The Swiss Foundation PanEco (1) has been involved in various environment protection projects in the northern Sumatran province of Aceh since 1973. The foundation has an excellent network of contacts, which it managed to maintain despite the war. PanEco's representative on the ground works there hand in hand with YEL, its local partner organisation. In the aftermath of the catastrophic tsunami PanEco is now consciously concentrating on operations located away from the main axes of the international aid agencies.

Olivier Fiechter holds together the threads of the ETH project. large

Building bridges

The estimated toll of the catastrophe in Indonesia now stands at 164,200 deaths, 12,132 injured, 700,000 people without shelter and between 35,000 and 50,000 children who have lost their parents. "So much has to be done, to relieve needs and help survivors out of the trough of despondency," says Olivier Fiechter from ETH's house administration. He convinced others at ETH of his idea to concretize two or three medium-term projects in the province of Aceh; ETH President Olaf Kübler, other professors, such as Dietmar Eberle, apprentices, undergraduate and graduate students and administrative staff. Olivier Fiechter: "We want to build bridges joining ETH's first, urgently needed aid efforts (cf. ETH Life, 10th January) and long-term operations–for example, with NADEL–which also entails scientific expertise." Because in the end all projects directed at reconstruction served to cope with conflict.

For reconstruction PanEco plans a regional development project for Aceh covering the areas of environment, society and the economy. In co-operation with the foundation and other partners, such as DEZA, ETH has initiated two areas of the project, "Forests for People" and "Green Schools".

"Forests for People"

The increasing pressure from rising populations and poverty lead to greater encroachment on the ecological system of Gunung Leuser–one of the most important rain forest preservation areas of South East Asia. The tsunami has exacerbated the already precarious situation. The implementation of two or three trial projects is foreseen in this region in collaboration with Swiss partners and the expertise at their disposal. The goal is to preserve the 20,000-square kilometre rain forest by putting it under protection and in order to create a "buffer zone". The agro-forestry project includes the development of a buffer zone concept that will promote the use of adapted technologies by small and medium-sized enterprises in the areas of agriculture, eco-tourism and small industries as an alternative to felling the rain forest.

In Banda Aceh, for example, the secondary school (picture) is totally destroyed. This is why ETH is helping to build new schools in the province of Aceh. large

"Green Schools"

The villages in Aceh lie in the catchment area of the Gunung Leuser National Park and could therefore play an important part in its preservation, states PanEco, convincingly. For this reason two projects, in which ETH is participating, are devoted to education and the realisation of a modern school that measures up to cultural criteria and well as the principle of sustainability both in its actual construction and in the curriculum.

This means, for instance, that future students of architecture will have the benefit of learning about new building materials, which the native population produces from the waste products of coconuts, such as coconut fibre, peat or glue. These building materials–sustainable and earthquake resistant–have to be tested, in some cases further developed, and then produced. Finally, the principle of sustainable development is to be introduced on political, social, economical and ecological levels and integrated into the curriculum of all public schools.

Helping others to help themselves

Under the motto of "Helping others to help themselves" ETH Zurich has not merely collected money but also enlisted the support of scientists to use their experience in helping on the projects. Undergraduate and graduate students are in the process of enumerating exactly what form the help should take. Olivier Fiechter also has promises of support from SV and AMIV (the student's and academic engineer's associations, respectively). The project is being publicised in the institutes and central departments and everyone is being encouraged to create their own collection object and actively participate. Fiechter also hopes that the process will help to create a united feeling amongst all people at ETH.

One result is certain: 150,000 are to be collected at ETH–around a fifth of what will probably be needed to realise the project–that, following an application from ETH will be completed with the remaining four-fifths by the Glückskette (a Swiss charity). "That means a sum with which we could do something really substantial," says the initiator who is also managing the project. Philipp Rütsche of the ETH Web Office is helping to create the website for the project (2), whichwill be on-line in about two weeks' time and kept updated by Helena Salzmann (House Administration). Finally, Sigrid Schönherr (D-BAUG) will be taking care of the project administration and Urs Spiess (Direction Finances and Controlling) will look after the financial side of things. It looks as though the project will also be able to count on the support of two emeritus professors, who will contribute their many years of experience.

Olivier Fiechter is looking forward to receiving your suggestions or queries per mail at: olivier.fiechter@ba.ethz.ch. And he assures us that "the donations won't trickle away via a multitude of channels but flow directly into the projects we are personally responsible for".