Exploring the relationship between plural values of nature, human well‐being, and conservation and development intervention: Why it matters and how to do it?

Globally, land and seascapes across the bioculturally diverse tropics are in transition. Impacted by the demands of distant consumers, the processes of global environmental change and numerous interventions seeking climate, conservation and development goals, these transitions have the potential to impact the relationships and plurality of values held between people and place. This paper is a Synthesis of seven empirical studies within the Special Feature (SF): ‘What is lost in transition? Capturing the impacts of conservation and development interventions on relational values and human wellbeing in the tropics’. Through two Open Forum workshops, and critical review, contributing authors explored emergent properties across the papers of the SF. Six core themes were identified and are subsumed within broad categories of: (i) the problem of reconciling scale and complexity, (ii) key challenges to be overcome for more plural understanding of social dimensions of landscape change and (iii) ways forward: the potential of an environmental justice framework, and a practical overview of methods available to do so. The Synthesis interprets disparate fields and complex academic work on relational values, human well-being and de-colonial approaches in impact appraisal. It offers a practical and actionable catalogue of methods for plural valuation in the field, and reflects on their combinations, strengths and weaknesses. The research contribution is policy relevant because it builds the case for why a more plural approach in intervention design and evaluation is essential for achieving more just and sustainable futures, and highlights some of the key actions points deemed necessary to achieve such a transition to conventional practice

Communities at the Crossroads: Forest or large-scale monoculture in Kalimantan, Indonesia

The forests of Indonesia are home to globally important biodiversity, perform many ecosystem services on the regional scale and are a source of livelihoods for thousands of local communities, and at the heart of culture and traditional knowledge systems. The forest has also become a battleground where powerful actors of land use change meet with communities who struggle to restore traditional communal rights over natural resources and land. By and large in this process, the forest is disappearing, mostly replaced by large scale agro-development projects. Inspired by the desire to contribute to better protection of forest, local culture and traditional knowledge systems, this thesis is aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of what happens when powerful corporations lay claim to natural resources inhabited by indigenous people, which is a worldwide phenomenon

Communities at the Crossroads: Forest or large-scale monoculture in Kalimantan, Indonesia

The forests of Indonesia are home to globally important biodiversity, a source of livelihoods for thousands of local communities, and at the heart of culture and traditional knowledge systems. The forest has also become a battleground where powerful actors meet with communities who struggle to restore traditional communal rights over natural resources and land. This thesis is aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of what happens when powerful corporations lay claim to natural resources inhabited by indigenous people, which is a worldwide phenomenon. The thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides the introduction, starts with a general introduction to the Indonesia's forest management, the timeline of events that significantly affected the Indonesia's forest cover, the research area in Kalimantan and its Iban inhabitants, including their relationships with nature. Chapter 2 presents a more extended introduction to the regional and local issues, and focus on comparing the effectiveness of two approaches Problems-Solving and Appreciative Inquiry. Chapter 3 follows with an investigation of the deforestation phenomenon, based on remote sensing, combined with an ethnographic study. This chapter also shows that some forest areas were preserved by the local communities. Chapter 4 investigates how and why these communities have done so. In Chapter 5, the analysis was broadened to also include communities who had accepted the oil palm to allow comparison. Chapter 6 moves the level of attention from the individual responses up to the village level. Chapter 7 supplies general conclusions on what happens when powerful corporations lay claim to natural resources inhabited by indigenous people. We also discuss our findings in relation to decentralization, governance, and landscape approaches, and present our reflections of the research methodologies used in this thesis, referring to their position on the dimension between purely inductive and purely deductive approaches

Forest or oil palm plantation? Interpretation of local responses to the oil palm promises in Kalimantan, Indonesia

Contains fulltext : 219565.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)12 p

Keanekaragaman Hayati - Pengenalan Materi untuk Pengembangan Kurikulum Merdeka dan Muatan Lokal Sekolah Dasar dan Sekolah Menengah Pertama di Kabupaten Kapuas Hulu

Pentingnya keanekaragaman hayati dan fungsi ekosistem sudah diketahui secara umum, tetapi pemahaman maknanya dan penerapan tindakan peduli lingkungan masih perlu ditingkatkan. Hal ini juga disadari oleh Dinas Pendidikan dan para guru di Kabupaten Kapuas Hulu, yang disampaikan antara lain dalam serangkaian Lokakarya Multipihak Pengelolaan Daerah Tangkapan Air Danau Sentarum (DTA-DS) di Putussibau. Sejalan dengan hal tersebut, para tetua adat juga mengemukakan mengenai pentingnya penyampaian kearifan lokal dan tradisi kepada anak-anak dan pemuda. Untuk itu, kami menulis buku panduan ini dengan tujuan agar dimanfaatkan sebagai bahan penyusunan materi belajar mengajar di sekolah-sekolah. Bahasa, penjelasan dan contoh yang digunakan merupakan perpaduan dari pengetahuan ilmiah dan lokal

The power of possibility in landscape governance: Multiple lives of participatory action research in Kajang, Sulawesi

In 2016, Indigenous communities began to gain access to land rights in Indonesia’s vast state forests. The Kajang community of Sulawesi was the first to achieve such legal land status. Kajang also gained attention for its use of PAR to gain consensus across stakeholder groups in securing recognition. The jointly produced local regulation became symbolic for its ability to convene activists and local government, with Kajang Indigenous leaders at the center. This chapter revisits this process and describes two subsequent PAR initiatives aiming to support landscape governance and empower Kajang institutions. The research teams were directly involved in facilitating PAR processes. This team generated data through reflective discussions with each of the main stakeholder groups. Findings show that PAR continued to resonate beyond formal regulatory initiatives, translating into opportunities for pursuing sustainable landscapes. Also critically explored are contradictions and unintended consequences of normative approaches, especially implications for marginalized groups with limited access to land. The chapter thus points to design elements that change over the course of PAR and suggests some grounding principles for charting a course toward sustainable landscapes. Across PAR’s multiple lives described here, stakeholders continue to engage with PAR for its power of possibility

Perspectives on Landscape Approaches in Indonesian Policies

Indonesian national development planning is laid out in five-year planning documents. These documents form the points of reference for implementation. The current plan (2020 – 2024) stipulates environmentally friendly economic development with the intention of integrating conservation and economic development; two aims frequently deemed contradictory (O’Connor et al. 2020). Sustainable development aims to ensure synergy and optimize the achievement of often conflicting economic, social, and environmental objectives. The landscape approach focuses on means and processes for managing the complexities and dynamics of related biophysical, social and policy elements in overcoming trade-offs in the utilization of natural resources and achieving environmentally friendly development. Its overall aim is sustainable landscape management