TempoWitness and forest preservation in Indonesia
Indonesia, a tropical country on the equator, experiences many natural disasters. Forest and land fires occur regularly every year, especially before the dry season.
When forest and land fires occur, local people are always the first to know about it and feel the impact. This is why community involvement in fire prevention and monitoring efforts is so important.
To involve the community in monitoring and reporting on forest and land fires, Tempo Media created an open access citizen journalism tool. The TempoWitness app allows people to submit and disseminate information on forest and land fires, forest conservation efforts, and public activities carried out by the community and stakeholders at local and national levels.
The TempoWitness application has been used since December 2019 in Tanjung Jabung Barat, Jambi. Approximately 20 local residents from various groups and institutions use the mobile app, including representatives from the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD Tanjung Jabung Barat), and the Forest Management Unit (KPH) Tanjung Jabung Barat.
Harry Surjadi and Yosep Suprayogi of the TempoWitness team were actively monitoring submissions since the beginning of the initiative. By the end of July 2020, 82 stories were published on the TempoWitness website out of 112 submissions from Tanjung Jabung Barat residents. Participants were able to use the TempoWitness application on their mobile phones and send videos or photos as supporting information.
However, not all community members can be actively involved in monitoring and reporting incidents related to forest and land fires. Technical problems, such as network signal conditions or devices without cameras or such that do not support the app are among the reasons that limit participation.
The TempoWitness team and their partners in Indonesia held online coaching on 5 August 2020. The coaching session focused on monitoring the situation and finding solutions to challenges that residents in Tanjung Jabung Barat, Jambi faced when sending photos and videos through the TempoWitness application.
A total of 18 participants from three villages in West Tanjung Jabung participated in the online training. They shared their experiences, aspirations, and lessons learned from using the application.
Muhammad Yusuf, from Tanjung Jabung Barat Regional Disaster Management Agency, was sent 46 stories to TempoWitness, 41 of which were published. “I am very happy to be a citizen journalist,” said Yusuf. “Although my profession is not a writer, writing and sharing stories is my hobby. I deal with disasters in my work, starting from prevention, disaster response, to recovery; and I think the public at large needs to know more about this. It's just that when I'm in the field and too focused on work, I often forget to send news, or the signal is not good at the location, and then I forget to send it when there is signal again.”
Sandi Prabowo, from Manggala Agni, said he experienced problems when working in the field. “ I have to focus on work and could not send news. In addition, there are regulations that do not allow the use of mobile phones while on duty,” said Prabowo. “Sometimes I really want to send some photos and videos to TempoWitness,” said Prabowo. But I don't because it feels unethical, for example during traditional events or sacred activities.”
TempoWitness trainers Harry Surjadi and Yosep Suprayogi explained that there is no solution at the present for network and signal problems. However, the TempoWitness application is equipped with an offline feature, so that when the device locates a network and has sufficient battery, the news can be sent, although it still has to be done manually by logging into the application and pressing the send button.
In addition to discussing and finding solutions to the obstacles presented by the participants, the trainers shared recommendations and basic writing techniques that can easily be submitted to the application based on events or daily activities around their homes.
Tika Sartika from Muntialo Village, expressed his enthusiasm for the app and apologized because he had only been able to send four updates. “I am very happy to use this application,” said Sartika. “I rarely provide information to the public. However, the pandemic seemed to eliminate the opportunity to share stories because of household duties... But, God willing, this [pandemic] will end soon, and we can send useful information to preserve our local environment.”
This online activity is a series of introductions to the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform, an application that provides an opportunity for all community members who have mobile phones to participate in providing early information on the fires they see.
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[Disclaimer] The story was originally published in Bahasa Indonesia. It was translated into English and adjusted for style. The activities in this story were made possible with the support of the Global Forest Watch (GFW).