Kenapa Ekowisata Berbasis Masyarakat?

Kerusakan lingkungan menjadi topik yang ramai dibicarakan akhir-akhir ini. Berbagai upaya pencegahan dan perlindungan kebakaran hutan dan penebangan liar telah dilakukan pemerintah berupa pengefektifan berbagai perangkat hukum (undang-undang, PP, dan SK Menteri sampai Dirjen) serta usaha LSM dan NGO untuk dapat memperbaiki kondisi lingkungan serta advokasi kepada pemerintah belum memberikan hasil yang optimal. Pengetahuan masyarakat juga dianggap belum cukup untuk dapat melakukan upaya pemberdayaan serta pengelolaan areal yang luas juga dianggap sebagai salah satu penyebab berkurangnya sumber daya. Pemberian status ekowisata kepada beberapa Taman Nasional di Indonesia diharapkan dapat menjadi salah satu upaya untuk melindungi lingkungan pantai, hutan, dan digunakan untuk konservasi flora dan fauna.

Ekowisata yang pada umumnya memang merupakan suatu konsep pariwisata yang mencerminkan wawasan lingkungan dan mengikuti kaidah-kaidah keseimbangan dan kelestarian lingkungan, sehingga pada akhirnya pengembangan ekowisata dapat meningkatkan kualitas hubungan antar manusia, meningkatkan kualitas hidup masyarakat setempat dan menjaga kualitas lingkungan. Hal ini didukung dengan naskah yang diterbitkan Direktorat Jenderal Pengendalian Kerusakan Keanekaragaman Hayati, Badan Pengendalian Dampak Lingkungan, (2001) dalam websitenya yang menyebutkan bahwa melihat bahwa banyak masyarkat Indonesia belum sepenuhnya tanggap akan fungsi hutan dan ekosistemnya yang sangat menjanjikan. Masih banyak yang menganggap hutan hanya sebagai penghasil kayu untuk memperoleh manfaat ekonomi secara cepat dan mudah. Hutan dan perairan dengan keanekaragaman hayati dan keunikan ekosistem yang ada di dalamnya belum dipandang sebagai satu kesatuan yang saling terkait, yang tidak hanya akan bermanfaat secara ekonomi, namun akan menjaga keberlanjutan manfaat itu sendiri termasuk budaya dan sosial. Sedangkan di sisi lain pendekatan ekonomi yang lebih maju yang berjalan dengan searah dengan demokratisasi dan otonomi daerah menuntut berbagai instansi untuk dapat menggunakan prinsip ‘participatory’ yang menjunjung tinggi keterlibatan masyarakat lokal serta memberikan keuntungan dari areal konservasi dan taman nasional kepada masyarakat lokal. Berbagai kelebihan yang bisa didapat dari pengembangan ekowisata tidak hanya sebagai upaya pelestaian alam namun juga sebagai salah satu katalisator pembangunan. Dengan adanya status ekowisata, objek-objek ekowisata akan dapat menjadi area pemberdayaan masyarakat, dimana dapat menjadi objek kesempatan kerja, membantu dalam percepatan pemerataan pendapatan, penerimaan pajak, dan meningkatkan nilai tambah produk hasil kebudayaan. Selain itu, ekowisata dapat menjadi sektor yang dapat diandalkan dalam peningkatan ekonomi negara.

Keberhasilan sebuah institusi akan juga didukung oleh penghargaan dan dan dukungan yang diberikan masyarakat sekitar. Sejalan dengan itu sangat penting untuk dapat mengajak masyarakat bekerja sama agar dapat menjaga, melestarikan, dan turut menambah penghasilan mereka dalam sebuah lembaga yang berbasis masyarakat. Kerjasama ini akan bersifat simbiosis mutualisme dimana pemerintah sebagai pembuat kebijakan akan dapat menjalankan perannya dalam mengelola, melindungi, dan memberdayakan masyarakat di area konservasi dan taman nasional, sedangkan bagi masyarakat akan menguntungkan juga dimana masyarakat dapat memperoleh hasil dan peningkatan taraf ekonomi.

Halooooo.....

Halooooo.. asik.. blog baru nih... Sekedar perkenalan.. gw adalah putri kerajaan Ramira yang turun ke bumi dan menyamar jadi mahasiswa IPB.. tiap hari gw kekampus naik kereta yang pada akhirnya gw sulap jadi motor biar temen-temen gw ga curiga.. gw sekarang sedang sibuk menyusun beberapa lembar kertas yang kata dosen n temen-temen gw namanya Studi pustaka.

gw suka salad, sukaaaa banget.. (gak penting bgt si gw)

sebagai jelmaan putri, gw berusaha untuk terlihat mandiri, kuat, tenang, baik hati, dan sabar.. (well, at least gw berusaha.. hehehe…)

gw suka nulis, biasanya setelah gw nulis, gw ga akan bisa berhenti, tapi entahlah.. mungkin bener kata orang.. (sok kenal bgt sama si ‘orang’) “awalnya selalu berat”

banyak yang bilang gw orangnya santai, hahaha.. santai dari hongkong?? gw orangnya gampang panik. tapi gw pinter nyimpen kepanikan gw.. disaat semua orang riweuh dengan tugas masing2.. kaya “OMG  tgs PEPP gw belum beres.. ” , ” Ya Ampuuun gw dikasi C sama P.Arya” “What??! Mantan gw jadian lg??” “Dimana Borang SP gw?” “Dimana dosen pembimbing gw??” ” Dimana handuk gw?” “Dimana kutang gw?”   ahh.. gw? jangan tanya,, sebenernya gw jauuuuuh lebih panik daripada itu. hahahaha…

well.. Nobody’s perfect, I love me just the way Iam.. (bs mw gimana lg?)

hehe…

prinsip gw.. semua orang punya kelebihan dan kekurangan masing-masing.. jangan pernah meremehkan orang lain, that’s it!

=)

Johnny Depp: more tattoos, because you asked!

If there's one page on this blog that's five times more popular than any other page, it's the post where I talked about Johnny Depp's body art. But that was a year ago, and I've been wondering if there's more art on the man now, or failing that more pictures of the art on the man. And it turns out, there are, a you no doubt noticed from the above.

Then there's a whole 'nother category: tattoos of Johnny Depp, rather than on Johnny Depp...

And that's pretty darned cool. I wonder if that one's permanent, or if it's one of those temporary ones that wash off after the convention has finished? Is there a way to tell, by just looking rather than getting in there and attacking part of it with a pot scrubber? Mind you, I think the person actually wearing the tat would notice, sooner or later, if you did that ... and one might get oneself busted in the chops, and the pot scrubber shoved somewhere less than pleasant.

Oh, what the heck? Let's have some more Johnny Depp pictures. Why? Because I feel like it. Is there any better reason? Do you even need a reason to get out your Johnny Depp pictures? Sheesh.

John Barrowman: go west, young time agent!

This isn't news ... to be news, I'd have had to put this post up in mid-August! But it's interesting to me, because I finally, finally got to see the third season, the miniseries, of Torchwood -- Children of Earth. This also ain't a review, because it's too late for that, as well ... shows you how much a much of a chaos my life has been lately!

You might be wondering what I thought of Children of Earth? I'll give it 9 out of 10, and I only dock the last mark because the ending was downbeat enough that I'm not sure I want to shell out $45 (incl. p+h) to buy it.

I'm not talking about the death of Jack's lover and best mate, Ianto Jones ... that, I can accept as necessary, painful and marvellously dramatic. But I have to admit, I was expecting a much more upbeat conclusion -- Jack always found a way to save the day in style. He certainly saves the day in this one, but the "style" is grand tragedy, a la Wagner. Everything has blown away on the wind, and Torchwood is literally over. Gone. Hmmm.

Now, to viewers in Australia and England, the miniseries was dark and absolutely harrowing -- far more so than we're accustomed to from TV, and especially from something like Torchwood. Imagine my surprise to read the American reviews, where not one but several critics referred to the same five hours of digital video as (get this), "good fun," and "lighthearted."

Uh....hunh? Hey, whatever, dudes.

If they thought Children of Earth was good, lighthearted fun, gawd only knows what they're accustomed to watching on American TV, and I don't wanna even speculate about that!

And what worries me is -- and given the above!! -- Torchwood is heading west. To America.

If this is news to you (maybe you've been working as hard as me for the last six months and haven't seen much Internet, much less a magazine!) I'll give you a quick bulletin: against the odds, the show was picked up for a 10-episode fourth season, all of which is going to be one loooong extended story -- but one of the sponsors is the US cable network, Starz, and their involvement takes the show to America and adds an American cast. Which is fair enough ... if American money is paying for it, they want to listen to American actors, not to Welshmen, right? Right. That's not what worries me.

What does worry me is that if American critics thought Children of Earth was good, lighthearted fun, by the time the new writing team gets done "rebooting" the show, as they put it, it could be so dark, so dismayingly dismal, a lot of us won't be watching it. And there's a tragedy, because some of us fell head over heels for Jack so long ago, he was still dancing on a spaceship, in midair, in front of Big Ben, at the time! He's Russel T. Davies's ninth symphony ... he's a gay icon ... and therefore the Americanization of Torchwood fills me with dread.

Having said that, I'll give it a whirl, give everyone the benefit of the doubt. The new writing team certainly has great credentials (see this for more), and it just depends how dark Starz will want to make it. In all seriousness, if Jack Harkness were a real human being, rather than a character in a TV show, he would be stark, raving mad by this time, after what he's done, and seen, and had done to him.

And here's the thing: maybe Jack is bonkers. There's a lot you can do with a character who's actually insane, though the insanity is soooo subtle, you don't see it at once. You could weave what Mel Keegan called "a darkness incandescent" about him. And I have no doubt John Barrowman will be absolutely, bloody amazing in the part, if only the audience can hang on long enough to watch ten potentially depressing episodes.

Here's something else that's interesting. The British style of acting is not "satisfying" to American critics. To Commonwealth eyes, the performances on Torchwood (and esp. this last series) have been utterly outstanding. American reviewers referred to them as mediocre. It's the style of the performance which doesn't "jive" with the American dramatic requirement ... so, again, we can look for subtle differences in the new one -- Torchwood: The New World.

And there was I, hoping "the new world" might be Mars or Castrovalva, or maybe Callufrax. No such luck!

UPDATE:
Two things. Several people asked why I didn't run a video or an least a pic of Jack and Ianto in full-on romance mode, and that's a hell of a good question ... so here it is:


Second thing: thanks so much to Jade for "cross pollinating" with me on her latest post, and if I helped to inspire the shots where (whooooo!) Jarrat and Stone finally get it together, then ... well, I'll just do a few laps of the room without touching the floor here! And check this out:


Here's the post where the full set of images appear. At risk of sounding like the kid in the movie, with the bowl and the spoon, "Can we have some more?"

Home from Atlantis and headed for Aquilonia ... Jason Momoa

There are times when your jaw drops, and someone could knock you flat with a handy feather. This is one of them:

Jason Momoa as Conan the Barbarian --

No, I'm not kidding you! I'm serious! That's the Jason Momoa you know from Stargate Atlantis. You know, huge, dark and unspeakably gorgeous?



They've been trying to get this movie into gear for a couple of years now. The generic poster was painted for it, using the old genre of the torso with the head missing off the top, out of frame, and you notice it says CONAN 2009...

...well, it ain't 2009, kiddies. Anybody looked at the calendar lately? Mine says 2010. In fact, it says Almost At The End of 2011.

Last time I heard of the new Conan movie was waaay back in January, here:
http://www.slashfilm.com/jason-momoa-is-the-new-conan-the-barbarian/

At the time Jason Momoa was just one of three actors being considered for the part. God knows who the other two were. But the other day I was killing a few of those "hurry up and wait" minutes, and I landed on the Frank Frazetta official website. You might not know Frank Frazetta, but he was the artist who painted the covers for the classic Conan novels waaaay back in the 1960s...

I was on the website because I'd seen something recently that looked like a Tribute to Frank Frazetta, and I was thinking, "Damn, don't say Frank died." Yep, he did. In fact, he died back in May, 2010. Well, rats. He was one amazing artist. But while I was on the official site there was this photo ... and I knew that face.

"Get your first official look at Jason Momoa as Conan," it said.

Whoooo! Movie slated for 2011 release. Think I'm telling porkies? Would I do that? See here, for yourself: http://www.frankfrazetta.net/

That's the official Frank Frazetta page, Jason Momoa and all.

Oh yeah, this can be Conan...



Then, for the second time in five minutes, you could have knocked me down with the same feather again. I couldn't resist reading the comments on the article -- which is usually a mistake, because incredible idiots say unbelievably stupid things which just get the steam puffing out of your ears, right?

Sure enough, somebody did. Some certifiable loony says this: "He's not big enough to be Conan. Sigh. Will no one get the Conan thing right? They should really start by reading the original 12 books by Robert Howard. Arnold was great because he had a thick northern accent that Howard wrote of and was certainly huge. I hope like heck that the writers, directors and producers take the time (what like two weeks) to read he originals..." etc., etc. etc.

And before I could chime in with my ten pennies' worth, I saw there was a reply on this. Not only that -- are you ready for this? -- the reply was from Jade379, which if course is OUR Jade, the Jade, the artist, our artist! You know -- this Jade. Yeah. And she said the whole thing, perfectly...

Jason Momoa is a lot taller than Arnie ... a lot! I guess you're talking about the huge muscle mass when you say he's too small, right? I *have* read the REH cassic novels, and I think the size thing is all relative. Conan was described as huge ... Jason Momoa is actually enormous -- watch a few episodes of Stargate, and see. Also, he's an actor, and might easily affect a northern accent, with a good dialog coach. I've a feeling it's the comic art that makes us think of Conan as being a bit like a "shaved gorilla." In reality, it's endless hours in a gym, lifting weights, that makes a guy look like that. Conan's lifestyle, as depicted in the first movie -- all that running!! -- wouldn't build or maintain that body. He'd wind up looking a lot like you see right here in this pic. Food for thought!

Go to the page, see it, it's all there: http://theflickcast.com/2010/06/22/get-your-first-official-look-at-jason-momoa-as-conan/#more-40169

Is that cool, or what?!

David Tennant: Fright Night and Facelift. Whoooo!

Being rather a fan of David Tennant (who is my favorite of all the Doctors) I try to keep up with what he's doing whenever I have a spare hour ... which isn't all that often these days!

So, I search on "David Tennant" and ... well, I see this and I think to myself, "Good lord, they're remaking FACELIFT!!!"

And you're thinking to yourself, "What the bleep is Facelift, and why should I care?" Or else, "What the bleep is AG babbling on about now?!"

Well, it's like this:


And that's Martin Shaw as Zax in a 1984 Channel 4 SF musical called (!) FACELIFT. Zax was a magician ... a stage magician who had actual powers. It was a shoestring production, but it was amazing -- actually well worth remaking with modern technology. Get me going one day and I'll tell you about it!

But no, actually David Tennant is not actually starring as Zax in a remake of FACELIFT ... he's starring in a remake of FRIGHT NIGHT, in which Roddy McDowall played Peter Vincent, the vampire hunter:

And it turns out that Roddy McDowall is also one of my all-time favorite actors, so I'm happy as a clam here. Can't wait for the remake ... of FRIGHT NIGHT, that is. And you're so right, I'd love to see a remake of FACELIFT, and I wouldn't at all mind if David Tennant were to play Zax. Martin Shaw was very good in the part -- and what an oddball Zax was. Beautiful, but odd.

Hatsune Miku, Iron Man and Star Wars. Say -- what?!

Remember when you were told (if you're an SF fan, that is, and talking to somebody who likes to pooh-pooh SF and tell you everything is 1000 yeas in the future) that holograms were never going to happen because they have no foundation in real science?

Well, just now and again the SF fan gets the last laugh. And I'm chortling in large amounts of glee. And I haven't even opened the Father O'Leary's yet.

This here is something called Hatsune Miku. She (it?) is an anime pop star. It's a hologram that performs with a live band. Onstage. Live, in front of a live audience that's looking at the performance from every angle. So there's no way to fake it -- and why would you want to? Charlatanism is not what this is abut. It's just about a band on tour, and they animated their icon.

Now, anime isn't my thing -- and for somebody who grew up on Marineboy and Gigantor the Space Age Robot I say that with all due fervor and a couple of shudders. To me, the fascination of the Histune Miku hologram isn't any interest in the ainme popstar. But ... golly, that could be a hologram of ... anything. Anyone.

It could be the computer interfaces you saw in IRON MAN! What I see in this tale of Hatsune Miku is that the SF fans get the last laugh. Holographs work, and they work now, not in 1000 years.

And I think R2D2's horizontal hold might have been on the fritz:

...because out holographs look a lot better than the ones they were predicting in 1977!

LEIA: Help me, Obiwan Kenobi, you're my only hope!

OBIWAN: Damnit, the quality on this is crap. Can't you adjust it?

LUKE: I dunno. Let me have a go. (Kneels beside Artoo and starts fiddling)

R2D2: Beep! Squaaaaaw! Weeeedle ... wooosh ...awwwwwh.

LUKE: Does that look any better? I can't see it from here.

OBIWAN: Try adjusting the vertical hold.

LUKE: Okay, gimme a second here...

LEIA: I said, help me, Obiwan Kenobi, dadblast it, you're my only hope!"

LUKE: What's she talking about?

OBIWAN: She said something about some secret plans. I wasn't listening, I was trying to figure out why the playback's such crap. Any joy with the vertical hold?

R2D2: SQUAAAAAK! Weeble-beeble tooleoodleoodle ... (Subtitled into English: "Forget the goddamned playback quality and listen to the message, you brainless apes!")

See what I mean?! There's one in the eye for the guys who like to pooh-pooh SF