Saving the Sumatran jungle with education
Donation protected
In a rainforest, saving a river turtle or a snake can sometimes be just as important as saving the trees.
Every living thing has a role to play.
Many rural Indonesians still rely heavily upon natural ecosystems to survive by bathing, cooking, drinking, swimming and fishing in rivers, and making a living from forest products or farming.
Since rainforests play a global role in producing oxygen and managing the weather, the sustainability of Indonesia's last green wildernesses is an issue affecting us all.
It's an issue that can begin with children watching their parents illegally poach protected hornbills for money, and can end with whole mountain sides logged and liable to flash floods.
And it's an issue we are determined to solve—through education.
Thanks to the kindness of friends near and far, last year our plans to roll-out out a unique environmental received more than €5,000 through a GoFundMe campaign.
During 2018, our funding allowed environmental educator Pungky Nanda Pratama to teach 192 pupils from 11 schools across South Sumatra.
The schools were located in or next to the Kerinci Seblat National Park and the Isau-Isau Pasemah Wildlife Reserve — regions troubled by illegal logging, illegal plantations and illegal poaching.
We tested each pupil’s environmental knowledge with a pretest, at which they scored an average 34%.
After a comprehensive self-made curriculum consisting of five subject areas, learning both indoor and outdoor, pupils given the same test at the end of the programme scored an average of 71%.
We also saw children releasing turtles seen trapped inside plastic bags, or urging older siblings to give up slow lorises captured for the black market trade in exotic pets.
Through active social media accounts, Pungky has been contacted by all sorts of conservationists from around the world. He’s been interviewed on Australia’s ABC News Farnorth Queensland, and our work has been filmed by both international filmmakers and even the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
Our work has furthermore received the support of green-books.org, WildArk Conservation Australia and the Conservation and Biodiversity Agency of South Sumatra.
People are starting to take notice.
So this year, we at The Jungle Library Project want to do more.
Firstly, we want to build on our successes by establishing a legal charitable foundation so that we can begin taking steps to hire new educators and seed them across Indonesia.
We have also written an environmental education guide and are ready to publish once funds are in.
We hope that through such activities we can gain official support of the Indonesia Ministry of Environment and Forestry and work together with local governments to spread our curriculum where it’s needed most.
After spending a year watching the children in his jungle classrooms watch, learn and grow, Pungky is convinced that education is the key to safeguarding Indonesia’s forests for good.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for reading this, and hope you will join us in our dream.
Cost breakdown:
- €3,800 for accommodation, food and transport expenses, including trips to conservation meetings
- €1,000 for administration fees to set up an Indonesian charitable foundation
- €800 for teaching equipment and materials
- €700 for book design and printing
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for reading this, and hope you will join us in our dream.
Cost breakdown:
- €3,800 for accommodation, food and transport expenses, including trips to conservation meetings
- €1,000 for administration fees to set up an Indonesian charitable foundation
- €800 for teaching equipment and materials
- €700 for book design and printing
- €700 for rechargeable battery to support Pungky's Sumatra Camera Trap Project, with data used to support conservation initiatives and to be used in environmental education classes (https://www.facebook.com/SumatraCTP/)
(All funds will be withdrawn by Joshua James Parfitt, a journalist based in the Costa del Sol, who set up The Jungle Library Project with Pungky Nanda Pratama late in 2017. Funds will then be transferred to Pungky via WesternUnion—Indonesian banks are not internationally recognised, so this is the quickest way to grant Pungky the funds, 100% of which will go to him and the campaign.)
Please click on these two links to read about Pungky's two fascinating side-projects:
http://junglelibrary.com/a-chance-to-save-sumatras-orchids/
http://junglelibrary.com/mobile-library-project/
Please see our website for more information: www.junglelibrary.com
(All funds will be withdrawn by Joshua James Parfitt, a journalist based in the Costa del Sol, who set up The Jungle Library Project with Pungky Nanda Pratama late in 2017. Funds will then be transferred to Pungky via WesternUnion—Indonesian banks are not internationally recognised, so this is the quickest way to grant Pungky the funds, 100% of which will go to him and the campaign.)
Please click on these two links to read about Pungky's two fascinating side-projects:
http://junglelibrary.com/a-chance-to-save-sumatras-orchids/
http://junglelibrary.com/mobile-library-project/
Please see our website for more information: www.junglelibrary.com
Organizer
Joshua James Parfitt
Organizer
