Si Cantik yang Merana

Oleh: Lusiana Indriasari

DANAU Toba dikenal memiliki pemandangan yang elok dan permai. Sayang, kecantikan alam danau vulkanik terbesar di dunia itu kini mulai ditinggalkan, bahkan oleh penghuninya sendiri.

Di depan panggung besar di pinggir Danau Toba, perempuan setengah baya, Marbun (50), duduk santai bersama teman perempuannya. Malam itu, ia siap berdendang semalam suntuk ditemani sebungkus rokok kretek, kacang rebus, dan kopi pahit.

Di antara kepulan asap rokoknya, Marbun berdendang sambil sesekali memejamkan mata. Ia tampak menghayati lirik lagu ”Lam Ganda Sitaonon” yang dinyanyikan grup Marsada Band di acara Festival Danau Toba 2010.

Lagu ini bercerita tentang perempuan yang merana karena ditinggal merantau kekasihnya. ”Kalau dengar lagu ini, teringatlah aku pada masa muda dulu,” kata Marbun.

Dulu, pada awal tahun 1980-an, lagu itu sangat populer di kalangan anak muda Parapat, Kabupaten Simalungun. Kota yang dibangun Belanda sebagai tempat peristirahatan di pinggir Danau Toba itu menjadi lokasi kegiatan Festival Danau Toba 2010 pada Oktober lalu.

Marbun masih ingat, dulu kota Parapat gelap gulita. ”Rumah kami belum ada listrik, cuma lampu yang bikin hidung hitam (jelaga),” kenangnya.

Saat purnama menghiasi langit, anak-anak muda kota Parapat dan desa lainnya di sekeliling Danau Toba beramai-ramai keluar rumah. Mereka berkenalan lalu bercengkerama di pinggir danau. Di bawah sinar bulan, lagu- lagu cinta semacam ”Lam Ganda Sitaonon” dan ”Bulani” pun mengumandang di mana-mana.

Pagi harinya, anak-anak muda kota Parapat dan desa lain di sekitar Danau Toba sibuk melayani turis dari mancanegara. Mereka menjual jasa menjadi penyanyi kafe atau hotel, menjual cendera mata, menjadi pemandu wisata, atau menjual aneka macam barang untuk turis.

”Ketika itu masyarakat sudah bisa hidup dari pariwisata,” tutur Mangiring (57), Kepala Adat Desa Tomok.

Tomok merupakan salah desa wisata di Pulau Samosir. Desa ini termasuk masih ramai didatangi wisatawan karena merupakan salah satu pintu masuk menuju Pulau Samosir dari Pelabuhan Ajibata, Parapat.

Mengadu nasib

Danau Toba kini tidak seramai dulu. Tidak banyak lagi anak muda bercengkerama dan bernyanyi di pinggir danau seperti di masa lalu. Menurut Hamonangan Sirait (57), seniman dan juga Ketua Sanggar Nauli di Parapat, anak- anak muda yang tinggal di sekeliling Danau Toba memilih pergi mencari penghidupan ke kota lain. ”Di sini tidak menjanjikan hidup karena pariwisatanya sudah mati,” tuturnya.

Mereka yang memilih tinggal di Danau Toba sekarang ini sebagian besar adalah perempuan, anak-anak, dan orang tua. Industri pariwisata yang mati tidak bisa menopang hidup para seniman yang lahir di Danau Toba. Mereka yang punya kemampuan bermusik dan bernyanyi merantau ke daerah lain yang industri pariwisatanya bergairah, seperti Jakarta, Bali, dan Lombok. Di sana mereka menjadi penyanyi di hotel-hotel berbintang dan kafe.

Sebagian pengusaha hotel dan penginapan yang dulu ramai kembali menjadi petani atau petambak ikan. Sebagian lagi mencoba peruntungan dengan membuka hotel di tempat wisata lain, seperti Bali dan Lombok.

Merosotnya sektor pariwisata di Danau Toba, kata Hamonangan, sudah terasa sejak pertengahan periode 1990-an. Kondisi ini diperparah dengan krisis moneter yang melanda Indonesia pada tahun 1998, diikuti gangguan keamanan, seperti bom di Jakarta dan Medan.

Selain keindahan alam, kawasan Danau Toba kaya dengan situs peninggalan sejarah. Di Pulau Samosir, wisatawan bisa mengunjungi situs batu sidang di Ambarita, makam kuno orang Batak di Tomok, situs perkampungan tua di Simanindo, dan lain-lain. Sayangnya, budaya masyarakat yang masih kental dengan tradisi belum dieksplorasi dengan baik sehingga menjadi suguhan bergizi bagi para wisatawan.

Salah satu daerah di Pulau Samosir yang masih dikunjungi wisatawan adalah Tomok dan Tuk Tuk. Meski begitu, kata Mangiring, jumlah turis yang datang ke Tomok sangat merosot. Padahal, dulu turis asing yang datang ke Tomok rela tidur hanya menggunakan jaring yang dipasang di antara dua batang pohon (hammock). Ada juga yang membawa tenda karena semua penginapan milik warga Desa Tomok penuh dengan turis.

Karena banyak turis asing, transaksi ekonomi di desa yang kini berpenduduk 6.000 jiwa ini lebih banyak menggunakan dollar Amerika Serikat. ”Turis membeli rokok, sabun, atau sandal jepit dengan dollar itu sudah biasa,” tutur Mangiring.

Kehidupan wisata sedikit bergairah di Tuk Tuk. Kawasan berbentuk peninsula ini lokasinya sekitar 7 kilometer dari Tomok. Desa ini jadi pusat kegiatan wisatawan asing yang ingin melewatkan malam di Samosir.

Selain penginapan, Tuk Tuk pada malam hari terasa lebih hidup, dengan deretan kafe, bar, dan restoran yang buka mulai pukul 18.00. Menurut Julieti (30), pekerja Today’s Café di Tuk Tuk, turis asing yang datang ke Tuk Tuk kebanyakan berasal dari Belanda, Perancis, Jerman, dan Amerika.

Di sisi lain, kawasan Danau Toba yang ditinggalkan menyisakan puing-puing bangunan bekas resor, vila, ataupun penginapan sekelas losmen dan hostel. Beberapa kafe, bar, dan ruang pajang rental motor/mobil dibiarkan terbengkalai begitu saja.

Dulu, dari kafe dan bar inilah seniman-seniman lokal menghibur tamu. Suara alat musik tradisional gondang, taganing, seruling, berbaur dengan gitar dan keyboard, mengalun di pesisir Danau Toba yang kini merana ditinggalkan penghuninya. Kini semua seolah tinggal puing berdebu, tinggal kenangan kelabu.

Toba, oh, Toba si cantik yang merana....

Nature talks heading for success, delegates say

By Richard BlackEnvironment correspondent, BBC News, Nagoya

UN talks on a new deal aimed at protecting nature and equitably sharing in its benefits seem to be on course for a positive conclusion.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting has seen intensive diplomacy as delegates tried to iron out their remaining differences.

The Japanese hosts in particular have been desperate for a successful end.

Western nations have given ground on the thorniest issue - the equitable sharing of natural genetic resources.

But final resolution has not been reached on other outstanding points, such as how much of the Earth's lands and oceans should be place under protection.

There is some convergence around the targets of 17% of the planet's land surface by 2020, and 10% of the oceans.

These are regarded by conservation groups as very weak - 13% of land is already protected, while the target for the seas is already 10%.

The other outstanding issue has been money, with Brazil and its allies arguing that by 2020, $200bn (£125bn) per year should be made available for biodiversity conservation.

A deal has been reached under which developed countries will agree to have a plan to raise such sums in place by 2012, when Brazil will host the second Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Poor countries have insisted that they cannot be expected to ramp up their own spending on conservation massively given the other demands on their budgets.

"The forest and the other biological resources we have serve the general interests of the global environment," said Johansen Voker from Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency.

"So we expect assistance to be able to effectively conserve our environment for the common good of the world community."

The sums might appear astronomical - particularly when you recall that governments are already committed to raising $100bn per year for climate change by 2020 - but French Ecology Minister Chantal Jouanno said it was not impossible.

"If you think that to solve the prob of biodiversity only public funds can be sufficient, it's just a dream, because the amounts necessary are so huge," she told BBC News.

"It needs to be private funds too - and not only voluntary private funds but... binding funds [from business].

"You are making profits from the use of biodiversity; so it's logical and it's legitimate that those profts return to biodiversity."

'More than words'

The genetic resources issue, known as Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS), kept delegates working through Thursday night, with their ministers picking up the baton on Friday morning for an intense round of diplomacy.

The ABS protocol is intended to ensure that developing countries receive recompense when products are made from genetic material of organisms from their territory - known as Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS).

Hugo Schally, EU lead negotiator on the issue, outlined why the wording mattered so much.

"These words are not just words, they mean differences in economic circumstances," he told BBC News.

"What material does this protocol actually apply to? That means in terms of research-based industry, in terms of... economic exchanges - they're literally worth billions of dollars or euros or pounds, or whatever you want."

In essence, developing nations demanded that the agreement cover anything made from this genetic material - technically known as "derivatives" - whereas western nations, where the world's pharmaceutical giants are principally based, wanted a far smaller scope.

After Japan produced a version of text giving the developing world much of what it wanted, the EU and its allies conceded on most of the major points.

EU leaders had told African and Asian countries it was the best deal they could ever hope to get.

If the final loose ends are tied up, Japan looks set to emerge with credit having steered the tough negotiations through its final hours.

"What the Japanese government really wants to do here is to get agreement so they can be proud of the Nagoya CBD," said Wakao Hanaoka, oceans campaigner with Greenpeace Japan.

"What is really needed, since the Japanese government has just started its role of chairing the CBC intil 2012, is to keep doing what they have promised to international society."

This meant, he suggested, taking effective conservation in the marine environment - including backing cuts in fisheries for threatened but lucrative fish such as bluefin tuna

Indonesia volcano erupts repeatedly

By the CNN Wire Staff

October 29, 2010 -- Updated 1213 GMT (2013 HKT)

(CNN) -- Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano stayed active Friday, erupting six times by late afternoon, and spewing hot ash clouds and lava.

Officials urged residents to be on high alert and stay away from the volcano.

On Friday morning, one eruption sent a massive plume above the mountaintop, extreme weather chaser James Reynolds said. Ash drifted to the south after the eruption about 10 a.m. local time, Reynolds said. The plume was about 1,500 meters (4,921 feet).

Residents started streaming down the mountain, heading for safer ground. Some were being evacuated after returning home following eruptions earlier in the week, observers from the Volcanology Agency near Merapi said.

Those living within a radius of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of Merapi may have to be relocated, a police official in the major city of Yogyakarta said.

Chief Inspector Gen. Ondang Sutasna told local television that he toured the area and believes some places will be too dangerous to allow rebuilding.

No injuries or deaths were immediately reported Friday.

The volcano killed at least 36 people when it exploded earlier this week, medical officials said.

Rescue and recovery efforts continue to unfold, with the Indonesian government scrambling to help tens of thousands of residents displaced by the eruption.

The European Commission announced Friday that it was offering 1.5 million euro ($2.1 million) to help the victims of the volcano and this week's tsunami in Indonesia.

"This envelope will help around 65,000 people in Mentawai and at least 22,000 people in Yogyakarta/Central Java," the European Commission said in a news release.

"Humanitarian partners will use these funds to provide water and sanitation to victims; access to primary health care and disease control; food and nonfood items; emergency telecommunications, emergency shelter; psychological support; logistics and will mainstream disaster preparedness," the release said.

Mount Merapi, which looms on the horizon north of the Yogyakarta, is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes and lies in one of the world's most densely populated areas. The volcano has a summit elevation of nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters).

TENTANG NADYA HUTAGALUNG

Nadya adalah seorang aktivis lingkungan, desainer perhiasan ekosentris dan tokoh terkenal di Singapura dan Asia.

Terpilih sebagai salah satu wanita paling cantik dan bergaya, hanya sedikit bintang Asia yang bisa menandingi popularitas Nadya Hutagalung. Sebagai salah satu VJ MTV pelopor yang sangat dicintai, Nadya telah menghibur lebih dari 70 juta keluarga di seluruh Asia. Usahanya telah membuahkan kesuksesan, ketenaran dan penghargaan, Tidak hanya sampai di situ, setelah awal yang sukses di dunia hiburan, Nadya melanjutkan kerja kerasnya dan menjadi wanita yang paling laris, serba bisa dan sukses di Asia.

Ia terpilih sebagai salah satu Asia’s Leading Trendmakers oleh Asiaweek magazine bersama Dalai Lama, Michelle Yeoh, dan Chow Yun Fatt, untuk kemampuannya dalam memberikan inspirasi dan menarik perhatian publik. Di tahun yang sama, ia juga terpilih sebagai Showtime Personality of the Year oleh Singapore’s The New Paper, dan Singapore’s Most Gorgeous Woman oleh pembaca Female magazine. Nadya juga ditunjuk sebagai salah satu dari sepuluh besar Shining Stars di Televisi Indonesia oleh majalah Indonesia, Bintang.

Saat ini Nadya sedang membangun sebuah rumah hijau dan menjadi duta World Wildlife Funds Earth Hour di Singapura, mendukung gerakan hijau untuk menciptakan dunia yang lebih baik bagi semua. Minatnya pada warna dan gaya membawanya ke dunia lukis melukis, yang juga didukung oleh ibunya yang seorang seniman. Pameran karya seninya yang baru-baru ini digelar telah membantu mengumpulkan dana untuk Tsunami Relief Fund, dan memungkinkannya menyalurkan semangatnya untuk menolong sesama.

Gayanya yang kreatif dan berkelas, baik dalam kehidupan maupun fesyen, telah menempatkannya pada kelas tersendiri dan memicunya untuk mendirikan perusahaan perhiasan bernama OSEL, yang dalam bahasa Tibet berarti Cahaya Terang. Nama yang sangat sesuai. Dengan matanya yang unik, Nadya berhasil menciptakan buah karya yang abadi dan mempesona. Sungguh koleksi yang mengundang kagum.

Semangatnya akan kehidupan mendorong Nadya untuk menawarkan bantuan di manapun dan kapanpun ia dibutuhkan; karena itu kegiatan amal juga mengambil peranan penting dalam hidupnya. Ia membagi waktu luangnya untuk mendukung pelestarian spesies-spesies langka, meminjamkan suaranya untuk meningkatkan kesadaran akan masalah-masalah wanita, melukis untuk pameran seni amal bagi Tsunami Relief Fund dan menjadi tenaga sukarelawan serta mengumpulkan dana (untuk korban bom Bali dan gempa buni Yogyakarta).

Nadya terus mencari cara untuk mengembangkan dirinya baik secara personal maupun profesional, dan telah membuktikan dirinya di masa lampau dengan komitmennya yang luar biasa untuk apapun yang dijalaninya. Lalu, apa yang menanti di masa depan?

Greenkampong.com

IF SCIENCE COULD PREDICT THE FUTURE, COULD WE PREPARE THE EARTH FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS?

JOHN C MUTTER
COLUMBIA EARTH INSTITUTE

Somewhere around the end of the 20th century the world’s human population reached 6 billion. At least, it probably did. There are many countries where no population census is taken at all and others where a census is taken but the results are not made public. Even in the US and other sophisticated countries, estimates of population are good to no better than 2% or so. Still, within the next few years the world’s population will certainly exceed 6 billion, if it hasn’t already. The best present estimate is 6.1 billion with an uncertainty of a quarter of a billion. That is, the uncertainty in the estimate of the world’s human population is about the size of the population of the United States. Nevertheless, the date on which the world reached 6 billion human inhabitants was “predicted”. It might be better to say that it was announced because there is no way of verifying whether the prediction was true. For that matter, there is no value at all, no real point in making such a prediction other that as a way of raising awareness about the growth of population in the 20th century. It did achieve that point.

Joel Cohen, of Rockefeller University and Columbia’s Earth Institute has pointed out many curious and some alarming derivative facts that underlie this simple number. For instance, it took from the dawn of time until about 1830 for the Earth to acquire its first billion people. It took only 12 years for the Earth to acquire its last billion people. Every one who is more than 39 years old has seen the population of the world double. Anybody born before 1930 has seen the population triple. And the rate of population growth has, until very recently, steadily increased. Put another way, the doubling rate has steadily decreased. As Cohen puts it, that’s like a bank account in which the interest rate keeps increasing the more money you have in the bank. The growth rate is much steeper than exponential. Nobody predicted it.

Had it been predicted, would we have been able to anticipate that of the 6 billion people on the planet fully half would exist on less than $2 a day and that perhaps 2 billion exist on less than $1 a day? Yes, costs and standards of living and expectations differ in different parts of the world, but no matter how one looks at it, almost a third of the world’s population is “poor” by any reasonable definition.

There are, in fact, two worlds – the world of the rich and the world of the poor. In the poor world a child is seven times more likely to die before the age of 12 months. That child will have 2 siblings on average, while in the rich world a child has 0.6 siblings. In the poor world you probably don’t have anywhere to go to the toilet. If you are an adult woman you are probably illiterate. In the rich world you are more likely to live in an urban area and in a square kilometer around you there will be about 20 other people. In the poor you probably live in a rural area and despite that, in the a one kilometer square around you there are about 60. Of the 60 people in the poor persons square kilometer 20 or so are chronically hungry. They will wake up hungry, spend the day hungry and go to sleep hungry, only to wake and repeat the cycle day in and day out until they die at around the age of 25. Had we scientists been able to predict that the population would rise to 6 billion, would we have been able to anticipate and mitigate the miseries of the poor world of which I have noted only a very few?