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Don't you want to know more about Lake Toba, its mystical story, legend, uniqueness, beauty, people, rich culture, rituals, and many more? Come and visit our majestic lake. You won't regret it.

Finally, after almost a decade of waiting since 2011 (nine years), the United Nations of Education, Social and Cultural Education (UNESCO) has approved Lake Toba (the Toba caldera) to become one of the world's global geopark sites on Tuesday, July 7th, 2020.

Having rejected the Indonesian government proposals twice in 2014 and 2017, UNESCO declared Toba caldera as its global geopark in its 209th plenary session in Paris, French. It was such great news for Batak's community in particular and the rest of Indonesia and the world in general amid the outbreak of the COVID-19. Awesome. Happy to hear it.

What's the correlation, then? It's the new standard starts. The World Health Organization (WHO) has informed that every nation around the globe could initiate the new life starting from the beginning of this July. Why did the organization release the policy? It's merely the economic problems.

People need to continue their lives. One of the ways is by rolling back the economy. If the economy runs, it will run the entire world. People are all homo economy.

Undoubtedly, the approval of Lake Toba, located in North Sumatera, Indonesia, has given a trigger to the economic stimulus to the people around the site and the country through the coming of foreign and domestic tourists or visitors. The money will flow and enliven life there.

I can imagine that there will be tons of thousand happiness, joyfulness, and unforgettable memories displayed in the faces of the local people and all of the visitors. I can't wait for the chance to visit the beautiful lake and its view.

However, within this new regular pattern, all people must follow the safety protocol released by the WHO, namely keep social and physical distancing, wearing masks in the crowd, washing hands with soap and flowing water, or hand sanitizer. I know it's not comfortable for us. But, we have no other options until the vaccine found. It's for safety reasons, not only for us but also for human beings.

In connection with the approval, the North Tapanuli regent, Nikson Nababan, expressed his gratitude concerning the confirmation. "We would say thank you to the UNESCO for the confirmation. We hope that many people will recognize Lake Toba as a great tourist destination in the globe," he said.

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What's next? All elements must work together. The central government should initiate it by providing the local government with any necessary needs related to the development of the Lake Toba so that the people living in the area can boost their economic life. "Now, it depends on the central government on how to help us boost the local human capital, to arrange the setting of the site, and to improve all the facilities here so that the people's economy will enhance," he added.

Meanwhile, the social and cultural activist, Thomson Hutasoit, claimed that the confirmation was good news amid the cancelation of the 2020 Lake Toba Festival which should be conducted from 6-9 July. He said that the management of UNESCO Global Geopark over Lake Toba tourism should be based on an ecological view, which was known as ecotourism.

"The best practices of ecotourism should be the priority connected to Toba caldera global geopark. After that, the next step can be continued to establish the geopark governance," he added.

He also expected that under the UNESCO standards, the management of the Toba caldera would not overlap, especially for those with ecological views on biodiversity, geodiversity, and culture diversity.

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Besides that, he also reminded that the ecological insights with three patterns of diversity from UNESCO are closely related to the rights of indigenous peoples recognized by the United Nations based on the June 2006 resolution.

So, all efforts made to gain recognition from UNESCO have been fruitful. It's time to work even harder to keep the trust given. We can do it together.

Welcome, Lake Toba!