MISSION

Founded in 1999, Yayasan Ekowisata Halimun (YEH) is a non-profit organization working to develop a sustainably managed system of eco-tourism run by the local communities of Gunung Halimun National Park, West Java, Indonesia.

Our primary role is to assist the local communities in the development and management of such an eco-tourism concept, but also to empower the communities to be self-sufficient in their daily lives, to recognize the importance of their natural surroundings and manage it sustainably. We also act as an Agent who organize and run specific or tailor made tours into the National Park. (For more information on such tours see Halimun Tours).

The term 'Community-Based Eco-Tourism' is something relatively new to the complex field of conservation, but the importance of working with the local communities of threatened eco-systems should not be underestimated. They are in daily contact with the forest, the comings-and-goings of any unscrupulous activities, the monitoring of species distribution and populations; they can generally be considered to be the wardens of such rapidly diminishing and threatened forest remnants.

HISTORY

The concept of a Community-Based Eco-Tourism program in Halimun was initiated back in 1995 by a consortium made up of Gunung Halimun National Park Department of Forestry (PHPA), Wildlife Preservation Trust International (WPTI), Biological Sciences Club (BScC), The Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Studies, University of Indonesia and McDonald's Indonesia Family Restaurants. Upon successful application, the consortium received three years funding from the Biodiversity Conservation Network (BCN) to provide the local community with guesthouses in the North, East and South of the National Park. The guesthouses were completed in 1998, and YEH was established to continue to the monitoring of the Eco-tourism project.

Since that time, our work has broadened to include Environmental Education, Local Guide Training, assistance in the development of a Micro-Hydro scheme to provide much needed electricity to some of the isolated village communities, Organic Farming methods, and the design and production of a visitors guide book.

CURRENT PROJECTS

A relatively recent development is YEH initiation of a second project outside of Gunung Halimun National Park, in a little known wetlands area in West Java called Rawa Danau. A rich eco-system for wetland birds, but also supporting the critically endangered Javan Gibbon, Rawa Danau has had its fair share of exploitation and is in much need of outside assistance. Using our experience in Gunung Halimun, we hope to develop a working relationship with the local communities and encourage local empowerment and advise on how to sustainably manage their environment.

Also on the cards for the future is a more comprehensive program of Environmental Education, which would be run out of Halimun by the local communities.