DRAFT: Not for Citation or Distribution Lake Toba Experience and Lessons Learned Brief for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Lake Toba Haryatiningsih Moedjodo Payaman Simanjuntak Peter Hehanussa Lufiandi Introduction Lake Toba is Indonesia’s largest lake and the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Located in the province of North Sumatra, approximately 176 km to the west of the provincial capital, Medan. Lake Toba can be reached by car from Medan within three hours. By plane, Medan is only 40 minutes away from Singapore and two hours from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. As the largest volcanic lake in the world, the lake is approximately 87 km long from north to south and the width of 27 km from west to east. Located 905 meters above sea level and the maximum depth of 529 meters, the lake is one of the country’s important tourist destinations. The natural beauty of Lake Toba has been internationally recognized. The lake’s blue waters, gracious residents and fascinating Batak culture draw tourists from all over the globe to the remote destination of Lake Toba 1 In the middle of the lake, laid the wedge-shaped island called Samosir, thought to have been created by subsequent upheavals between 30,000 and 75,000 years ago. This spectacular island is one and half times larger than the entire Republic of Singapore. Traveling from the lake’s shore to the island of Samosir is a great adventure for visitors. The Lake Toba water catchment area covers 3,658 sq km, of which the lake surface accounts for 1,103 sq km. The remainder of the catchment area can be classified as 43% hilly and 30% mountainous, with peaks more than 2,000 m above sea level. Biophysically, the cool and refreshing environment, clean air, fertile soil and protein-rich resources of the region made it as an ideal place for human settlement. No wonder that centuries ago the ancestors of the Batak ethnic chose it as their permanent site for settlement. It was here that their descendant developed into the five ethnic Batak groups, namely the Angkola-Mandailing, Karo, Pakpak- Dairi, Simalungun and Toba. Samosir Island and the Toba lakeside is the site of the original Batak culture, containing invaluable historical objects and artifacts, art and culture. In fact, Batak culture is still alive and present here, preserved in its original form. The unique geographical position also contained a range of economically significant sources of livelihood for the population, mainly derived from the abundant fresh water resources and the dense tropical rain forests. Today, the concentration of the human settlements scattered all over the Lake Toba watershed are about 130, in the form of small villages to medium towns. Figure 1 shows the watershed and administrative boundaries of Lake Toba. 1 Annette Souder, The new faces of development assistance, US Council of State Government News, June/July 1999, page 14. 1
Transcript
DRAFT: Not for Citation or Distribution Lake Toba
Experience and Lessons Learned Brief for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Introduction Lake Toba is Indonesia’s largest lake and the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Located in the province of North Sumatra, approximately 176 km to the west of the provincial capital, Medan. Lake Toba can be reached by car from Medan within three hours. By plane, Medan is only 40 minutes away from Singapore and two hours from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia.
As the largest volcanic lake in the world, the lake is approximately 87 km long from north to south and the width of 27 km from west to east. Located 905 meters above sea level and the maximum depth of 529 meters, the lake is one of the country’s important tourist destinations. The natural beauty of Lake Toba has been internationally recognized. The lake’s blue waters, gracious residents and fascinating Batak culture draw tourists from all over the globe to the remote destination of Lake Toba1
In the middle of the lake, laid the wedge-shaped island called Samosir, thought to have been created by subsequent upheavals between 30,000 and 75,000 years ago. This spectacular island is one and half times larger than the entire Republic of Singapore. Traveling from the lake’s shore to the island of Samosir is a great adventure for visitors.
The Lake Toba water catchment area covers 3,658 sq km, of which the lake surface accounts for 1,103 sq km. The remainder of the catchment area can be classified as 43% hilly and 30% mountainous, with peaks more than 2,000 m above sea level. Biophysically, the cool and refreshing environment, clean air, fertile soil and protein-rich resources of the region made it as an ideal place for human settlement. No wonder that centuries ago the ancestors of the Batak ethnic chose it as their permanent site for settlement. It was here that their descendant developed into the five ethnic Batak groups, namely the Angkola-Mandailing, Karo, Pakpak-Dairi, Simalungun and Toba. Samosir Island and the Toba lakeside is the site of the original Batak culture, containing invaluable historical objects and artifacts, art and culture. In fact, Batak culture is still alive and present here, preserved in its original form. The unique geographical position also contained a range of economically significant sources of livelihood for the population, mainly derived from the abundant fresh water resources and the dense tropical rain forests. Today, the concentration of the human settlements scattered all over the Lake Toba watershed are about 130, in the form of small villages to medium towns. Figure 1 shows the watershed and administrative boundaries of Lake Toba.
1 Annette Souder, The new faces of development assistance, US Council of State Government News, June/July 1999, page 14.
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DRAFT: Not for Citation or Distribution Lake Toba
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Figure 1: The watershed and administrative boundaries of Lake Toba
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The main environmental problem of Lake Toba Population growth and development have impacted the lakes in many ways. The health of Lake Toba in Indonesia is severely threatened by pollution on the lake due to household wastewater, oil spills from boats, trash thrown directly into the lake and streams and the fast growing water hyacinth that blocks access of the boats. Local people are less aware than they need to be of hygienic behavior, the cleanliness of their neighborhood and the need to protect their lake which they use for drinking water and economic activities. The untreated household wastes that mostly channeled directly into the lake and streams are considered as the main pollution problem to the lake. For those reason, in 1996, the
Government of Indonesia through the Ministry of Public Works build a wastewater treatment plant in Parapat-Ajibata town - the most inhabited towns in Lake Toba region – with the investment of 3.2 million USD. Unfortunately, this treatment plant has never been actually used due to lack of social marketing of the facility. Until the year of 2001, only fourteen households and two hotels hooked-up, whilst the facility was built with the capacity of 1,600 household connections. The other environmental threats of Lake Toba includes aquaculture, hydropower, industrial water supply, polluted run off, point source pollution, toxics and watershed This report describes the activities, results and lessons learned of a pilot program to demonstrate ways of developing and implementing a community-based watershed action plan. As an on the ground project that was carried out at the local level, this project is heavily community-centered. Nevertheless, the government from the district up to the provincial level gave a great deal of support for the success of this project. The other technical support came from the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program in Indonesia and the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF). The project history In 2001, LakeNet partnered with the LTHF to implement a pilot project on community-based watershed management program for Lake Toba. The one-year demonstration program was conducted as part of a six-year old sister lakes exchange partnership with Lake Champlain in the U.S. The Lake Toba-Lake Champlain Sister Lakes Partnership began in 1996 with an exchange visit to Indonesia by the coordinator of the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) at the invitation of the Lake Toba Heritage Foundation (LTHF). The exchange program was coordinated by LakeNet, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving lakes throughout the world. Vermont Agency for Natural Resources (VTANR), in collaboration with LakeNet applied for and was awarded a second grant in the amount of $40,000 through a special CSG/US-AEP initiative to help bridge several exchange programs into an implementation phase. With this bridge funding, project partners conducted a pilot program to demonstrate ways of developing and implementing a community-based watershed action plan.
The project activities as implemented
Based-on the objectives of the project, on-the ground activities that have been designed and implemented include: • Selection and training of environmental cadre
In early 2001, LakeNet Indonesia staff selected and trained ten environmental cadres within Lake Toba watershed communities to serve as local leaders on environmental initiatives related to Lake Toba. Many of the cadres have demonstrated their ability to help implement and sustain activities begun during this project. • In-country study tour for environmental cadre
An effective transfer of knowledge for the environmental cadres through a two weeks in-country study tour to East and Central Java to observe and to study community mobilization efforts and commitment-building in constructing, financing, managing and maintaining low cost community-based sewer systems, the new low-cost composting technique in Malang, and the harvesting & utilization of water hyacinths in Cirebon and Yogyakarta. • Clean lake activities
Completion of clean lake activities along 5 km of the lake’s shoreline in five communities. More than 770 people participated in these activities, some of which involved strenuous labor
and difficult working conditions. • Training in environmental education & awareness for teachers
LakeNet Indonesia and LTHF staff and the local cadres put on a three day training workshop in Parapat in environmental education and awareness for elementary school teachers from six regencies in the Lake Toba area using a specifically developed ‘hands-on learning’ Water Module. • Community meetings and action plans
The environmental cadres coordinated meetings involving 188 community members. The purpose of these meetings was to engage local residents in identifying and discussing environmental problems and concerns of Lake Toba and to formulate action plans to solve the problems. • Awareness Campaign
LakeNet Indonesia and LTHF staff and the local cadres prepared, printed and distributed 25,000 copies of an information brochure in Indonesian language to promote environmental awareness. The brochures were distributed to boat operators, and in community meetings, the utility bill office, churches, mosques, grocery stores, kiosks, and other public buildings.
The result of implemented actions The project was implemented efficiently, and it greatly exceeded expectations in terms of the results and accomplishments. The most important results of the project include: • The clean lake activities by volunteers, which included the removal by hand of large
patches of water hyacinths, opened up landing areas for local fishing and ferry boats that had been inaccessible for almost three years, at the same time they reduced invasive plant populations.
• The study tour and on-the-job training (through participation in community meetings, clean lake activities, teacher’s training and brochure distribution) resulted in the effective in-country transfer of knowledge to the environmental cadres. Many of the cadres have demonstrated their ability to help implement and sustain activities begun during this project.
• Teachers and representatives of three universities in the Lake Toba region gained important environmental knowledge and educational materials.
• Detailed resource inventory maps and action plans were completed in five communities using a participatory approach.
• New issues of concern on Lake Toba were identified for the first time, such as the increase in the number of fish farms on the lake and their potential impact on water quality.
• Citizens and the community as a whole gained awareness by participating in community meetings and clean lake activities.
• Boat operators gained awareness of their role in environmental stewardship of Lake Toba as a result of meetings held with this important stakeholder group.
• Local partners learned the benefits of involving people and working with the community in planning and implementation activities.
• Long-term, if fully implemented, the project can be expected to have social, economic and environmental impacts as improved sewage systems, invasive species reductions, trash reduction and improved local capacity will improve Lake Toba and community health, as well as facilitating poverty alleviation.
• Publication of results on the Lake Toba Online website and through LakeNet’s electronic
forum of more than 900 members on lakes around the world.
Stakeholder participation The most effective programs are those which involve citizens and other stakeholders from the very beginning. The contribution of stakeholders involved in implementing and designing the action are: • Grassroots
A total of almost 1,000 community members were involved in the clean lake and community meetings. Participants included boat operators, farmers, fishermen, small traders, vendors, housewives, and hotel owners. The ten environmental cadres were chosen from grassroots participants and were central to all activities. Women were specifically targeted to involve in the community meetings. The fact that 33% of the participants were women is a significant achievement due to the very paternalistic local culture. The women proved to be very active and outspoken in the community discussion and made real contributions to the local action plans. Many community members made in-kind contributions to the clean lake activities. For example, one dedicated and innovative community member in East Java spent 2 days of his time to explain and show his effort in mobilizing the community to build a low-cost sewage treatment plant and composting techniques and practices. • Government Officials
Government officials from the local Police and Sub-District (Kecamatan) Office were involved in the clean lake activities. The Mayor of the City of Malang and his staff provided all of the facilities needed during the study tour of the environmental cadres from Lake Toba. The Governor of North Sumatra gave his support to the environmental cadres before they departed for the study tour. • NGOs
The program was led by LakeNet’s Indonesia Country Director and the local staff of the LTHF in connection with local NGOs and community groups and other NGOs in the province and in Indonesia. The Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) provided the trainers and the environmental education training materials for 41 schoolteachers. • Researchers
Three researchers who were involved in formulating an environmental education book for the elementary school children trained the teachers from the 6 regions of Lake Toba. Local universities surrounding Lake Toba sent their representatives to the 3 days teachers’ workshop.
Background Lake Toba is located at the center of a topographic elliptic culmination some 300 km long, as seen in the contour lines between 100–1,000 m in the topographic map of North Sumatra. This culmination is called the Batak Tumor that runs parallel to Sumatra Island and the Lake Toba is located at its very center. This 300 km long Batak Tumor is dissected a little west of its center by the 1,625 long Sumatra Fault that run from the Sunda Strait to Banda Aceh. The origin of Lake Toba was first explained as a volcano-tectonic depression (Bemmelen 1949) and later explained as the result of a series of caldera formations combined with faulting (Nishimura, 1984 and Hehanussa, 2000). The lake water body is 1,129 km2 in area, Samosir islands in the lake has a land area of 647 km2 and a smaller Pardapur island is 7 km2. The lake length is 87 km, its circumference measures 294 km. The total lake basin area measures 1,783 km2, which is surrounded by precipitous cliffs with elevations ranging between 400 to 1200 m above the lake water. The latitude and longitude of the lake water area range between E 98o30'; S 3o05' and E 99o20'; S 2o40'. The surface
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water temperature range between 24.0 to 27.6oC. The surrounding catchment area draining into the lake is 2,445 km
2 so that the total lake catchment area measures 4,228 km2 (this unit differs from previous reports that mention an area of 3,440 km2, which was because the area of Samosir Island and other smaller islands were not included in the unit area).
Many small to medium rivers from the mountainous area flow into the lake, most of them with a catchment area of less than 100 km2. One single large river, the Asahan River, drain the lake water to the Strait of Malaka in the east. The lake water is located at about 904.5 meters above sea level. A maximum depth measured by cable method by Stehn in 1939 reported a maximum depth of 529 meters, while recent measurements with echo sounder method recorded a maximum water depth of 505 meter (Hehanussa and Takara 2003). This 24 meters discrepancy in water depth could be due to deposition of sediments between 1939 and 2003 but may be better described originating in the different measurement method. During this last (2003) measurement it was observed that many parts of the lake bottom shows a broad and flat bottom, relative deeper in the north while shallower in the south. The annual lake water level fluctuation is 1.5 meter although a lake level drop of 2.5 m due to extensive hydropower production was reported in the late 1980’s. The discharge from Lake Toba through the Asahan River was measured up to 102 m3/second.
Evaporation is a critical factor in water balance calculations of a lake; they were measured in three stations, Palipi, Gurgur Balige, and Pulau Tao (Anonym, 1990). Measurements in Pulau Tao show average evaporation that varies between 3.5-5.5 mm/day. Evaporation measurements in Haranggaol were lower because of the wind runs, temperature and humidity are different then pulau Tao.
Biophysical Features Biophysical features of the lake and its drainage basin includes:
Hydro-meteorological features of the lake and its drainage basin
Table 2: Climate data at Balige Mean Temp.
( oC ) Precipitation
( mm ) January 19.1 174 February 20.1 167 March 20.9 187 April 20.5 193 May 21.0 133 June 20.7 104 July 21.2 71 August 21.0 116 September 21.0 132 October 20.4 215 November 20.5 188 December 20.2 199 Annual 20.6 1,879
The pattern of wind speed and direction varies, in January to April the wind speed can reach 4m/s, in June 8.8 m/s, and in October 7.1 m/s. If strong wind blows in June to October, big waves as high as 1.8 m may be induced.
Surface water temperature are: Haranggaol: 27oC; Tigaras: 27; Tomok: 26; Simanindo: 27; Pangururan: 27; Nainggolan: 27; Parapat: 27; Porsea: 26oC.
Measurements for pH & COD (in mg/L) at seven stations along the coast of Lake Toba are: in Lotung: 8.4 & 6.7; Situmeang: 7.9 & 6.8; Bukit: 8.4 & 9.3; Tongging I: 7.0 & 6.3; Tongging II: 7.9 & 7.0; Onan Runggu: 7.6 & 7.0; Parapat: 8.2 & 8.0.
Geo-physical features of the lake and its drainage basin The geology of Lake Toba is a challenging topic to study. The formation of this lake is the result of a mega-volcanic-activity during the Quaternary era or the last two and a half million years of the earth's geological history. From a very broad analysis, this phenomenon was the result of two major plates collision beginning during the Eosen era or 65 million years ago, i.e. the Indian Ocean or the Australian plates in the southwest and the Asian Plate located in the northeast. This plate collision produced a long subduction zone that was accompanied by a volcanic chain along Sumatra-Jawa-Nusa Tenggara up to the Moluccas islands. In Sumatra it resulted in a large and long transform fault, the Sumatra Fault Zone (SFZ) which is over 1700 km long, exposed from the Bay of Lampung in the south to the Aceh region in the northern end of Sumatra Island. Lake Toba is located not at the SFZ but some 20 km kilometer north-east of this fault, while the Batang Toru and Renun Rivers are located and flowing along the fault.
A wide range of reports on Lake Toba are in fields of geological, limnological, hydrological, climatological, biological, botany, fisheries, forestry, history and culture, as well as specific technical reports related to lake water exploitation. Scientific meetings and workshops related to the hydrology, geology, water resources, sustainable exploitation, fisheries, industrial development, sustainable resource management, extreme lake water level drop, and anthropogenic changes has been performed. Due to the large area and diverse problems, only a very few reports provide a total overview of the lake problems.
There are reports produced by universities in Medan and the lake surrounding area, reports by departments from the central government, annual reports from local offices or Dinas or sub-departments, workshops and seminars reports by the non-governmental institutions, and report from meetings held by non-government-organizations. In the early 1990's geothermal energy exploration has been executed and reported geothermal fields to the north and south of the lake catchment. There are international reports as result of international cooperation, a/o. between LIPI and Kyoto University, and between local NGO's and Monitor International.
A series of technical reports and books by the Asahan Authority has been produced. This was related to the planning, construction, production, and conservation of hydro-electricity for the aluminum smelter plant located in Kuala Tanjung in the east coast of Sumatra. Two hydro-plants each in Sigura-gura and another in Tangga plant produced a total 403 MW of power which in the 1980's was sufficient for the region. But lately, vast industrial and urban developments turn out an increasing need for more power supply that is now supplied by a natural gas power station in the Belawan area.
Two major explanation of the lake geohistory or its origin was explained as (a) the product of one single gigantic explosion or (b) product of multiple events. Each of these two hypotheses was again divided or has branches of its explanation. There were lively debates on the geological timing of the event, whether they occurred recently (less than 75,000 years ago) or were it the result of a series of geological up-doming, blasting, faulting, sedimentation, and up-wrapping which took place since 2 million years ago.
Lake Toba was lately been reported as the largest caldera lake in the world. This conclusion was based on a report by van Bemmelen who stated the lake as a volcano-tectonic de-pression. Figure 2 below shows the hypothetical diagram by van Bemmelen, 1949. According to the hypothesis by van Bemmelen, the lake history started with the formation of a Batak Tumor with an oval shaped, 275 km by 150 km region, located between the present Wampu River in the north and the Barumun River in the south. The up doming produced a region with elevations up to 2,000 m shown by top of mountains such as Mt. Sibuatan (2,457 m) in the NW, Mt. Pangulubao (2,151 m) in the east, and Mt. Surungan (2,173 m) in the SE, and Mt. Uludarat (2,157 m) in the west.
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Figure 2: The Hypothetical Diagram by Van Bemmelen, 1949
Another explanation that used a single mega-explosion origin of Lake Toba was in a report by Ninkovich, 1975. Radiometric dating by K-Ar method of rock samples collected from the Asahan River valley combined with the fact that distribution of tuff (fine volcanic product that was air distributed) found in the Malaysia peninsula and in cores from deep sea drilling (project) in the Indian Ocean south of Ceylon, brought to the conclusion that the lake was formed 75,000 years ago by one big-bang or one single large explosion.
In 1976 Tjia published his analyses of a rock sample taken in Tuktuk Siadong, in Samosir Island. Tjia reported and age of 1.9 million years that was accepted as the lower part of this volcanic complex. The rock sample shows a dense texture of welded tuff rock specimen i.e. an ignimbrite was interpreted as the result of welding of hot volcanic products that has flowed as a 'nuee ardante' or hot cloud. This dense rock was the product of internal welding occurring in the hot tephra or volcanic products where heat was trapped during sedimenta-tion and cause welding of the tuff material which was deposited not far from the explosion vent or fissure.
During late 1960's to the 1980's there were series of international joint research in the SE Asia region. In north Sumatra region, from the Indian Ocean or sea-ward side, studies along the Nias Island was done by Indonesia and the Scripps Institution while on-land studies in the central part of Sumatra Island by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and the Kyoto University. These studies have produced major scientific findings and contributed to the development of the hypothesis on global plate tectonics. The on land study produced reports on gravity surveys, paleo-magnetism, radiometric dating-fission track and chronology, as well as tephra-stratigraphic studies.
Combined with previous scientific studies by Marel 1947, Tjia 1976, Karig 1978, Hamilton 1978, we came to the conclusion that the formation of Lake Toba was not a single event but a combination of complex of events. It was the product of a series of events occurring east of the Sumatra Fault. Other similar results were also encountered in study sites in the Lampung area and Maninjau. These series of events occurred are closely related to the deep seated occurrence of the Sumatra Fault starting two million years ago. The up doming, caldera formations, lake formation, lake sediments rich in diatomaceous sediments as well as clastics from fault scarps, are the product of these series of events and will be shortly discussed in the next chapter.
The geology of the Toba and surrounding area may first be divided into the Quaternary and Pre-Quaternary rocks. These Pre-Quaternary rocks are considered as the basement rock of the Toba Tuffs. They consist of metamorphosed limestone, shist and phylites of Carbon to Jura Age; a granite batholite of Carbon Age; and conglomerate, sandstone, and claystone of Tertiary age. These rocks are distributed at the higher mountainous areas of the surrounding Toba area and on steep slopes of the lake rim they crop-out in the eastern, southern, and western part of the lake. They are well exposed along the easy access by road in Sibagading, in Sipiso-piso, and in the Panguruan area. These rocks of Pre-Quaternary age are exposed at the faulted escarpments of the lake rim.
These Quaternary rocks have been previously described in most geological publications and maps by one single term, the Toba Tuffs. The Japan-Indonesia joint field works and surveys during the 1970's to 1980's revealed detailed data that came to a better volcano-stratigraphic subdivision of the rock units. The volcano-stratigraphy of the so called Toba Tuffs has been divided into detailed subdivisions as the:
These 'Toba Tuffs' deposits were produced in different geological times and from different parts of the lake. To draw maps and set up stratigrahic column of these deposits, some of them are airborne deposits, are not always possible through the 'normal' geological methods.
Many of these deposits are local in origin and their lateral distribution are selected or restricted by the paleo-morphology of the area.
Toba Deposits are so called, because their occurrence was during or after the formation of proto-toba lake. They consist of the older and the younger toba tuffs (2a and 2b). The Older Toba Tuffs consist of the Sigura-gura Formation and Lower Haranggaol Formation. These rock units were deposited during 1.3 to 0.8 million years ago. They consist of hard welded tuffs dark gray in color. Field visits shows that their distribution were along the old Asahan valley and in the Haranggaol area. In the Asahan valley their thickness may reach a hundred meters in the deep paleo-valey but their lateral distribution is limited. This unit could be observed along the winding road between Simorea, Paritohan, ex-Sigura-gura waterfall, and ex-Tangga waterfall.
Older-Toba Tuffs are the base of these volcanic sequences, they overlay the basement rocks. The age was measured at 2 to 1.9 million years old. This Tuk-tuk Dacite consist of a lower part, 100-150 m of very densely welded tuffs that cropped out in Tuk-tuk Siadong, Samosir Island. The middle part which is 100-300 m thick is welded and shows little remains of flow structures. The upper part has the lowest welding structures, some are rather loose and still contain pu-mice blocks, and they are about 50 m thick. These sequences may be found at the steep escarpments of the Samosir Island, near Parapat city at the Sibilating escarpment and the road to the Partaking Cottage, and the best and continuous sequences are along the winding road between Pangururan and Tele at the eastern rim of Lake Toba.
The Younger Toba Tuffs (2b) consist of the Upper Haranggaol Formation, Samosir Formation, Parapat Formation, and Porsea Formation. They range in age between 0.6 and 0.1 million years. There seems to be no distinct physical break between the deposition of Lower and Upper Haranggaol Formation. The Samosir Formation are rock units consisting of clastics overlain by diatomaceous sediments, some are exposed at Samosir Island. Porsea formation consists of clastic in the lower part and diatomaceous deposits above.
The Post Toba rocks and sediments consist of the younger andesitic/ basaltic volcanic products formed during the late stage of a ring fault or the lake formation. They were formed during the last 30,000 years in the northern and western ring faults in the rim of the lake. They were also the result of erosion and sedimentation processes during this last geologic event.
Environmental and Natural Resources Human activities around Lake Toba are intensive with: (1) land use for rural and urban areas, (2) agricultural, (3) tourism, (4) industrial, (5) fisheries, and (6) as educational centers. Parts of the higher lake rim area consist of forest land with pines trees and shrubs. The western far end of the lake catchment toward the Renun River consist of (7) tropical rainforest which presently are partly being exploited for its wood/logging. Fisheries in the lake water and rivers was formerly on (8) traditional local fish (ikan Toba) which was three decades ago invaded by alien-species (gurame) and lately again invaded by other fish species in fish cages breeding (ikan nila) in the lake. A (9) pulp factory and a (10) drinking water bottling industry has developed in the southern end of the lake.
Infrastructure and industries were developed during the last four decades in surrounding Toba area. Along the Asahan River were build three dams, one regulating dam and two power generating plants with construction started in 1978 and completed in 1981. The first commercial electric production was in 1982 used for the Tanjung Balai aluminum smelter plant that can produce 225,000 tons of aluminum annually. The energy hunger aluminum plant consumed the firm output of 403 MW of electricity produced by the two hydropower plants along the Asahan River. A pulp factory was build a decade ago at the mouth of Asahan River west of Porsea and bottled drinking water plant was reported in the Balige area. Agricultural activities produced fruit and vegetables for Medan area and export to Malaysia and Singapore, pineapple and tea plantations, markisa plants, and onion grows
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well on the slopes surrounding the lake. A relative smaller in scale activities are cattle and poultry. Flowers are grown in the high elevation areas in the northern part of the lake.
Main type of woody vegetation: Tropical high mountain forest, Pines merkusii forest, Macadamia hilbrandii forest
Main type of herbaceous vegetation: Imperata cylindrica with Rhodomyrtus tomentos, Melastoma sp., and Gleichenia linearis
Main kind of crops: rice, sweet potato, maize, vegetables
Level of fertilizer application on crop fields: moderate
Political and Socio-economic Features The establishment of Regional Autonomy Act has some impacts on the political, social and economic condition to the local governments, including the Lake Toba region. Through regional autonomy, six districts in Lake Toba region have a larger authority in the management of their area, including in preserving the Lake Toba region. Other than that, local governments also have a better chance to work directly with the international agencies. • The jurisdictional features Based on Act No. 22 year 1999 on Regional Autonomy, the Province is responsible to coordinate certain issues involving two district or more. In this case, the management of Lake Toba involves 6 Districts: Toba Samosir; North Tapanuli, Simalungun; Karo, Dairi and Humbang Hasundutan. Lake Toba has also indirect influences on two other Districts, namely Asahan and Tanjung Balai which are located at the down stream of Asahan River. Administratively, by far the largest part of the Lake Toba water catchment area (87%) is situated in the North Tapanuli District (Kabupaten, or District), with the balance divided among the regencies of Simalungun (8.4%), Karo (2%) and Dairi (2.5%). Naturally the North Tapanuli District also houses the largest part (81%) of the total 517,050 inhabitants of the Lake Toba water catchment. The same district has also the highest population density, with 185 people per sq km, followed by Simalungun (l4l people per sq km), Dairi (93 people per sq km) and Karo (57 people per sq km). • The political significance and implications through its history Lake Toba region has been proposed by UNESCO to be designated as a Biosphere Reserves, focused on three main activities: conservation of bio-diversity; economic and social development; and preservation of associated cultural values. With the biosphere reserves
status it was expected that Lake Toba will receive international attention and invite international participation in its development and preservation. According to the Act No.24, 1992 about the Spatial Planning, the Biosphere Reserves is identical with ‘Special Region’, a region with prioritized spatial planning. Designation of a region as a ‘Special Region’ needs a Presidential Decree. Two aspects that have to be considered if Lake Toba region will be designated as a ‘Special Region’ through Presidential Decree are:
- The spirit of the Law No 22 of the year 1998 should be obviously reflected with the emphasize on community empowerment in the development process and preservation of Lake Toba region.
- The availability of adequate instruments for the implementation of the Presidential Decree.
The last aspect become very important to be considered in designating Lake Toba as ‘Special Region’ in view of the fact that in Indonesia the implementation of a policy with or without juridical status are very weak. This situation could make the policy in designating Lake Toba as special region turn out to be meaningless. Some examples of the weak policy implementation in Lake Toba region are:
- In 1990, the provincial government of North Sumatra issued the regulation of the management of Lake Toba region which prohibited the building construction within tens of meters from the shoreline. This regulation have never been implemented, it was loyally stayed in the library’s bookshelf for long time.
- The government had issued Presidential Decree No 96 of the year 1998 concerning the prohibition of foreign investment for aquaculture in inland waters. Obviously, most of the cage aquaculture in Lake Toba is owned by foreign investors.
• The past social and economic development history and trends Lake Toba is the major ecosystems of North Sumatra, a priority region for development planning in Indonesia. The primary economic sector (64%) in Lake Toba region is agriculture, mostly rice field as rice is the staple food in the region. Forest and plantation (cocoa, coffee, and tea) are other main natural resources that have been contribute to the economy of the region beside tourism due to the beauty of the lake and culture that surround it. The blend between scenic beauty of the region with its ecological significance on the one hand and the fact that the area is the site of the original Batak culture on the other is an eco-cultural tourism attraction worth further development in the future. In the period of 1996-1997, the number of foreign tourists visiting Indonesia has been increased significantly, from 596 million to 613 million people. Along with the economic crisis that hit Indonesia in 1998, the number of the incoming tourists to Indonesia has been declined, including to Lake Toba region. The number of incoming foreign tourists to Indonesia is still far below its number to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, even though Indonesia has larger tourist area and attractions. The tourism potential in Indonesia has not been optimally managed. The economic potential of the region first became significantly obvious in 1982 with the construction and operation of PT. Inalum’s aluminum plant. The plant required large amount of electrical energy, which is obtained very economically by PLTA Asahan (hydro-electric power generation) through utilizing the potential energy of the lake water resulting from the height differential between Lake Toba and the foothill region. Since 1985, PT. Inalum spends 2.6 million US dollars for the use of Lake Toba conservation programs. This Inalum’s annual fee was provided as a contribution for the Lake Toba preservation since they have used the Lake Toba water to support the operation of the aluminum factory. The fund has been prioritized to
be used for the management of critical land in the Lake Toba watershed, Asahan River and the District of Tanjung Balai. The forestry potential was also developed since 1985 with the presence of Indorayon’s pulp mill and rayon plant, using, as raw material, wood from the forests in five kabupatens (districts): Dairi, Karo, Simalungun, North Tapanuli and South Tapanuli. The operation of Indorayon was based-on the Joint Decree signed by the Research Minister and Environmental Minister to give the green light for the plant’s construction and operation in 1986. Indorayon has produced 1.8 million tons of pulp within ten years, during the period of 1988 to 1998. Whereas from 1993 to 1998 it has produced 0.25 tons of rayon fiber as the raw material for textiles. These productions were estimated to have consumed around 10 million cubic meters of wood. Indorayon has offered 1% of their net income or about 6.6 billion rupiahs to the Toba Samosir District to be used for the environmental management.
Institutional and Managerial Features Preservation of the Lake Toba region as the natural resources that has the values, function, and benefits for its inhabitants depend on who and how the lake is managed. Until now, Lake Toba region has no management committee that is administered in a conceptual, professional, systematic, and integrated way, taking into consideration that this lake covers the area of six different local governments. • The political, legal and institutional frameworks The concept of management committee for Lake Toba has been proposed by various stakeholders, from government, private sector, NGOs up to the community which aimed to the optimal development and preservation of Lake Toba. It has never been materialized, due to different perceptions and interests among the stakeholders. The formation of the management committee for Lake Toba is vital for the coordination of the stakeholders. The absence of the management committee led to the absence of the agreed vision on the preservation efforts of Lake Toba region. All efforts or activities were partially conducted by government, NGOs, private sector and community groups. As the result, the impact of these efforts is too small to be recognized. More than that, the character of the program that tend to be a crash program shows the lack of planning and sustainable implementation of the program. Nevertheless, the absence of the Lake Toba management committee not becomes a constraint for the cooperation between some active NGOs with various international organizations such as:
- Based on collaborative work carried out by UNESCO with the Lake Toba Heritage Foundation during 1996 and 1997, three field projects were launched in the Lake Toba area from 1998 into 1999 that focused on communication and education to build local capacities for community-based conservation/alternative income generation.
- Lake Toba has joined LakeNet, where numbers of large lakes allover the world is interconnected for the integrated sustainable lake management.
- Cooperation with Hanns Seidel Foundation for the capacity building in the Lake Toba region through practical environmental education for the youths and elementary school children.
Due to the lack of the management committee, all of those cooperation efforts were not adequately disseminated, the progress of the efforts were hardly recognized, especially by the government agencies and other organizations.
• The level of institutional development and managerial capacity
The official institutions that are supposed to be responsible for the preservation of the Lake Toba region despite the issues of formatting a management committee are the provincial government of North Sumatra and the local governments of the six Districts in Lake Toba region, in this case the Bapedalda of North Sumatra (Provincial Environmental Impact Management Agency) and the Bapedalda of the six Districts. Up till now, Bapedalda’s activities still focused on the study of the environmental condition of the Lake Toba region whilst to coordinate the preservation efforts moreover to initialized the partnership with other organizations have not been performed yet.
• The level of interest group and community awareness and involvement Environmental problems are the problems of all components of the stakeholders. Cooperation at the local level between the communities, NGOs and other environmentalists has to be supported with community empowerment as the foundation of the preservation efforts in Lake Toba region. A number of problems have been encountered in increasing the involvement of the community and the available NGOs such as:
- The community groups and NGOs as mostly the case in Indonesia tend to work partially or fragmentatively without having basic or general strategy relevant to the problems they try to handle.
- Lack of the community awareness in Lake Toba region about their environmental problems, while the outside world are more concern and active in campaigning the preservation of Lake Toba
- Low level of the social and economic condition of the community resulted in the insensitivity to the environmental problems.
- Environmental education has not been incorporated in the local substance of the elementary school curriculum in Lake Toba region.
- The proper participatory method has not been widely implemented in facilitating the community to work together with the local governments and other institutions towards a dialogic system, a harmony between the bottom-up and top-down approach.
Nevertheless, there are numbers of successful implementation of community programs at the local level, supported by local government, the national and international NGOs also international agencies such as UNESCO. The pilot project of the community-based watershed management that was conducted by LakeNet in association with LTHF is one example. The other examples that could be recognized are: The cooperation between the Bappeda (Planning Board) of the North Tapanuli District with HSF in reforestration of critical land with the planting of coffee and cinnamon tree in the area of 9 hectares in Palipi village; the use of water hyacinth for cattle food (pigs) and composting in Pangururan village, Samosir island; and solid waste management of Muara town in the southern part of Lake Toba. All of those activities involve the local community and has been contribute to the improvement of community’s income. In the last recent years, UNESCO have supported three local NGOs in Lake Toba region, i.e. YAPIDI (the Pijer Podi Foundation), YES (the Sumatra Eco-tourism Foundation), and GKPS (the Simalungun Protestant Church Organization). YAPIDI work on ‘Human resources participatory development in Sikodon-kodon and Tongging villages’ project, which focused on micro credit, organic farming, tree planting and training for women groups. This NGO prepared to get involved in the development of community radio under UNESCO communication project in Indonesia. YES proceeded with its activity in improving the economics through conservation of critical land in Paropo village, a town in the northern part of the lake
shoreline that was also included in the LakeNet’s watershed management pilot project. GKPS made a good progress in its ‘Environmental preservation in Nagori Sihalpe village’. The success of the village’s tree planting won the first award in the Simalugun District’s Environment Day and received a badge of appreciation from the President of Indonesia. Success is also on organic farming, cage fishing and waste management in the villages. There are certainly some more activities at the grassroots level in Lake Toba region that has been implemented by other NGOs or community groups. Unfortunately, there is no record on the numbers of active NGOs in Lake Toba region moreover an adequate documentation or reporting system of their programs as a reference. For those reason, in early 2000, UNESCO sponsored a national workshop on ‘Strengthening communication and local capacities for community-based participatory environmental management of Lake Toba’ in Samosir Island. This workshop was administered by LTHF, 20 out of 70 participants are representative of local NGOs. The rest were representative of universities, LIPI (Indonesian Research Institute), local government agencies, press and international agencies i.e. UNDP and UNESCO. The final report from this workshop included a comprehensive directory of local NGOs that will be further updated in an UNESCO Lake Toba Handbook for sustainable natural resource management.
Biophysical Environment The changes in Lake Toba region such as the reduction of the water level and pollution of the lake affected not only the social and economic situation of the region, also affected the biophysical environment. Past and Current Conditions Currently only 70 out of 202 rivers that discharge into Lake Toba flow all the year round. According to historical data studies by Sastromijoyo, 1990, the discharge from Lake Toba have shown a decrease during three phases:
• Period 1920-1932, average inflow discharge to Lake Toba was 110.4 m3/s • Period 1957 - 1975 average inflow discharge to Lake Toba was 104.4 m3/s • Period 1976 - 1988, average inflow discharge to Lake Toba was 90 m3/s
Water level of Lake Toba between 1984 and 1987 suffers a continuous decline in water level of 2.5 m. The outflow from the lake is used for power electric generation which provides sole supply to an aluminum smelter.
The rainfall data are too poor a quality to show whether there has been any significant change, but indications are that a decline of the order of 10% may well have occurred. (Anonym, 1990). Other factors such as land use change may have contributed to the change.
The first topographic map of the lake region was measured in 1887 by F. van Brenner and van Mechel. In 1909 and 1913 the Porsea and Siruar region was washed by severe floods. These events were followed in 1915 by the blasting of Batu Bongbong near Siruar that have obstructed the Asahan river flow. In 1918 it was first planned by the Dienst voor Waterkracht en Electriciteit to construct a hydropower plant in the Asahan River. After several failed work plans, in 1978 physical work started for building the Sigura-gura underground power plant followed in 1979 for Siruar regulating dam located upstream. The work concluded at end of 1982 by the operation of Tangga hydropower plant which is located downstream of Sigura-gura on the 1st of January 1983.
In December 1957 the lake water level stood at 905.61 m. In December 1987 it was at 903.65 and in 1990 mi was 902.70 m. Because of this continuous lake level decline the Asahan Authority reduced water flow to the hydropower from 102 to 82 m3/s. This decrease consequently have an effect to the aluminum smelter production lines in Kuala Tanjung, an investment of 2 billion USD, from 225,000 to 185,000 ton/y. The cause of this water level decline is unknown whether it is geologic of origin, climatic change, or increasing evaporation due to land use changes.
Pollution from domestic waste has affected the water quality of the lake. In the 1970’s there were no signs of water hyacinths on the lake but since 1990’s they were observed in the Parapat area. Secchi disk reading of the water column in the center of the lake in 2001 was 11 m while in the Bay of Parapat near the Ajibata harbor it was less than 2.8 meters. Fish cage culture started to develop since mid 1990 and has contributed to the pollution of the lake water. Now, in the year 2003, north of the Bay of Sigapiton, in Tomok, Simanindo, and Pangururan at Samosir Island, and in Haranggaol there were extensive fish cage culture developments.
At the mouth of Asahan River a pulp and paper factory was build in south Toba area, at a location between Porsea and Siruar regulating dam. Rejection by local population because of the smell produced by the factory have temporary closed the plant. The plant was temporary shut down and is now reducing its total activity to only producing pulp with a promise to provide better waste water treatment plant.
Lake and drainage basin resource conflict Introduction of alien fish species. Local government/farmers have introduced fish of “alien species” that will infiltrate (swim) into the whole lake area. These alien species have to ‘adapt’ to their new ecosystem. Adapt might also mean ‘will dominate’ the ecosystem. The other problems came from the cage aquaculture. The fish food poured into the lake adds up the water pollution problems. The cage aquaculture owned by foreign investors such as from Sweden is estimated to reach 150,000 units. There is no data on the community own cage aquaculture.
The construction of a hydropower plant. The construction of the hydropower plant south of Silalahi at the west coast of Lake Toba took water from Renun River that flows some 13 km west of the lake. This is an example of interbasin water transport that has not been sufficiently explored on its Physico-bio-chemical effects. It will transport a minimum of 7 m3/s water that ‘fall’ from the lake rim down some 300 m to produce 90 MW of electricity and add additional water to the lake.
The construction of pulp and rayon industry, Indorayon. A pulp and rayon industry was constructed in Porsea village of Toba Samosir District with the investment of 40 million US dollars. The Indorayon plant required 400,000 cubic meters of water per day for processing, which was taken from the Asahan River. The used water was returned to the Asahan River, undoubtedly mixed with various toxic materials derived from the processing chemicals and substance originated from the wood, as well as substance produced from the reaction of both sources of chemicals. Of particular concern are toxic substances of the AOX category (Adsorbable Organic Halides), such as dioxin, pentachlorophenol and trichlorophenol. These are the sources of substances in the liquid effluent.2 Apart from the above toxic substances, during the processing of pulp, rayon, and the production of process chemicals, various gases and vapors were released into the air, the majority of which were toxic and foul-smelling. Although at that time the most objectionable effect felt by the community was the odor, over the long term, the toxic effect is the most
2 The impacts of PT. Inti Indorayon Utama’s Operations on the Environment of Lake Toba, LTHF, 2000, page 6
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DRAFT: Not for Citation or Distribution Lake Toba
alarming. The majority of gasses released from the pulping process is collectively known as Non Condensable Gasses (NCG), especially H
2S and MMC (Methylmercaptan). However, from the beginning, the presence of Indorayon was felt to bring negative impacts on the natural surrounding and the human population, in the form of damage to the ecosystem of Lake Toba region and sufferings to the community living in the area. These impacts have, of late, become more oppressive, which must be monitored and managed in an integrated and professional manner in order to alleviate human sufferings and preserve the environment of Lake Toba region.
Management Environment The preservation of Lake Toba is closely related to the other aspects, including the people’s behavior and the local culture. In ecology, which meant ‘the rules in a household’ is not only consists of the house itself, but the people who live in the house and their activities are also included. The meaning of ‘ecology’ has to be thoroughly understood by the businesses, beaurocrats and the lake’s community. A numbers of factors that led to environmental degradation of Lake Toba region are:
• The spatial planning of Lake Toba region has not been adequately addressed.
• Imbalance outflow of water, due to the total volume of water that has been use for Asahan hydropower is far beyond the water inflow to the lake and the obstructed hydrological cycle due to the deforestration.
• An environmentally friendly effort in increasing the productivity of land has not been implemented yet.
• Lack of a thorough understanding about the local socio-cultural characteristics that led to the pollution of the lake due to the waste disposal both from the household and industries; the use of chemical fertilizer; and the cage aquaculture.
• The fast growing water hyacinth. Lake Management Programs and Processes The local regulation about the Management of Lake Toba region has been issued by the Provincial Government of North Sumatra in 1990. However, the spatial planning of Lake Toba region has never been developed. The preservation efforts were implemented independently by the government, NGOs, private sectors and community groups. Some of the preservation program that has been done in Lake Toba region is among others:
• The plan to create the Lake Toba management committee as a vehicle to develop a vision which then elaborated in the spatial planning of Lake Toba region agreed by all of the stakeholders.
• The water quality of Lake Toba has been deteriorated during the last decade; therefore re-forestration has been selected as the priority. The reforestration program covers 50% of the total area of Lake Toba region.
• Promote the organic farming system to discourage the use of chemical fertilizer.
• Increase the awareness and community involvement in the preservation of Lake Toba.
• Management of the household and industrial wastes.
The physical development in Lake Toba region has created some negative impacts for the environment. The negative impact that could be easily detected is the degraded water quality due to the wastes generated from the developed area that were channeled directly into the lake. Parapat-Ajibata wastewater treatment plant. Parapat is one and the busiest tourist center in Lake Toba region. The tourist area of Parapat located on the shores of Lake Toba has an area of 140 hectares. The planned residents’ total 16,000 not including the tourists themselves increases the problems of sewage from households and businesses. Almost all of the untreated household waste disposed directly into the lake. The quality of water has been reduced to the point that it is necessary to institute immediate steps to solve the problem with the construction of a waste water treatment plant. In 1994, water quality in the surrounding rivers exceed a level of pollution with a measured amount of 28 mg/l BOD (5 mg/l is considered good) and is estimated to increase 1.5 times by the year 2010. The level of pollution in the lake along the shore is 6.9 mg/l to 52.2 mg/l BOD and is estimated to increase 1.5 times by 2010. The development of the sewerage system was started from the dense population around the lake, the area of hotels and restaurants by using a conventional sewerage system. The wastewater from households, hotels and restaurants channeled to a main wastewater pipe. From the pipe it is then processed and put into the aeration ponds. Construction of the Parapat-Ajibata wastewater treatment plant began in the month of October 1994 when funds from an OECF sector loan in the amount of 7.3 billion rupiahs equal to 3.2 million US$ was available. Most of the constructed 1.5 km main and secondary sewer pipes located at the Parapat sub-district of Simalungun Regency while the 2,010 m3 capacity of sewage treatment plant with aerated lagoon system located at Ajibata sub-district of North Tapanuli Regency. This facility is equipped with pump lifts at three sites each with a capacity of 60-l/second and 5.3-m head, and with a pressure pump in one site with a capacity of 60 l/second and 41.94 m head. The Parapat-Ajibata treatment plant was constructed with the capacity to serve 17,400 people with an addition of about 4,500 tourists per day in the high season. Due to the lack of the social marketing of the facility, only 2 hotels and 14 households were connected. Lake’s pollution due to the untreated domestic wastes is household’s and community issues, and, thus requires recognition of specific situational social and cultural factors. There is no data on the investment for the reduction of lake stresses that were channeled through the NGOs working in Lake Toba region. Nevertheless, the fund from various sources for all of the program implementation in Lake Toba under the sister lakes partnership between Lake Toba and Lake Champlain, including the program implementation at the grassroots level that has been invested is 129,000 US dollars. Environmental Status The water quality in Lake Toba during the last few years has been obviously deteriorated. The oil content of the lake water reached the level of 7.5-35 mg/l. biologically, the lake water pollution obviously indicated by the evidence of pathogen bacteria such as faecal coliform of 1,000 mpn/100ml and total coliform of 20,000 mpn/100 ml of water.3 The Parapat-Ajibata wastewater treatment plant seems to be a wasted investment, unless a pro-active social marketing of the facility were implemented. Maintaining a clean environment is one aspect of the Lake Toba watershed management program which is highly related to the behavior of
3 Parlagutan Siahaan, Pesan danau Toba (Message from Lake Toba bulletin), September 1999, page 8
the people in the surrounding communities. The way the community treats its environment depends on its level of understanding and knowledge. Enabling Environment The visions of the Lake Toba preservation that were agreed by all stakeholders become a critical point that has to be solved. With this vision there are a number of expected advantages for the preservation of Lake Toba, i.e.:
• The efficiency of allocated resources for the preservation efforts of Lake Toba region
• The impact of existing efforts on the preservation of Lake Toba could be easily recognized by the community
• Law enforcement is expected to be improved as it is supported by all stakeholders In order to formulate a decent spatial planning of Lake Toba region which based-on the agreed vision, there are needs to conduct some research and obtain the complete an accurate data. The availability of adequate and reliable data is very important for the holistic approach of the preservation of Lake Toba that led to the success with significant impacts for all of the stakeholders. The increase in awareness and community involvement are not limited only on the implementation stage but has to include the preparation and design of the programs. With a dialogues approach that combines the bottom-up and top-down approach in the program preparation, it is expected to increase the community commitment in the preservation of Lake Toba. The cooperation with international organizations has to benefit all sides involved in the program, mainly the community. Therefore, there will be more effective result of the cooperation. From the institutional aspect, the Presidential Decree about the Management of Lake Toba Region was almost signed on March 15, 1999 when the President planned to visit Lake Toba to launch the tree planting program. The concept of the Presidential Decree was drafted by the Department of Tourism, Art and Culture. The socialization of the draft Presidential Decree to the related stakeholders raised different perceptions amongst them and led to a disagreement which became the reason for it to not being signed by the President. The main discrepancies in the perception towards the concept of the Presidential Decree were among others:
• The Lake Toba region will never be designated as conservation area where the Batak people could not do anything in their own land. However, some parts of the Lake Toba region such as the steeply sloping riverbank or mountain side which are critical to landslide have to be protected.
• The Lake Toba region do not refuse the existence of industries, on the contrary it invites them for the shake of the region’s prosperity. Only industries with negative impact to the environment that will be rejected.
• The planned Lake Toba Management Body (LTMB) is not an ‘authority’ or the like; but an institution responsible for coordinating the planned programs; implementation of the preservation program; harmonious development of Lake Toba region; and serves the respective five regencies by providing high level human resources also in-country and international networking capacity.
• LTMB is supposed not become a ‘new beaurocracy’ in Lake Toba region, it has to be an institution that encourage the local community participation even international community to dedicate their maximum efforts to Lake Toba through information, coordinative support and real case.
• LTMB is not a new superior of the respective five Bupati (Head of the Regency) or an institution that takes over the authority of the local government, but a partner that is
able to assist in integrating the use of various natural resources.
• LTMB do not have the intention to designate Lake Toba region as the World’s Heritage site since it’s create more disadvantage than the advantages. The more suitable status for Lake Toba region is as a Biosphere Reserves.
• LTMB will not only be partnered with the government, but with all of the stakeholders: governments, NGOs, local organizations, traditional society, industries, universities, press, churches, international agencies, investors and individuals.
The accountability and transparency in financial management in the preservation of Lake Toba region is a must. The experience in the past where the financial aid of 50 billion rupiahs or about 5.8 million US Dollars per year (current exchange rate of Rp.8,500 per USD) from PT. Inalum that was intended to be used for the preservation of Lake Toba has gone with the wind. Since 1982, the Inalum Company has the obligation to the Department of Finance to pay an annual fee of 5.8 million USD, based-on its production and the price of aluminum at international market. The use of this financial aid was unclear. Despite the pro and cons about the Lake Toba management committee that never been materialized, the Governor of North Sumatra, in 2002, has established the Coordinating Board for Lake Toba Ecosystem Preservation. The structure of the Board is based on ex-officio representation i.e.: chairman (Governor of North Sumatra); vice-chairman (vice Governor of North Sumatra); secretary (Head of Provincial Environmental Impact Management Agency); vice-secretary (Head of Provincial Planning Board); and members (representatives of the 8 Districts, representatives of LTHF and representatives other NGOs) The Coordinating Board has the following functions of coordinating the environmental control of the Lake Toba ecosystem; monitoring the environmental impacts of the Lake Toba ecosystem; coordinating the environmental quality recovery in all Districts surrounding Lake Toba; and mobilizing people’s participation for the conservation of Lake Toba ecosystem. Under the board, the governor also established a Technical Advisory Committee, consists of: Head of Provincial Environmental Impact Management Agency as the chairman; Head of Provincial Planning Board as the vice chairman; Deputy Head of Provincial Environmental Impact Management Agency as secretary; and the relevant provincial Technical Agencies and Bureaus also the Asahan Aluminum Authority as members.
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DRAFT: Not for Citation or Distribution Lake Toba
1 2 3
Figure 3: Organization Structure of Coordinating Board
Key Lessons Learned If environmental policies are to make an impact at the community level, it makes sense to conduct research at the community level and to involve the community as the major stakeholder to the possible extend. During the past three decades, the government of Indonesia has used centralized, top-down approach in many development sectors, resulted in lots of abandoned infrastructures and facilities with large investment. The political changes in 1998 have created a bigger autonomy for the provincial and the local governments and so opened a wider chance for community direct involvement in development activities. Community-based activities with profound participatory approach such as this one hopefully could bring into the policy development process the voices of usually excluded principal stakeholder group – the community. From the experiences of this project, policy makers can draw insight what works and why, and use that knowledge to create strategies to bridge the gap between national policy and local practice. From the experience of applying a community-based approach to manage a large lake watershed in a developing country, a number of key lessons have emerged both on the successes and failures, led to a more interesting learning of what might we have done differently with hindsight. The project partners believe that the experience and knowledge gained from this project has important implications for the future of Lake Toba as well as other projects in Indonesia and beyond. Sustainability Changing attitudes and behaviors, involving citizens and stakeholders, raising awareness about environmental issues and reaching consensus in a community on a vision and action plan are all aspects of successful watershed management that take time and require and ongoing effort. A community-based approach offers the most promising strategy for sustainable watershed management of Lake Toba. Whether planning a wastewater treatment facility, solving water supply problems, implementing measures to improve water quality or trying to change personal hygiene behaviors, the most effective programs are those which involve citizens and stakeholders from the very beginning and are relatively simple and low-cost to implement. The main obstacle to project sustainability is the security of funding, both to implement the water action plans that have been formulated by the communities, and to replicate the activities in other area of the region. The program is highly replicable, and the methodology is already being applied in eight other lake regions throughout the world through a LakeNet technical assistance and exchange program. This community-based program provides an outstanding example of moving from vision to action as described in the Framework for Action. Partnership, participation and stimulating ownership The involvement of environmental stakeholders at all levels is indispensable, one of them being the grassroots community. The Lake Toba watershed management is impossible without the involvement of the communities living in it.
The adoption of participatory approaches into the development projects in Indonesia has been increasing over the past several years. Field observations have convinced many, including development practitioners, that the participation of the client community in the decision-making process greatly influences the implementation and sustainability of the project. The participatory approach is an effort to solve common problems through building and use of community knowledge upon matters related to the problem. The dynamic, demand-based and change-oriented participatory approach improves care and capability of the community by giving them skills to analyze and solve their own problems. The participatory data and information collection and inventory process by the community stimulates the sense of belongings and involvement in the implementation of the plan they themselves developed. However, the community alone could not solve all of the environmental problems since many parties from the government, businesses, industrialists, researchers, environmentalist even politicians has their own interest in Lake Toba region, there should be a willingness to communicate to each other and work hand-in-hand in saving this world’s treasure. Community motivator Community members are the best influencers and communicators for change. People are more easily convinced by their neighbors’ experiences and tend to trust those they live with rather than outsiders. When a new facility such as the community-based wastewater treatment plant is introduced, its pros and cons must be fully understood before it gets accepted. Explanation by outsiders may serve to inform people, but they trust and accept the information to be true only when a relative, neighbor or a local leader checks it out and confirm it. Many of the ten environmental cadres who were selected from the local respective community included in the project have demonstrated their ability to help implement activities begun during this project. However, the sustainability of their willingness to be the community motivator after the project is over could not be guaranteed as it is a very high dedicated work. A more thorough selection process of the environmental cadres as the indigenous potential change agents is needed. At least three months or more is necessary to devote to the exploration of the dedicated, committed and trust worthy indigenous potential change agents. A scheme of small incentives is important to support the environmental cadres for the time and energy they devote to promoting environmental awareness and initiatives. Resource availability There is a considerable resource, initiative and understanding of Lake Toba environmental problems amongst professionals, at all levels: national, provincial and district. Appropriate processes and opportunities are required, for this resource to be tapped and its potential realized. Many researches have been done, which unfortunately have not been widely disseminated moreover understood by the community as the principal stakeholders. They need to be ‘translated’ into a more communicable and understandable language for the community. Recommended initiatives • Implementation of the community action plan
The community action plans that have been prepared by the community need to be implemented. The real participatory process in preparing the community action plan is the seed of sustainability that need to be maintained. The unmet expectation of the community that usually happened in the past has to be avoided. If the community is successful in implementing their action plan with a little financial and technical support from outside it will
become a very good real example that could trigger other community to replicate the process. • Continuation of environmental education training Behavior change does not happen until people realize or experience the benefit resulting from the change. Behavior can be said to have changed only when newer behavior patterns replace older one consistently and are sustained thereafter. Measuring the change of behavior as a result of environmental education of schoolchildren would certainly take a very long time, but the results can be far more effective and sustainable. Training for the elementary school teachers on the practical environmental education (PLH) have to be continued and expanded to cover more teachers and community leaders in Lake Toba region. The implementation of environmental education is a very appropriate means for raising awareness at the elementary school level because the subject is filled with social, cultural and ethical norms that are most likely learned in the structured environment found in schools. PLH is urgently needed to help students develop an attitude of caring for the environment and avoiding behaviors that hurt the environment in their early years. PLH can also help students begin to realize that they themselves are an inseparable part of the environment and to feel a sense of stewardship and moral commitment to environmental conservation. Environmental education at the elementary school level is not an independent subject at the current time. It is generally taught as part of other subjects such as social science, natural science and family welfare. As a result, environmental awareness tends to be low among school-age children. At the later stage, mainstreaming the PLH into the local curriculum of environmental education would be a great advantage for the health of Lake Toba. • Support the LTHF’s Clean Lake Activities on an ongoing basis Global Environment Facility invested $750,000 in the control of water hyacinths on Lake Victoria with limited results to show for it. In this project, clean lake activities in five key shoreline areas cost less than $2,000 and yielded tremendous results, both in terms of improvements in the environment and a heightened awareness in the communities. The main difference between the approaches on these two lakes was the application of a hand-pulling technique on Lake Toba versus mechanical and other techniques on Lake Victoria where the problem is said to be much more severe. Even so, a simple, community-based approach works in the case of water hyacinths on Lake Toba. • Create the Lake Toba Science & Education Center Declining environmental quality, including water quality degradation due to untreated wastewater entering the lake, is evident in the region. A better informed and more involved citizenry and improved cooperation among the numerous public and private stakeholders in the region are key to successful implementation of conservation and sustainable development initiatives. Creating a center which can serve as a clearinghouse of information and place for learning about Lake Toba will be an important step toward addressing these needs for the region. • Establish a research and monitoring program for Lake Toba Until today there is no research and systematic monitoring program has been established on Lake Toba. Several research studies have documented some of the basic characteristics of the lake and watershed, but these have been exclusively reconnaissance surveys. Along with the development of educational programs for the Center, a plan should be developed for a research and monitoring program that would be conducted at the center and through partner institutions.
• Study the impacts of commercial fish farming on water quality in the lake From several community meetings that have been held, community members especially the boat owners and drivers questioned the existence of ‘karamba’ (basket put in the lake for raising fish) in 5 locations of Simalungun and Toba Samosir Regency. They estimated that about 10 tons of fish food per day is poured into the lake and protested that all of their cleanliness efforts would be meaningless. Obviously, cage aquaculture in Lake Toba during the last couple years continues to expand and intensify, most of them are owned by foreign investors. From the economic stand point especially under the recent economic crisis in Indonesia it is often viewed as desirable as it can generate employment, income and food, support for other activities also increase the local government income. On the other hand, cage aquaculture has its disadvantages too. Wastes from cages are freely released into the environment, potentially interacting with the entire water body. Intensive cage culture, when unregulated, can cause severe environmental problems. Cage farms in lakes and reservoirs are thus vulnerable, both to general pollution and to self-inflicted water quality-related problems, not to mention the social conflict due to social inequity. A detail study of the impacts of the existing cage farms on water quality in the lake is needed. • Formation of Lake Toba authority One purpose of doing this pilot project was to demonstrate community-based watershed management with the assumption that an agency would be in place to support the implementation of action plans and apply the techniques within other communities. The formation of this agency has to be initiated and based-on the agreement reached by all stakeholders. Neutrality has to be the spirit of this agency; therefore it should not belong to the government. It should has the ability to establish partnerships at all levels, from community organizations to central government bodies, leading financing agencies and international agencies; and strong ability to comprehend and deal with diversity. It should also have the ability to influence policies and major investment projects through persuasion and demonstration rather than taking over. To be respected by all stakeholders it should has honesty, transparency and fairness in dealing with all partners. The Coordinating Board for Lake Toba Ecosystem Preservation has been established by the Governor of North Sumatra. Almost all of the members are government officials, therefore does not represent all sides of the stakeholders of the Lake Toba region. The most important starting point for the preservation of Lake Toba region is the existence of the same vision among the involved stakeholders. Without an agreed vision, there will be no direction in the preservation of Lake Toba. A vision that accommodates the conservation of bio-diversity, the ecologically economic and social development for the welfare of the people and maintenance of associated cultural values.
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