Gili Trawangan dive resort, nr Lombok, Indonesia
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
At Trawangan Dive has launched a program protecting the Reefs around the Gili Islands, The reef restoration program is designed for gap year students, students looking for thesis and dissertation topics, people on career breaks and anyone interested in more than your average vacation!
Certain areas of shallow water corals around the Gili Islands have suffered damage by combinations of coral heatstroke, disease, land-based sewage, global sea level rising, over-fishing and direct physical damage. Restoration of degraded reefs and coastal habitats on a scale that makes a difference must be an active environmental priority and not an afterthought. A revolutionary new technology called Biorock® can make this possible. The Biorock® Process involves a submerged steel structure that applies a safe low-voltage electrical current. Small pieces of live broken coral are then strapped to the structure and have been shown to grow at 3-5 times the normal rate while coral survival under higher water temperatures and pollution increased by 16 to 50 times.
The Gili Islands are the second largest Biorock® site in the world, currently home to 63 Biorock® structures and have hosted International Reef Restoration Training Workshops. The reef restoration project is coordinated by the Gili Eco Trust which works closely with the DKP (Indonesian Marine Conservation and Fisheries). Head of the Gili Eco Trust is Delphine Robbe who oversees the Biorock project around the Gili Islands and here at Trawangan Dive.
Since 2004 when the first Biorock® reef was installed many development and research students from Indonesian and other Universities around the world have come to study the Biorock® reef restoration project as part of their Thesis or Masters Degree. Our hope is to continue these projects and make the Gili Islands a global centre for coral research and re-growth.
Trawangan Dive offers a variety of training programs wherein students and volunteers would receive diver training from Open Water to Divemaster and the Biorock Specialty course. During their training they would learn about coral biology and environmental threats, be trained how to coral garden, survey, conserve, maintain the exciting Biorock® and finally design, weld and submerge their own Biorock® structure.
Community
Trawangan Dive supports the community by giving the locals the opportunity to work here, we currenlty employ 60 local staff which is ever increasing when we look to expand. We also run charity events regularly on Gili Trawangan. In our Dive Shop we sell products of which a percent is given to the school as a donation. We also give people the choice to pay 50,000rp to the Gili Eco Trust when diving on Gili Trawangan.
On Gili Trawangan the Island is dependable on donations as it is not supported b the local government. There is a Local Council and we as part of that community help to support the council when possible.
We support the local school through donations from events we have been involved with or even hosted. We helped to build the new school and we regularly give donations, we think it is essential that all children are given the right start in life and to help provide them with education is key.
We support the Gili Eco Trust regularly collecting donations and hosting many charity events including regular beach clean ups. This is where by volunteers are collected and given the opportunity to take part and help to clean up the beach. A “fair ground fun day” where we hosted along with other companies was a day where we had games and events on the beach promoting the island and making it a day out for the locals.
1of3
