OASE CLUB SEES COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES AROUND THE SUBAYANG RIVER PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY
Welcome to Tanjung Belit Village. A village located in the Bukit Rimbang landscape, Bukit Baling. From Pekanbaru City, Riau Province, it takes 7-8 hours by car. We will adventure to the water field station in Rimbang Baling, Subayang Water Station.
On Wednesday morning, Klub Oase, a community of homeschooled children, participated in the Panda Mobile Virtual Class. Thirty children aged 7-11 were staring at laptop screens in their homes. However, they were all interconnected in the Zoom app. They were busy listening to some clues about the characteristics of umbrella animals delivered by Ms. Hanna Astaranti from WWF-Indonesia's Panda Mobile team (01/07).
The material presented by the Panda Mobile team was not only the introduction of umbrella animals, participants were invited to get to know the biodiversity in Indonesia further. Kak Sani Firmansyah took the children from Club OASE to visit one of WWF-Indonesia's work sites, Subayang Water Station in Riau Province. The first location visited before getting to the water station was Tanjung Belit Village. A village directly adjacent to Bukit Rimbang, Bukit Baling. The location is on the banks of the Subayang River. For the community, the river is a means of transportation to villages around Bukit Rimbang Baling.
The journey to the destination is taken by piyau (boat). Piyau can be rented from the local community to travel along the Subayang River to villages in the interior. Various community activities can be seen together, some are fishing, transporting durian crops using piyau, and other people who use piyau to get to the next village. After a virtual journey using piyau, the Panda Mobile Virtual Class participants arrived at the water field station. There, participants from Club OASE met with Mr. Ucok and Mr. Kus. They served as the Sumatran Tiger survey and monitoring team that would accompany them on their adventure.
The Subayang Water Station visited is a biodiversity research site, education and training center for conservation and natural resources. Not only that, the water station is used as a center for the development of ecotourism carried out by the surrounding community, as an information center to support the protection of Bukit Rimbang Baling. The researchers there are mostly young people who live in villages around the Subayang River. The young spirit of these researchers is accompanied by a burning passion to protect biodiversity in Rimbang Baling. Before entering the forest, the researchers are given training at the Subayang Field Station education center.
After touring the water station, by walking through the forest virtually, Panda Mobile participants can see footage and photos of Sumatran tigers caught in camera traps. The trip continued to Batu Dinding waterfall. The waterfall is one of the springs used by animals in the forest and utilized by the community around Subayang Village. In a virtual class with Panda Mobile, many places can be explored together. This also received a positive response from one of the parents who are members of the OASE Homeschooling Club.
"The form of activity is good, interactive and there is a virtual tour. So the children can imagine being in the original habitat of the animals without disturbing them," said Seni, a parent of Ferdinand Lintang.