Article written by: Kaoem Telapak
on October 21, 2025
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Nasihin’s Story in Restoring Way Seputih River Ecosystem with YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih

To initiate a positive change for the environment, two attributes that one person should possess are ‘resolve’ and ‘goodwill.’ After all, these two traits are the driving forces behind M. Nasihin, Kaoem Telapak member in Lampung, in getting himself involved in the restoration and preservation of the Way Seputih River.

Born in Pekandangan Village, Pubian Sub-District, Central Lampung Regency, Nasihin is both a Farmer and the Villager Chief in his homeland.

Furthermore, he is also the Head of River Preservation Community Foundation (YKPS) Team 10 Way Seputih, a local organization who plays an important role in the restoration and preservation of the Way Seputih River, one of the lengthiest rivers in Lampung at 190 km.

On October 11, 2025, Nasihin was involved in Team 10’s 10th anniversary event with the theme, “Cross-Party Synergy to Empower Forest and Aquatic Ecosystems in Way Seputih Watershed (DAS).”

This particular event was a follow-up to the Launching of Declaration for Preservation of Way Seputih Watershed on October 10, 2024, an event that a delegation of Kaoem Telapak participated in, about the commitment to restore and preserve the Way Seputih River by multiple stakeholders, such as the local communities, government, non-government organizations, education institutions, and business owners.

On the 10th anniversary of the YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih, the local villagers and numerous stakeholders in Pekandangan Village and other regions held a variety of activities like distributing 10,000 juvenile fishes to the river, planting 5,000 tree seeds, and restoring the Way Penandingan River in Margajaya, Central Lampung, along with the induction of Team 10’s new members.

Regarding the Team 10 members, Nasihin said, “Currently, we have 37 youth members, two of which are women.”

“Our name may be Team 10, but we have more than 10 members now and still counting. As for the history, it’s a long story which reminds of the Way Seputih River that it was once… back when the situation was much more different than it is now,” he continued.

The foundation of YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih

Before the foundation of YKPS Team 10, the Way Seputih River around Pekandangan Village suffered a very serious environmental crisis, due to the exploitations that both the local villagers and outsiders did.

Nasihin told a story that in 2010, illegal loggings reached a new low around the river which frequently caused erosion, followed by the unhealthy methods of fishing that weren’t environmentally friendly, such as electrocutting and poisoning, which almost caused the extinction of the fish populations in the river such as Tawes, Nile tilapia, Jelawat, dan Red-Eye.

To make matters worse, Pekandangan Village residents used to pollute the Way Seputih River by littering and urinating in the river.

Nasihin added, “In 2012, Pekandangan Village was infamous for being the ‘longest toilet in the world.’ This was clearly a negative nickname for the local residents and showed a serious issue concerning the river.”

During that period, Nasihin went to high school and college in Bandar Lampung. Then, from 2013 – 2015, he also lived in Kaoem Telapak office in Lampung (now a Metro media office) and communicated with numerous other Kaoem Telapak members in Lampung.

Once he finished his college, Nasihin returned to Pekandangan Village in 2015 and discussed with a fellow Kaoem Telapak member, Jakariya, to gather at least 10 youths and form an organization that would be able to restore the Way Seputih River.

Nasihin explained, “We wanted to find and recruit 10 youths. No more, no less. What mattered most was that they had the same resolve and goodwill to make positive changes for Way Seputih River, as we both wished.”

“After we did exactly that, we eventually founded the organization on October 10, 2015. That, is the origin of the YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih – founded on October 10, and initiated by 10 youths.”

Granulated arenga palm sugar, one of the signature products of Pekandangan Village, whose raw materials are sourced from arenga palm trees planted as part of reforestation efforts along the banks of the Way Seputih River and in residential areas. Photo by M. Nasihin.

Team 10’s effort to restore Way Seputih River

After the foundation of the YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih, Nasihin and the youths began to perform a variety of activities every two months like collecting juvenile fishes to distribute across the Way Seputih River and planting tree seeds in several locations around the river and the village that require forestation.

The tree seeds they collected were donations from a number of parties that had partnership with the team, including Mesuji Sekampung Region Great Hall (BBWS MS), Jasa Tirta 2 State Enterprise (BUMN), and Lampung Development Planning Board (BAPPEDA), consisting of trees whose harvest would yield raw ingredients that the Pekandangan Village residents could process sustainably to support the local economy.

Nasihin explained, “We planted seeds for trees like palm tree, bamboo with bamboo shoots, avocado tree, bitter been tree (Petai), and blackbead tree (Jengkol).”

“Speaking of the palm tree, Pekandangan is famous for its palm sugar. By planting the palm trees, we can harvest the raw ingredients to produce our signature palm sugar products,” he continued.

Team 10 also held a monthly meeting with our members to deepen our social relationship and plan out other agenda, including how to raise awareness to the local residents to care for Way Seputih River and preserve it by advising them to not litter the river or urinate there.

Then, in 2018, during the time a fellow Kaoem Telapak member, Ade Ma’mun became the Villager Chief, Nasihin and the other residents persuaded Ade to prepare a budget for the village, so that every house could build their own toilet.

Their effort paid off: Since then, every house in Pekandangan Village owned their own toilet, which translated to a drastic reduction to the number of residents who urinated in the river to this day.

Of course, the YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih also advised the Pekandangan Village residents to not cut off trees or conduct fishing illegally.

“If it’s not us, then who will protect our river?” Nasihin asked.

Facing violation case in Way Seputih River

Team 10 frequently advocate the Pekandangan Village residents to protect the Way Seputih River. Unfortunately, the same thing wasn’t implemented by the outsiders yet.

In August 2025, the YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih discovered four people from the neighboring village electrocuted the fishes in the river. They managed to apprehend the culprits and seized the electrocution device, then demanded the culprits to sign a letter of agreement that they won’t do it again and that they would distribute new juvenile fishes.

Regarding the case, Nasihin said, “They split the cost for the new juvenile fishes that we agreed upon, and then we all distributed the fishes together.”

“I left the population restoration to them. What matters is that what they take, they must give back,” he elaborated.

This event made Nasihin realize that he and his YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih friends also had to remind the other villages to participate in preserving the Way Seputih River.

He further said, “We communicated with the other villages and persuaded them to create a similar set of rules and regulations like the ones in Pekandangan Village, so that we can all protect Way Seputih River together.”

Learn and fight from the grassroot level

As Nasihin grew up in Pekandangan Village, he became more and more aware that his environment was not doing well at all. From there, something inside him awakend and drove him to make positive changes for his environment.

Armed with strong resolve and goodwill, Nasihin began his step to restore Way Seputih River by doing the little things, such as not littering the river and reminding the other residents to do exactly that.

From there, Nasihin sought out youths who were willing to voluntarily restore Way Seputih River together. Once they founded the YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih, they then promoted their spirit and resolve to encourage the local residents for the same purpose.

The struggles that the Pekandangan Village residents faced to restore Way Seputih River was ardurous and required lots of efforts and a lot of time. Therefore, Nasihin hoped that their effort for nature conservation would be heard by many people, in order to encourage other people to protect their environment.

Nasihin explained, “We, from the YKPS Team 10 Way Seputih or the local residents aren’t government employees, academics, or people of high status. We are all grassroot citizens who learn new things and seek help from outside parties because we know that that’s what we need to successfully restore Way Seputih River.”

“With that in mind, I hope I can encourage other people to fight together and save our environment, be it for ourselves or for the flora and fauna,” Nasihin hoped.