DENPASAR, Bali (BPN) – The Bali Tourism Office has awarded Green Tourism Village (DWH) certificates to 8 tourism villages and announced the winners of the Net Zero design competition in four sectors: Tourism, Traditional Landscape, Housing, and Imaginative.
Dr. Ir. Deddy Kurniawan Halim, MM, Ph.D., the principal of the DeWiKu application, stated that the certification assessment was based on the DeWiKu v. 1.0 rating tools.
The application, developed in 2019, has been enhanced to serve as a measurement tool for green tourism villages and a digital marketing platform for green homestays and attractions in tourism villages and is available for download on both Android and iOS platforms.
“Among the 30 green tourism villages, the eight villages with the highest scores are: Taro, Penglipuran, Blimbingsari, Jasri, Pinge, Munduk, Medewi, and Bongan,” said DK Halim during the launch of the Net Zero Energy Building Catalog by the World Resource Institute (WRI) at the Bali Tourism Office on Thursday (20 June).
DK Halim explained that the certification process begins with an independent assessment that conducted online by the tourism villages, followed by on-site verification by DeWiKu assessors, and a field assessment, which includes evaluation of environmental management in three areas: Energy, Water, and Waste.
The other assessment component involves Carbon Offset analysis by looking at the ratio between Green Space to Built-Up Area, where tourism villages must be able to maintain the proportion of built-up area at a maximum of 30%, which is assumed to still be able to neutralise the emissions produced in tourism villages.
Regarding the Net Zero program, he mentioned that emissions from tourism villages are relatively low, as the average household consumes only 900 kVA of electricity, with carbon emissions offset by vegetation and trees, including forested areas within the villages.
Actual emissions largely originate from power plants like Celukan Bawang or Paiton supplying electricity to Bali.
“Other sources of emissions include traditional kitchens (paon) that still use woods or branches, though the quantity is insignificant, while open burning of waste in tourism villages is rare to non-existent, with organic waste generally composted and plastics or residues collected at designated waste disposal sites (TPS),” he elaborated.
DK Halim emphasized that the assessment and certification process prioritizes fairness and objectivity based on factual data, aiming for the Green Village Tourism Certification to become a national program.
“We hope that through DeWiKu and its DWH certification program, we can contribute to the development of tourism villages in Bali, and Indonesia in general, towards achieving sustainable tourism, as our common goal,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Tjok Bagus Pemayun, A.Par., M.M., Head of the Bali Tourism Office, expressed strong support for the initiatives led by WRI in the context of Net Zero Emission (NZE), which are in line with the Bali Tourism Office’s program to promote environmentally friendly green tourism villages that contribute to preserving natural resources, including renewable energy, amidst climate change.
He noted that tourism in Indonesia, particularly in Bali, is increasingly focusing on rural tourism due to urban saturation and over-tourism, prompting the Tourism Office to prioritize the sustainable development of Tourism Villages amid a shift in tourist patterns toward rural areas to experience authentic Balinese culture and nature.
“We hope that this catalog can serve as a reference for government programs, both at the central and regional levels, in developing green tourism in Indonesia. We invite the community, including tourism village communities, to participate in preserving the environment and sustainable development in their respective regions,” he closed.
