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On Bali, an island in Indonesia, South-East Asia, over two
million visitors a year come to enjoy the natural beauty and
rich history of the island. Bali is shaped like a lemon and
it is only small. It is 144 kms long and 80 kms wide, which
is about half the size of Wales.
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Chris Stowers/Panos Pictures |
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You
can see that Bali's small size means that the numbers of visitors
can put great pressure on the island's environment.
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Being a hot, humid place near the equator, visitors to Bali
need water. In their hotel, tourists want showers, baths and
a swimming pool nearby to keep cool. Many also want clean
sheets and towels every day. One five star hotel room can
use about 500 litres of water per day! How many baths would
you have to take to use that amount of water?
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Simon Scoones/Worldaware |
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Swimming pool
in a Bali Hotel
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But tourists aren't the only people who need lots of
water. Bali's farmers also need a regular supply of
water to grow rice, the main food crop on the island.
To keep tourists happy, the water supply to hotels is
given top priority, which means that some farmers lose
out.
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Bali is a tropical place so surely there is plenty of
rain that ends up in the soil and rocks. Why can't they
just pump up more of this underground water?
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 It's
not that easy. The underlying rocks contain salts. When
people pump up water from deeper underground, some of
these salts mix with the fresh water. This can make
the water too salty for both crops and people. It would
be like drinking sea-water!
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Along the coast, another precious part of Bali's natural
environment is under threat. ' its coral reefs. Not
only are they beautiful for visitors, but coral reefs
help protect Bali's coast from big storm waves and are
home to thousands of types of fish and sea creatures
like crabs and turtles.
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Fred Bavendam/Still Pictures |
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Coral reefs are
home to thousands of sea creatures.
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No. Even
though coral reefs look like plants, many people are surprised
that corals are actually animals called polyps. They are about
the size of a pencil rubber and are protected by a hard shell.
Thousands of polyps join together to make up one coral structure.
So long as the water is warm and clear, polyps will grow.
When a coral polyp dies, the hard shell remains, and young
polyps build their home on top of the old shells. This way,
the coral reef gradually grows in size.
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Rafel Al Ma'ary/Still Pictures |
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What
gives a coral reef all those amazing colours?
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Jack:
The colours come from the algae
that live on the coral polyps. The algae also provide
food for the polyps, and they live off the polyps' body
fluid and minerals in return.
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Although they are very beautiful, coral reefs are also
very delicate. Some types of coral will die just from
someone touching them. Like in other tropical parts
of the world, tourists are helping to destroy the very
beauty that they've come to see.
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Lynn Funkhouser/Still Pictures |
For some of Bali's
coral reefs, what was once a tropical underwater paradise
is being turned into a dull wasteland.
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Tourists can damage life on a coral reef in many ways. The
symbols below give a clue to some of the damage caused by
tourism. Can you work out what each one represents? Click
on each one to find the answer:
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