In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

As the world celebrates Earth Day today, The Asia Foundation honors the countless individuals working on environment issues in their own back yard, one step at a time. Awarded annually to honor grassroots environmentalists, the Goldman Environmental Prize recognizes their sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment.

Yuyun Ismawati, director of Bali Fokus Foundation, an Indonesian non-governmental organization working on environmental management, pollution control and prevention, and sustainable development issues, won the 2009 Goldman Prize for Island Nations, and is a longtime partner to The Asia Foundation. Yuyun’s environmental projects first received support from the Foundation in 1996. Since that time, she has worked to overcome one of Indonesia’s biggest environmental threats: waste management in Bali, one of the world’s premier tourist destinations.

Photo: Will Parrinello

Bali residents are faced with rapid consumption of natural resources and unregulated waste disposal within a finite space. While government-run services collect only 30 to 40 percent of the country’s solid waste, mostly in higher income areas; poor communities are left with mounting waste problems that can have deadly consequences.

“Yuyun first started working with the tourism sector to convince them to reduce their solid waste output in 1996. Yuyun got my attention when she submitted a proposal to The Asia Foundation, with photographs of hotel trash in the creeks and under mangrove roots,” said The Asia Foundation’s Director of Environment Programs Chris Plante. “She also used those photographs to get the attention of the hotels on Bali. When she managed to get some of the photographs published, including a picture of a hotel card-room key floating in the water, you can imagine the concern it caused.”

The impact of Yuyun’s community-based approach is clear. In 2003, Yuyun launched a solid waste management program with Temesi Village in Gianyar, Bali, consisting of a waste management facility owned and operated by the village itself. The plant now employs 40 local residents, while income from the sale of recyclable materials and compost goes to benefit local farmers. Her “decentralized solution initiative” – a plan to work with housewives to reduce the volume of waste taken to municipal dumpsites by minimizing household-level waste – now involves 500 households.

Yuyun’s work has expanded beyond Bali to encompass nationwide environmental concerns in Indonesia. Over the last year, she was involved with national agencies in crafting Indonesia’s first-ever bill on waste management and waste management strategy related to climate change issues. During this process, she succeeded in moving the bill away from environmentally damaging practices, such as incineration.

Upon hearing the news of Yuyun’s award, Dr. K. Vijaya Lakshmi, vice president and head of Innovation Services Branch at Development Alternatives in India, who has known Yuyun since 1992, was overjoyed. “This is great news! I feel proud of Yuyun winning this most prestigious award in recognition of her relentless work in the field of environment. Our own progress in India, made in the field of waste management in the hospitality industry, was largely influenced by the approach adopted by Yuyun in Bali. She is a woman of courage, commitment, and grit.”

Dr. Lakshmi first met Yuyun at the Asia Foundation/ USAEP-supported NGO-Business Partnership meeting in 2000. “We became good friends at the first instance and Yuyun has visited our organization, giving lectures, inspiring my younger colleagues,” added Dr. Lakshmi.

The Goldman award included financial support of $150,000 for each recipient to pursue their vision of a renewed and protected environment and to enable them to continue their work.

Read more about Yuyun’s award on the Goldman Prize website.

Yuyun Ismawati of Indonesia, a longtime partner of The Asia Foundation’s Environment program, has won the Goldman Environmental Prize, a highly coveted global accolade honoring grassroots environmentalists. Coverage of Yuyun’s recognition has been featured this week on The New York Times, Reuters, BBC News, USA Today, and the San Francisco Chronicle.