Damai in Lovina, North Bali, has for years been implementing and improving an ambitious environmental programme covering waste treatment, water- and energy conservation and a detailed manual for organic resort operation. Now the leading resort of North Bali has been chosen to be a role model for other hotels and resorts of the region, and also serve as a field laboratory for new concepts in sustainable resort operation. The regional government in Singaraja has just launched a wide reaching programme for making the North Bali tourism even more green, and Damai is put forth as the example for other resorts on the island.
”The things we do at Damai are fairly low-tech and can easily be adapted by both a familiy-run losmen and a 50-room hotel. There is no hocus-pocus, and the equipment used is mostly locally made, not imported from Basel or Toronto,” says Rory McTiernan, who is the head of Damai’s environmental programme. McTiernan has a university degree in agriculture, and has for decades also been working as environmental consultant for various industries across the Indonesian archipelago.
”Many of the practices are not only more cost-efective, but often simple and easy to implement, such as sorting the garbage and ensuring proper disposal of waste, allthough we sometimes need to find alternate ways of recycling the materials, since no institutions exist up here. With the plastic water bottles for instance, we have put up an open container by the main road where we just put all of them in, and during the day they simply get picked up by locals who need them for something in their business or in the household.”
’As opposed to the South part of the island, tourism has not yet had any harmful impact to the environment up here. North Bali is still untouched, and it is a wise and commendable initiative launched by the local governemt to keep it that way. We are proud to be chosen as the model resort, and happy that we are allowed to share our experiences to keep Bali green.
Posted by Ammarah 
