ABSTRACT
The island of Gili Trawangan, Indonesia, is a primarily a dive and party island that has a large percentage of Western ownership and residents. For many years, Gili Trawangan was primarily underdeveloped; however, in the span of the last six years (from 2004 onwards) the selling of land to Westerners and subsequent rapid development has occurred, putting Gili Trawangan in the growth stage of the life cycle. The community that comprises mostly Westerners and local Indonesians has become increasingly concerned with the state of the environment on the island as development and tourism has led to the degradation of coral reefs, erosion of the beach and a large amount of rubbish littering the island. It is through the leadership of one dive shop that the island has attempted to move the sustainability agenda forward. An eco-trust was developed to deal mostly with illegal fishing around the island; this has quickly led over the years to the attempt to tackle other sustainability issues. This chapter identifies the innovative initiatives employed on Gili Trawangan to deal with overcoming the challenges to sustainability on the island.
