Getting a first-hand feel of conservation work
SMU's field interns spend four weeks in Indonesia and the Philippines
Esther Ng Today Online 20 Aug 10;
SINGAPORE - They paid for their airfare and accommodation to spend four weeks in Indonesia and the Philippines, getting their hands and feet dirty planting trees and mangroves - a first-hand feel of conservation work.
Undergraduates Connie Chua, Eugene Lim, Kevin See and Ong Zi Xiang from the Singapore Management University were Conservation International's (CI) first batch of field interns.
Headquartered in the United States, the non-government organisation (NGO) opened an office in Singapore last October.
For Ms Chua and Mr Lim, the highlight of their internship was the Javan Gibbon Centre near the Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park, and Nagrak, where there is a reforestation programme.
"We saw illegal logging of 10-year-old trees ... it's tough patrolling 150 hectares, which is what we did helping two rangers and three CI workers," said Mr Lim.
"However, I learnt that you need to balance people's livelihood with the environment," he added.
Farmers who need farmland would resort to cutting down forests. At Nagrak, CI Indonesia works with farmers to plant trees every three metres on cleared land to create new forests. Farmers were also encouraged to take up livestock rearing.
For Ms Chua, a former Indonesian, roughing it out in the mountains meant sleeping on the floor and doing without air-conditioning - with the odd rat scurrying across the room.
"I learnt a lot and want to continue volunteering for NGOs when I graduate," she said.
Mr See and Mr Ong, however, wished they had more outdoor action. "The NGO had the impression Singaporeans are city people and didn't want to get their hands dirty but we wanted more field trips," said Mr Ong.
Instead, they were mainly tasked to archive the NGO's books and magazines.
So, when they headed to Batangas, a coastal area on Luzon Island, to plant mangroves, and to set up a booth at Manila Ocean Park, the two were thrilled.
CI's communications manager, Ms Lynn Tang told MediaCorp that it hoped to improve the programme and appealed for corporate sponsors.
"Having support for this programme will not only allow us to develop it further, but enable more individuals to benefit from the experience by making it more accessible to people from all financial backgrounds," she said.
