Sustainable Environmental Initiatives - Bali

The beautiful Indonesian island of Bali provides an ideal setting to gain experience in innovative environmental work and help ensure that local farmers steer a course of sustainable development.

You will be working with a local NGO and Balinese farming communities to improve environmental practices and standards. Many of the farmers you'll meet have already been working to counter the negative environmental impact of the so-called 'Green Revolution,' a set of initiatives sponsored by the Indonesian government in the 1950's and 60's to increase crop yields using harmful pesticides. Yet many farmers continue to unsustainable amounts of fertilisers, and despite living in one of the most beautiful regions of the world, there is little awareness of the impact of non-biodegradable waste upon the environment.

This NGO works to design and implement various environmental strategies to reduce man's impact upon the Balinese landscape. They have initiated a Permaculture centre and wormery run by farmers to produce compost for their fields, with excess being sold to nearby farms. Mobile rice mills and organic rice intensification training are creating new awareness whilst doubling yields in a sustainable manner. New initiatives to trap mosquitoes have been founded, biogas plants built, and a new micro-hydro electric generator is being built in a nearby village with plans for more in the near future.

This is a proactive organisation with plenty of new ideas still in the pipeline and your contribution to these ongoing activities and your new ideas will be more than welcomed.