Our mission: protect the environment and provide eco-employment for the local people. The Togean islands are an archipelago of the Central Sulawesi province, Indonesia. Its remote location makes it quite time-consuming to reach, but its heavenly landscapes definitely worth it. However, behind the idyllic scene, the region is affected by serious environmental threats and massive unemployment. The p
opulation is rather poor, and lives in very basic conditions with very low (often no) income. POVERTY
Despite an abundance of natural resources, most people living in the Togean Islands are poor. 29 of the 37 villages fall within the category of poor villages, in which monthly income per capita is below 350 000 Rupiahs (≈ € 30). In Katupat, the small village where the EVERTO initiative was born, most people live in stilt bamboo or wooden houses with very basic comfort: no generator for electricity, only 5% of the population have running water in their house. About 800 people live in the village. 90% of the children go to elementary school but some of them cannot pursue their studies after that because their parents cannot afford it. The annual cost for junior high school is Rp 11 million (≈ € 935), and Rp 13 million (≈ € 1 100) for senior high school (including accommodation in Wakai or Ampana – the closest high schools – as well as transport expenses). But the latter only provides income for a very small part of the population and mostly during high season (July and August). ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS
- Increasing mass of plastic waste with no waste collection, treatment or recycling system.
- Cyanide and dynamite fishing: these unsustainable and dangerous fishing methods are illegal, but law is not always enforced and they are still commonly practiced on the sly.
- Forest clearing: commercial logging has been illegal in the Togeans since 1996, so current forest clearing is carried out by local farmers to grow cash crops, mostly coconut, cacao and cloves. Expanded farming results in a reduction in fresh water supply.
- Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS): their presence in large numbers converts coral reefs into a mass of dead coral skeleton in only a few weeks. Besides, COTS are very poisonous for humans as they provoke severe infections.
- Unmanaged tourism: tourism has the potential to benefit the environment in the Togeans if developed and managed in a way that helps local people and respects local biodiversity. But work still needs to be done in that way. We owe the EVERTO initiative to Saiful M. Amin, manager of Fadhila Cottages: in early 2012, he decides to create a working group in the village of Katupat, to start thinking on how to provide employment to local people. Besides, he has become more and more aware of the ecological problems in the Togean archipelago. The mass diffusion of plastic without waste management system is a real issue, and the outbreaks of the Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish (COTS) kill the coral at high speed. At some point, unemployment and need for environmental care just match in Saiful’s head: protecting the environment can bring jobs! Since April 2012, his initiative has been supported by Marion and Jeff, two French tourists who were staying at Fadhila Cottages for the second time. They all decided to create an organization in order to raise money and help the Katupat initiative.
