ENGAGING CONSERVATION ACROSS DIFFERENCE: COMMUNITIES, SCIENCE & CUSTOMARY RIGHTS IN INDONESIA

MEWUJUDKAN KONSERVASI LINTAS PERBEDAAN: KOMUNITAS, ILMU & HAK ADAT DI INDONESIA

A WORKSHOP PRESENTED BY: UNIVERSITAS NASIONAL & THE AMERICAN INDONESIAN EXCHANGE FOUNDATION

LOKAKARYA DISELEGGARAKAN OLEH: UNIVERSITAS NASIONAL & AMERICAN INDONESIAN EXCHANGE FOUNDATION

Indonesia is home to some of the world’s largest and most imperiled biodiversity areas. Across both marine and terrestrial landscapes, these areas face myriad threats, most prominently related to large-scale commercial activities and land use change. Such threats have resulted in Indonesia exhibiting the world’s highest increase in deforestation and being listed as one of the top ten emitters of greenhouse gases.

Importantly, these areas also often house substantial populations of local and indigenous communities. While the Indonesian government has designated nearly 600 terrestrial and marine protected areas, science and scholarship continue to show the limitations of protected areas as effective and equitable conservation tools. Communities are increasingly recognized as a necessary and important part of conservation. Learning from earlier community-based approaches, today conservation can be undertaken through partnerships among multi-lateral organizations, NGOs, national governments, and local communities. Whether aimed at marine resource management, forest carbon sequestration, or sustainable green development, these partnerships often use language recognizing communities as critical stakeholders in their efforts. Examples of this can be seen in the growing emphasis on landscape-scale approaches, multi-stakeholder engagement processes, and social safeguard systems aimed at protecting community participation and rights.

Despite these advances, however, critical questions remain concerning how conservation and development agendas affect local communities, as well as what recognizing and respecting local cultures, customary management systems, and land rights actually entails. For many places in Indonesia, the question becomes not simply how conservation science and practice can effectively be translated to and for local communities, but if and how local communities – and their myriad histories, perceptions, values, knowledges, and practices – can be appropriately recognized and included in conservation science and practice.

This event, spearheaded by a collective of Fulbright scholars, aims to create a conversation around these questions and consider how to navigate the diverse challenges that arise among conservation, communities, and customary rights across different cases and landscapes in Indonesia. Building partnerships is the fundamental goal of the Fulbright program, and it is in that spirit that this workshop seeks to foster multilateral relationships among scientists, practitioners, and community members, as well as advance the discussion of how to collaboratively shape conservation programs in Indonesia.

LATAR BELAKANG

Indonesia adalah rumah bagi keanekaragaman hayati dunia tetapi juga merupakan wilayah yang sangat rawan terhadap ancaman kepunahannya. Wilayah Indonesia juga penting karena merupakan tempat tinggal beragam masyarakat penduduk aseli. Terlepas apakah itu untuk tujuan manajemen sumberdaya maritime, penyerapan karbon hutan ataupun pembangunan berkelanjutan, konservasi dapat dapat dilakukan melalui kemitraan antara organisasi multi-lateral, NGOs, pemerintah dan masyarakat lokal.

Namun, pertanyaan kritis yang masih tersisa yaitu bagaimana konservasi dan pembangunan berpengaruh kepada masyarakat dan budaya setempat, system manajemen adat dan hak atas tanah ulayat diakui. Pertanyaan-pertanyaan ini tidak hanya berpengaruh terhadap bagaimana ilmu dan praktek konservasi dapat diterjemahkan untuk masyarakat lokal, tetapi yang lebih penting lagi adalah bagaimana riwayat, persepsi, nilai, pengetahuan dan praktek pada masyarakat lokal dapat dengan tepat diketahui dan diakui dalam ilmu dan praktek konservasi.

Acara ini akan mendiskusikan pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut, termasuk langkah-langkah untuk menghadapi beragam tantangan upaya konservasi yang muncul di masyarakat, hak-hak adat di berbagai kondisi lanskap di wilayah Indonesia. Diskusi ini mencoba membangun percepatan hubungan multilateral antara ilmuwan, praktisi, dan anggota masyarakat, serta mengedepankan pembicaraan tentang bagaimana menyusun program konservasi secara kolaboratif di Indonesia.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Increase awareness about the importance of incorporating multiple stakeholders into conservation planning, execution, and dissemination
2. Promote discussion about bridging communities, scales, and values across conservation landscapes
3. Bring together scientists and practitioners from the U.S. and Indonesia to build international partnerships and increase inclusivity in science and conservation

TUJUAN:

1. Meningkatkan kesadaran akan pentingnya memasukkan berbagai pemangku kepentingan dalam konservasi
2. Mendiskusikan bagaimana menjembatani masyarakat, pemikiran, dan nilai dalam kondisi lanskap kawasan konservasi yang berbeda di Indonesia.
3. Membangun kemitraan internasional dan meningkatkan inklusivitas keilmuan dan konservasi