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The Gili Islands are 3 beautiful Islands off the West Coast of Lombok and only a 2,5 hour boat ride from Bali.The Gili Islands are already a popular tourist destination and a world known diving paradise, and its popularity is growing massively, year on year. But all of this is in danger as is the case is so many areas of the world. Due to many factors such as Global Warming, changed weather activities, storms, deforestation, and of course human destruction such as pollution, ignorant anchoring, and destructive fishing practices. The combination of these problems the land, the beaches and the corall reefs, especially in the shallow water, have suffered devastating damages. that is why people who care formed the Gili Eco Trust in 2002 to conserve and protect these wonderful Islands and encourage a more environmental friendly atmosphere. Many ecological projects and much effort have already started to try to address these problems, but as usual it is never enough, and more needs to be done to protect this natural wonder.
Since 2004 Biorock® structures have been installed around the coasts of the Gilis, thanks to the efforts and generous funding of local businesses.
The 6th Indonesian Biorock Training Workshop was held at Gili Trawangan, Lombok, from December 1-7, 2008. More than 70 participants acquired training in the theory and practice of Biorock® Technology for coral reef restoration, fisheries habitat restoration, mariculture, ecotourism, and shore protection. They join over 200 participants who were previously trained in workshops in Pemuteran, Bali, in 2000, 2004, and 2005, in Gili Trawangan in 2006, and in Makassar, Sulawesi, in 2007. While participants have come from all over the world, the most have been from Indonesia. This year 20 students and faculty from the University of Mataram, Lombok, participated, and are planning research projects on the impacts of Biodiversity projects on fish populations, shore protection, and growth of corals and other organisms on Biorock.
22 new Biorock structures were constructed and installed during the workshop, joining the fifteen that had been previously installed in Gili Trawangan. The majority of these were for shore protection, to reverse serious beach erosion problems, and the rest were for ecotourism and fisheries habitat restoration, including Biorock reefs in the shapes of turtles and manta rays.
The Gili Eco trust is now expanding his activities. We are opening the Gili Eco Trust to any business from Gili Trawangan who would like to join the meetings and the eco-friendly guidelines we try to implement to make the island better. We are working on education about rubbish selection, recycling, banning plastic bags, compost, sewage....etc
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