What Happen to A General who Misreads The Map?

Once I told my lecturer that I had a surveyor position in my new company, it's really a suitable position for whom had been graduated from soil science department like me. He responded "Oh that's good, you're gonna know whole parts of plantation zone, you're gonna know it more than others"

Then he added "that's the first step to be a leader, somebody has to recognize the territory very well, so that he can set up strategies"

It knocked the thoughts inside my head, I never thought that way before. I always think that becoming a surveyor will always grow my skill, I can learn more and more, knowing things around as it's main function. But actually there is more than that, it is the main part of setting up strategies through the map.

And then I imagine about the ancient war, how they work to find the best strategy, then I arrive on a conclusion that a leader must be the one who knows totally about the territory, to find the best way to attack or which part to defend, to know where the enemy's position, what they have, their probability and etc. 

Now I know to become a surveyor/mapper not only to draw map on a paper, but to decide where the things should go. 

Peat Land Model to Campaign Peat Conservation on Youth!

Peat land somehow contributes to the greenhouse gasses as it results some kind of emission gasses to the air. Peat land made by the accumulation of organic matter in saturated land with slow decomposition process, in soil taxonomy; peat land categorized as organosol as it contains more than 30% organic matters. The process when microorganism decompose the organic matter is the activity that will result more CO2, CH4 and another chemical compound to contribute to the air pollution.

 In Indonesia, Peat land called ‘Tanah Gambut'. Historically that name taken from a region in South Kalimantan which all the land almost covered by peat land itself, about a half hour trip away from my city. Many people live there and they exist from long ago as Gambut itself potentially used as agricultural area. Recently, through years Kec Gambut growing faster with so many development in it. Residences take over the land as real estates, people sell their land with a good price to stakeholders that want to get the profit from their business activity there. Does this land conversion have an impact to the peat land and environment? Yes it has. Explaining about it will take so many times and need to put so much literature about researches which have been done before. So I won’t explain too deeply about that.

I myself concern to the activity that will reduce the impact so I focus to the cause in social case. I wonder if the people who are living in Kec Gambut have enough knowledge about peat land they belong to beside its usage as farming land. Do they know about the negative impact peat land can bear if it’s unmanaged well? So let’s we start from here. The infrastructure development is running so fast in Gambut as this place has the main road that connects Banjarmasin and Banjarbaru which both are the biggest cities in South Kalimantan. It becomes a promising target for business stakeholders, between the cities you can find some real estates, even an apartments and amusement park such as water park and etc.

Land conversion is running wild, those who are used to be paddy fields now become building blocks; the place of luxury living. How about land conservation especially for peat land? It says that peat land with depth more than 2 meters is a conservation area that should not be managed, or, managed in very certain management system. We also learn that peat has main function as water-holder, it works like sponge that absorb the water around. Peat itself can absorb 10 times amount of water than its own mass. So we can see here that if we lose peat land, we will get a big amount of water that will cause flood to happen. Activity that will turn Kecamatan Gambut to be a metro city really gives contribution to this.

So what I’m gonna do? Based on the case above, I have an idea to spread the specific knowledge about gambut/peat soil to the people, as usual I concern to the youth who potentially will have long term impact. This project is aimed to make a massive awareness in the head of the people who live in Gambut about peat land; could it be dangerous or useful; the threat and the advantages; and all the best management they can do over the peat land. This project has the youth in Gambut as the target, specifically the high school students.

 

As I think the knowledge should be transferred in a good way, I and my team decide to create a simple peat land model. All the schools have planetarium, why don’t they have this- the thing that really shows what happening around them, the thing they are standing on-? This model will show the students about how peat land works and its function in a simple way and the threat that peat land will bear if it’s not managed well.

We will make 3 copies of this model and give them to 3 high schools located in Gambut. It works so simple and will be attached with the manual of the model. if the response good on this, we intend to make more copies and give to wider target. We also expect for funding, donation is really open for those who concern about the peat land environment.

Indonesia has a big amount of peat land, if planetarium is important in every school, so is this model to the region which has covered land by peat. 

How People Cheat on Coal Mining Industry

Trap houses

About 2 months ago, I was doing a survey with my team to get some soil samples in Tanjung regional of South Kalimantan. That was my first time doing job there, about 4 hours trip to get there away from my place. It's a land sustainability evaluating project, so I took some soil samples to be analized in laboratory to find its fertility and conclude what kind of plants that suit with the soil characteristic. 

The space between the spots of samples were about 500 meters and me and my team had to get 100 samples in 4 days. It's my first time adventuring into the wild of rubber plantation. And I got this picture shown above. You may find it strange to know the fact behind why those houses were built. Could you guess it? how about the idea that those houses are just traps? the fact says yes.

Save Swamp Buffaloes from the Extinction!

Finally after a very deep slumber this blog raises his hands again, it's a good new beginning I think. I'm not going to tell you good news as well, sorry, I change my mind to reborn this blog with a new concept. It's going to look like a daily report rather than an online magazine. But the information I'll share must be so useful and enrich your knowledge.

Well, this post will tell you about the swamp buffaloes and the threat that is hiding behind their lives. Last month I went to a place in Nagara district of South Kalimantan (borneo) province. There was a job for me and my team to identify the problem happened there. 

Swamp buffaloes is the endemic animal species of South Kalimantan, you may only find this kind of animal here. They have a little difference with the common buffaloes. They live in a swamp land, swimming all days, feeding themselves and physically different with the buffaloes you find in other places. These buffaloes have been being raised since centuries ago by the native of the village. They used to have thousands buffaloes to look after. But now, through many challenges the farmers had, they only have about 150 buffaloes, totally significant decreasing when the previous year they had almost 600 buffaloes. Surely it makes any questions in our head, how could it happen? Yes it could. Environmental issue was one of the case we were trying to identify.

Role of Youth as Agricultural Squad in Food Security in South Kalimantan

Summary
Role of Youth as Agricultural Squad in Food Security of South Kalimantan

By:
Buyung Al amin

Development of food security is a key factor in the development of a nation. Food security is a major subsystem with food availability, distribution, and consumption. Massive government commitment to the aspects of food security for nation building and national defense. That food security is a very complex system that includes the functions of supply, distribution and consumption, then it means that food security is a system that was built across sectors, stakeholders, and across regions.

Youth as agents of the nation are able to take an important role in strengthening food security. These functions enable a process, involving, and give authority to the community that can be a source of empowerment of youth to the wider community.

This modern, many aspects that involve youth in its movement with the underlying that the potential for youth empowerment is an effective and appropriate considering the role that not only stop the settlement problem in the present, but also far into the future so that the long term.