Looking at Landcare

You may remember that a few weeks ago a meeting was held in Forbes to educate the community and receive feedback regarding carp in our river systems.

Whilst we are battling the problem of carp in our waterways and obviously, we all have frustration with littering in that impacts our waterways particularly when a town system leads directly into a waterway, there are countries where rubbish is literally blocking the waterways and invasive species are the least of their problems.

The Citarum River, located 70km east of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, is one of these rivers. Stretching over 270km, the Citarum supports over 27 million people. This river is listed in the top ten most polluted systems in the world.

Whilst we might sometimes think that the rules and regulations that surround a lot of our day to day activities can be stringent, (including waste disposal), thinking about the alternative provides perspective on the issue.

Obviously, we cannot compare Australia directly with Indonesia, but it gives us an appreciation of how significantly different our problems could be and how fortunate we are, with an estimated 60 per cent of the River’s fish species being wiped out.

Some fishermen, that traditionally had made a living from catching and selling fish, now collect garbage from the river instead.

Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, undertook to clean up with River, after previous successive governments had attempted to do the same and only partially achieved positive results. His government has declared a cleansing program over seven years to make the water drinkable by 2025, with $500 million already being committed from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).

This plan, including new regulations for more speedy prosecutions for offenders, also includes the introduction of CCTV surveillance to monitor factory operations along the river.

Until next week, happy Landcaring!