Unequal Scenes

Luxury hotels inside a huge gated community in Nusa Dua, which controls access to the beach and the surrounding amenities.

Bali, known as the "Island of the Gods," is a paradisiac destination celebrated for its enchanting landscapes, vibrant arts scene, and the warmth of its people. However, beneath this alluring facade, the island grapples with pervasive issues of inequality, cultural subsummation, and environmental challenges - exacerbated by its booming tourism industry and rapid development.

Villas, hotels, and businesses have steadily replaced rice fields in the quest to service the island's massive reliance on tourism. In 2019, over 6 million foreign tourists visited the island.

At the heart of this inequality is a stark contrast between urban and rural communities. The tourism industry, being the principal driver of Bali's economy, is highly concentrated in urban and coastal areas such as Denpasar, Kuta, and Ubud. These areas are vibrant with well-developed infrastructure, international hotels, restaurants, and a variety of tourism services. Conversely, rural areas, especially those in the island's interior, are significantly less developed.

This uneven development and resource allocation is often accompanied by the dispossession of local communities from their lands, particularly in coastal regions where land is acquired for tourism development. As land is a primary asset for the Balinese, this dispossession accelerates income disparity, affecting the livelihood of the indigenous people and exacerbating poverty levels.

The island's population jumped more than 70% from 1980 to 2020, to 4.3 million people, according to government census data. Tourism growth has been even more explosive: Less than 140,000 foreign visitors came to the island in 1980. By 2019, there were more than 6.2 million foreign and 10.5 million domestic tourists*. An increase in incidents involving tourists overstaying their visas, breaking taboos, breaking laws, and disrespecting sacred sites has roiled the island since tourism has roared back post-pandemic.

Luxury hotels near Ubud are carefully designed to harmonize with the surrounding rice fields and landscape, but major problems of water usage and economic benefits from such projects remain.

Half-finished developments dot the island, this one in Uluwatu.

Development and speculation abounds in hidden copses of trees, ravines and farmland far from the dense bustle of the road network and prying eyes in Bali.

Tourism is an integral part of Balinese culture and economy providing 481,000 direct jobs, equating to 25% of the work force and supporting a further 55% thereby contributing 30% of Bali’s GDP. While many Balinese have benefited from tourism, it is estimated that 85% of the tourism economy is in the hands of non-Balinese, who may not be directly affected by tourism’s negative impacts, including the declining quality and quantity of water. It is within this socio-economic and political context that tourism accounts for 65% of water consumption*.

A tropical, volcanic island, Bali relies on water from three main sources: crater lakes, rivers and shallow groundwater, and a unique traditional irrigation system, called the "subak," distributes water through a network of canals, dams and tunnels. The subak, made a UNESCO site in 2012, is central to Balinese culture, representing the Balinese Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana"— harmony between people, nature and the spiritual realm.

Bali's 13 million annual visitors demand large quantities of fresh water, requiring greater capacity than the island can distribute.

Bali's uneven water usage mirrors other resort destinations, such as Zanzibar.

Personal swimming pools at a resort in Uluwatu.

Stunning access-controlled luxury beachfront hotels dot the coast, including the Apurva Kempinski, where the G20 meetings were held in 2022.

Rice terraces are the defining characteristic of the Balinese landscape, carefully managed over hundreds of years in a system of water rights and coexistence. This system is steadily being disrupted as more and more development occurs on the island.

Development in the fields near Seminyek.

While Bali does not have the megacities and infrastructure of other parts of the country like Jakarta and Surabaya, for example, economic and environmental inequality still exist. Addressing these issues necessitates a multi-pronged approach of diversifying the island's economy, investing in the development of rural areas, creating policies that safeguard land rights and cultural integrity, and implementing sustainable tourism practices. By doing so, the benefits of tourism and development can be more equitably distributed among the Balinese people, preserving the culture and allure that makes Bali truly an 'Island of the Gods'.

Unfinished development in Uluwatu.

"Parq Ubud", a development marketing itself as the "city of the future" takes shape near Ubud. The development's website bills itself as a "futuristic idea of a place where people with common values and interests come together."

Villas being built amongst the rice fields, Canggu.

Ubud, sunset.

White herons flying over rice fields near Seminyek.

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