Environmental Politics and Power in Indonesia

Environmental Politics and Power in Indonesia
Author: Tony Djogo
Publisher: Equinox Publishing (Indonesia)
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2009
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9789793780665

Natural resource degradation in Indonesia has come with high costs - financially, culturally, physically and socially. Much of this can be attributed to inappropriate policies, market forces, power and political interests, inadequate and inappropriate development programs and policies, and also the lack of community involvement in natural resource governance. This book outlines the various political, economic and social forces at work through various historical periods that have led to such disasters and degradation. It also presents an analysis of some of the dominant trends such as increasing privatization, commoditization of resources, and monoculture practices and promotion and their consequences for Indonesia. The effects of these trends on local communities and indigenous peoples have been quite devastating. The book also outlines broad global trends and their consequences for development and the environment in Indonesia. It refrains from providing prescriptive recommendations, but presents an in-depth analysis of the interplay of forces that have led to such disasters and provides, as points of reference, some local initiatives (some that have been time-tested) from which the reader can draw inspiration and hope for reversing the escalating ecological crisis in Indonesia, especially as rights, resource access and livelihoods of local communities are being threatened.

Indonesia and the Politics of Disaster

Indonesia and the Politics of Disaster
Author: Phillip Drake
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2016-07-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1315525127

Named after Lapindo Brantas, a gas exploration company that was drilling at the eruption site, the Lapindo mudflow initially burst in 2006 and continues to flow today, becoming the most expensive disaster in Indonesia’s history. Using this environmental incident in Indonesia as a case study, this book explores representations of disaster in scientific reports, public discourse, literature, and other cultural forms, observing the impact of these portrayals on the ways people both understand and respond to complicated environmental disasters. The author argues that power is expressed and contested in every representation of a disaster and its stakeholders. This book develops terminologies and perspectives that not only probe the social and ecological conditions that make disaster possible but also foster more effective and equitable strategies for adapting to a world fraught with hazards. Interdisciplinary in nature, this book makes a significant contribution to the fields of green cultural studies, disaster studies, science and technology studies and studies of political ecology in Southeast Asia.

The Politics and Economics of Indonesia's Natural Resources

The Politics and Economics of Indonesia's Natural Resources
Author: Budy P Resosudarmo
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9812303049

The challenges in using and managing natural resources in Indonesia are immense. They include ensuring that resource utilisation benefits most Indonesians; optimising the rate of exploitation of mineral reserves, bearing in mind the interests of future generations; and achieving sustainable forest and maritime exploitation. Recent rapid political change under reformasi and decentralisation may seem to have provided opportunities for a long-term development path that embraces both resource sustainability and equity issues. However, they have also generated an environment of political uncertainty, weak law enforcement, increased insecurity of property rights and local conflicts. This situation, together with the post-crisis imperative of restoring socio-economic progress, has created a pressing need to address the challenges of proper utilisation and management of natural resources. This book examines these and related issues from a political, socio-economic, and environmental standpoint. 1st Reprint 2006

Governance, Politics and the Environment

Governance, Politics and the Environment
Author: Maria Francesch-Huidobro
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2008-07-09
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9812308326

In the past two decades, research on environmental issues in East and Southeast Asian countries has mainly focused on existing institutional mechanisms of environmental management, the establishment of new environmental management structures, the introduction of incentives to improve natural capital and foster environmental protection, and the culture of environmental or "green" groups. Virtually no rigorous research has been directed into the nature and significance of the existing relationship between government and civil society in individual country studies, with specific reference to the environmental policy sector, or into how this relationship may be evolving. This book explores this connection in Singapore, and what causes it to evolve, through three case narratives. Its rationale is to address this gap in the literature from a "governance theory" perspective that focuses on state adaptation to the external environment and new forms of coordination and collaboration between government and civil society to tackle new societal problems. The application of the "governance theory" approach to specific case studies is itself a topic that deserves much greater study than what it has so far received.

Environmental Regulation and Compulsory Public Disclosure

Environmental Regulation and Compulsory Public Disclosure
Author: Shakeb Afsah
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2013
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0415657652

This book is a remarkable case study of an environmental policy initiative for a national environmental regulatory system in the information age. In 1995 the Indonesian Ministry of Environment took the bold step to launch an environmental disclosure initiative called the Program for Pollution Control, Evaluation and Rating (PROPER). Under PROPER, environmental performance of companies is mapped into a five-color grading scale - Gold for excellent, Green for very good, Blue for good, Red for non-compliance, and Black for causing environmental damage. These ratings are then publicly disclosed through a formal press conference and posted on the internet. Not only did this simple rating scheme create a major media buzz and enhanced environmental awareness of the general public, but it also unleashed a wide range of performance incentives that showed how markets with environmental information could function in a developing country setting. The authors provide a multidisciplinary analysis of how the PROPER program harnessed the power of public disclosure to abate the problem of industrial pollution. They describe how the program has successfully improved the average environmental compliance rate from close to thrity per cent in 1995 to as high as seventy per cent in 2011. This improvement was driven primarily by information disclosure, which avoided expensive and unpredictable legal enforcement through the court system of Indonesia. The combination of institutional history and detailed economic and analyses sheds light on the role of policy entrepreneurs who laid the foundation for disclosure and transparency, despite the constraints of the Suharto regime. The PROPER program is now internationally recognized and continues to serve as a model for many developing countries.

Local Knowledge Matters

Local Knowledge Matters
Author: Nugroho, Kharisma
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2018-07-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1447348087

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book explores the critical role that local knowledge plays in public policy processes as well as its role in the co-production of policy relevant knowledge with the scientific and professional communities. The authors consider the mechanisms used by local organisations and the constraints and opportunities they face, exploring what the knowledge-to-policy process means, who is involved and how different communities can engage in the policy process. Ten diverse case studies are used from around Indonesia, addressing issues such as forest management, water resources, maritime resource management and financial services. By making extensive use of quotes from the field, the book allows the reader to ‘hear’ the perspectives and beliefs of community members around local knowledge and its effects on individual and community life.

Human–Environment Relations and Politics in Indonesia

Human–Environment Relations and Politics in Indonesia
Author: Kristina Großmann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2021-08-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000435741

This book analyses how people in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, relate to their environment in different political and historical contexts. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic studies of Dayak people, the indigenous inhabitants of Borneo, the book examines how human-environment relationships differ and collide. These "conflicting ecologies" are based on people's relation to the "environment", which encompasses the non-human realm in the widest sense, including forests, rivers, land, natural resources, animals and spirits. The author argues that relationality and power are decisive factors for the understanding and analysis of peoples’ ecologies. The book integrates different theoretical approaches, sheds light upon the environmental transformation taking place in Indonesia, as well as the social exclusion it entails, and highlights the conceptual shortcomings of universalistic concepts of human-environment relations. An exploration of evolving human-nature relations, this book will be of interest to academics studying political ecology, environmental anthropology, sustainability sciences, political sciences, development studies, human geography, human ecology, Southeast Asian studies, and Asian studies.

The Dog is Dead So Throw it in the River

The Dog is Dead So Throw it in the River
Author: Arief Djati
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1945
Genre: Environmental law
ISBN:

From series: Monash papers on Southeast Asia; no. 51; This item is a monograph about pollution in the Berantas river in East Java. This book systematically documents the history and outcome of political and legal battles that have been fought over water pollution in East Java. 86 pages.

The Politics of Power

The Politics of Power
Author: Denise Leith
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2002-10-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780824825669

Even as Major General Suharto consolidated his power in the bloodletting of the mid-sixties, Freeport-McMoRan, the American transnational mining company, signed a contract with the new military regime, the first foreign company to do so. Today, in the isolated jungles of West Papua, a region that is increasingly restive under Indonesian rule, Freeport lays claim to the world's largest gold mine and one of its richest and most profitable copper mines. This volume is the first major analysis of the company's presence in Indonesia. It takes a close and detailed look at the changing nature of power relations between Freeport and Suharto, the Indonesian military, the traditional landowners (the Amungme and Kamoro), and environmental and human rights groups. It examines how and why an American company, despite such rigorous home-state laws, was able to operate in West Papua with impunity for nearly thirty years and adapt to, indeed thrive in, a business culture anchored in corruption, collusion, and nepotism.

Environmental Regulation and Public Disclosure

Environmental Regulation and Public Disclosure
Author: Shakeb Afsah
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2013-03-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135127093

This book is a remarkable case study of an environmental policy initiative for a national environmental regulatory system in the information age. In 1995 the Indonesian Ministry of Environment took the bold step to launch an environmental disclosure initiative called the Program for Pollution Control, Evaluation and Rating (PROPER). Under PROPER, environmental performance of companies is mapped into a five-color grading scale – Gold for excellent, Green for very good, Blue for good, Red for non-compliance, and Black for causing environmental damage. These ratings are then publicly disclosed through a formal press conference and posted on the internet. Not only did this simple rating scheme create a major media buzz and enhanced environmental awareness of the general public, but it also unleashed a wide range of performance incentives that showed how markets with environmental information could function in a developing country setting. The authors provide a multidisciplinary analysis of how the PROPER program harnessed the power of public disclosure to abate the problem of industrial pollution. They describe how the program has successfully improved the average environmental compliance rate from close to thrity per cent in 1995 to as high as seventy per cent in 2011. This improvement was driven primarily by information disclosure, which avoided expensive and unpredictable legal enforcement through the court system of Indonesia. The combination of institutional history and detailed economic and analyses sheds light on the role of policy entrepreneurs who laid the foundation for disclosure and transparency, despite the constraints of the Suharto regime. The PROPER program is now internationally recognized and continues to serve as a model for many developing countries.