Indonesian Yuyun Ismawati has been awarded the 2009 Goldman Environment Prize for her work in the poorest communities of Bali. She gave up her job as an environmental engineer to improve sanitation and reduce environmental hazards.

Ismawati started helping some of Indonesia's worst slums with their waste problems about a decade ago, while working as a consulting engineer. The government only collects about a third of the solid waste produced in the country, mostly from high income areas. Many poor people live as scavengers among the rubbish, collecting food scraps to sell to pig farms. Yuyun and her organization, Yayasan Bali Fokus (Bali Fokus Foundation), negotiated with the hotels and the pig farmers, and persuaded the hotels to provide about 200 jobs to recycle much of the waste.

Yuyun also helped develop SANIMAS, community-based sanitation projects for poverty-stricken areas which can be easily replicated. The concept has been introduced in India, Zambia and the Philippines.

The Goldman Environment Prize is awarded annually to honour grassroots environmentalists.

Web sites: Goldman Environment Prize 2009; Yayasan Bali Fokus; SANIMAS

Source: Zulima Palacio, Voice of America, 13 May 2009

Tags: ecological sanitation, solid waste management, south asia