By Marwaan Macan-Markar

TENGANAN, Bali, Indonesia , Dec 19 (IPS) - When they next harvest the the terraced paddy fields on a gently sloping hill, the farmers in this village will reinforce a tradition that celebrates harmony between people and the environment -- and do their bit to slow down climate change.

   By Andreas Harsono*

BANDUNG, Indonesia, Nov 28 (IPS/AMIC) - Water vendor Annur Sukarya makes a 500 percent profit on his investments each month, the envy of any businessman. “I’m just trying to help my neighbours,” he argues.

By Richel Langit-Dursin

JAKARTA, Aug 10 (IPS) - On weekends, groups of children and their parents crowd around South Jakarta’s Halimun Pier to go for a joy ride on one of two water taxis, recently introduced by the administration.

By Richel Langit-Dursin

JAKARTA, Jul 12 (IPS) - Used plastic bottles and sun rays are all that the impoverished residents of Bintaro, South Jakarta, need for their families to have clean potable water.

Villagers of Siring in Sidoarjo, East Java, save whatever is left of their property after mud flowing from nearby Lapindo Brantas Inc drilling well flooded the village.

 

The residents had to leave after an emergency dike built to control mudflows spouting from the failed drilling of a gas well, which started in May, also collapsed.

The continued mudflows continue three months after steam, water and mud first began to flow from the area where the oil and gas company PT Lapindo Brantas Inc was drilling a gas well in Porong district, Sidoarjo province in East Java.

FLORES, Indonesia (Asia Water Wire) - The word 'melody' has taken on a whole new meaning for the people of Manggarai regency in the western end of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara province.

As if skin infections and other diseases weren't enough, Manggarai residents also have to contend with the lack of toilets in their homes.

"Why should we have a toilet in our house if we don't have water?" said 64-year-old farmer Norbertus Lembu. "A toilet is not a necessity in Manggarai. We have a wide backyard if we want to relieve ourselves."

A standard permanent toilet costs around 7 million rupiah (763 U.S. dollars) in Manggarai and is considered a luxury in an area where the annual per capita income stands at 1.5 million rupiah (163.5 dollars).

FLORES, Indonesia (Asia Water Wire) – None of Satar Lenda's 5,000 residents know who initiated the practice and when, but they say they have always gone to the Wae Aweng and Wae Ntijo rivers, which flow through the subdistrict, to catch shrimps and eels for their consumption.

Karolus Hambur tending to his paddy field, which is bad need of water.

 

   This is a distressing reality for Handur and 27 other families in Bandang village. Up until the late 1990s, they supplied more than 50 percent of rice harvests to the Satar Lenda subdistrict in Manggarai regency. 

   The regency is at the western tip of Flores Island in the East Nusa Tenggara province, located some 1,300 kilometres east of the capital Jakarta.