By: Melly Dinarwati (Volunteer Panda Mobile)

The West Java Provincial Environment Office held a commemoration of World Environment Day at the West Java Province level on Monday (17/07) at Gedung Sate, Bandung. On the occasion, the Governor of West Java Province, Ahmad Heryawan, said that the purpose of the commemoration was to invite all stakeholders to play an active role in environmental protection and management. "We invite the entire community, especially stakeholders, to participate in preserving the earth, as well as changing the mindset of stakeholders to become an environmentally cultured society," he explained. "The theme of this year's commemoration is "One with Nature". We invite the community to return to nature in carrying out all activities," continued Ahmad Heryawan.

The students who visited the Panda Mobile truck were also invited to watch a movie about the water conditions in Rimbang Baling, Riau. "Rimbang Baling is currently experiencing land use change, industrial waste pollution, mining and other activities so that the clean water used for daily life there is limited," said Dwi Widya, one of Panda Mobile's volunteers. "Through the freshwater program in Rimbang Baling, WWF-Indonesia wants to invite all of you to be able to save in using clean water, because currently on this Earth (only) 1% of clean water is available for consumption, where the remaining 2% (is) ice located in the North and South Poles, and 97% (is) sea water," Dwi added.

Visitors to the Panda Mobile truck also had the opportunity to try the water education laboratory facility. They received information on how to determine the quality of water in the surrounding environment. "Here we have prepared some simple equipment to find out more about water quality, such as a microscope to determine the microbial content contained in water, then there is a pH meter and litmus paper to determine the degree of acidity of water," said Osha, volunteer Panda Mobile.

"What if we want to know the quality of the water around us, but don't have equipment like this?" asked Nabila, a student of SMPN 39 Bandung. "It's easy banget, we can do three simple things, including seeing if the water is colored, smells and tastes. If any of these are present in the water then the water should not be consumed," replied Osha.

"Thank you to Panda Mobile WWF-Indonesia for educating about nature conservation efforts and water research. Hopefully, the education carried out today can be more widespread to reach remote areas of West Java," said Deni, Sub Division of Partnership of the West Java Provincial Environmental Agency.