Wayan Wardika used to see “clouds of fireflies” as a child growing up among the rice fields of Bali, Indonesia. But 40 years later, he realized that the fireflies in his village had all but disappeared.
Fireflies in Southeast Asia are vanishing due to habitat loss, light pollution, pesticide use, and climate change—and the same is happening in rapidly developing Bali.
Which is a loss for us all, as fireflies are both ecologically and culturally significant.
In 2020, Wayan decided to bring the fireflies back, by launching Indonesia’s only firefly conservation initiative called Bring Back the Light. He and his small team of scientists focuses on breeding fireflies to return to the wild.
But through this work, Wayan has also gathered the importance of habitat protection – only by doing so will firefly numbers be able to grow sustainably. He is now focused on encouraging neighboring farmers to ditch the chemicals and go organic, in order to boost firefly numbers.