa Penida was not easy, nor a holiday for our SCU team, made up of environmental science, marine science, education and social science students. We experienced firsthand the difficulties in starting up projects on the island, going through a number of ideas and suggestions with the Nusa Penida Friends of the National Park Foundation who, with generosity and determination, have made such a positive impact on the island through community projects and conservation efforts.” Applications for New Colombo Plan Scholarships for 2015, made available through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, are now open. For more information, contact Associate Professor David Lloyd in the School of Environment, Science and Engineering on david.lloyd@scu.edu.au “It has been fantastic for our students, from right across the University, to work with partner agencies to do something positive. The Friends of National Parks Foundation in Indonesia and the Save Indonesian Endangered Species fund were fantastic and we all benefitted from the collaboration,” Professor Lloyd said.au

• published: 19 Aug 2014
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