The concept of ‘Just Sustainability’ incorporates not only environmental sustainability but also a need to strive towards social justice and equity. According to Agyeman sustainability is “the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, while living within the limits of supporting ecosystems.” (Agyeman et al. 2003 as cited in Agyeman 2005: 43) Both the desire for sustainability and development can be cause for many social justice and human equity issues, but in order to fulfil the idea of ‘Just Sustainability,’ all of these things need to be taken into account. (Agyeman 2005: 43) An example of how social justice and equity needs to be addressed alongside a sustainability plan for the environment is the deforestation of rainforests in Indonesia.
Forty years ago, Indonesia was known among scientists of human ecology as a land with exemplary sustainability in its agriculture and industry (Henley 2008: 273). However, a growing and uneven population distribution, large socio-economic inequalities, and a recent history of corrupt governing have led to severe problems in the management of its natural resources (O’Conner 2004: 320). Primarily, this refers to the management of Indonesian rainforests. Globally, tropical rainforests are like carbon sinks, storing 46% of the world’s living terrestrial carbon. Due to this, deforestation causes approximately 25% of the world’s total carbon emissions (Danielson et al. 2008: 349). Indonesia itself has a rapidly depleting supply of rainforests. In the fifty years from 1950 – 2000, Indonesia lost forty-percent of its rainforests, decreasing from 162 million hectares to just 98 million hectares. Current estimates state that from 1996...
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...Causes of Deforestation, Land Economics, 81(2): 145-169
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...ially, economically and environmentally, and this would only happen if we prioritize and give importance on what people can do, as what community-based forest management says “people first and sustainable development will follow. Good governance among countries will trigger the development needed, not just any development but a sustainable one especially for underdeveloped and developing countries.
“In the time you can read this sentence, eight acres of tropical rain forest will have been bulldozed and burned out of existence” (Bloyd 49). However, this destruction has been neglected and overlooked for years. Many people do not understand the long-term consequences of losing the earth’s rain forests. The rain forests have provided people with many natural resources and medicines. The benefits that rain forests provide to people will be destroyed if the depletion continues to be disregarded.
The natural resource of wood is being used at an unsustainable rate, with minimal effort to change societal views on the depletion of this valuable natural resource. Much of the wood we use today comes from old-growth tropical forests, and in many regions it is harvested illegally. Recently in England, it was revealed that the major department store, Marks&Spencers, made much of its garden furniture out of Nyato wood which was logged illegally from Indonesian rainforests. Looking at this problem from a micro-level orientation, we can clearly see how the actions of individuals in both Britain and Indonesia affect one another.
Many companies have turned to sustainable palm oil, palm oil that is produced on plantations that reuse the land for their agricultural purposes, thus supplying more palm oil without the destruction of natural forests. Some choose to boycott palm oil entirely, but this alternative will not significantly change the demand for palm oil. Vegetable oil is used abundantly and oil palm trees are the quickest producing oil crops, concluding them necessary to satisfy the demand for edible oils. Not only is palm oil versatile for its uses and quick to produce, but it is a major component to the economy in Indonesia and Malaysia. Many people living in these countries struggle with poverty, and agriculture of sustainable palm oil is how a great deal of people support themselves and their families. If the boycott of palm oil were successful, a considerable population of people would be unemployed and
Governments in these countries need to stop thinking of forests as a renewable resource. The rate at which they are harvesting these areas drives them beyond the boundaries of sustainability. The efforts required by reforestation may not initially be cost effective, but it will result in not only the survivability of the environment, but of the country’s economy. Widespread awareness of these ideas will help fight against the natural human tendency towards instant gratification and short-term goals. Different methods of logging can be utilized to allow the rainforests to survive and regrow naturally and at a sustainable
... the large market size and the increase in demand, it is obvious that crude palm oil can be a significant source of economic benefits for Indonesia. The palm oil industry contributes to regional development. Palm oil represents a huge economic opportunity for the myriad numbers of smallholders, as more than 6.6 million tons of palm oil in Indonesia is produced by smallholders. The industry provides jobs for a large number of Indonesia’s rural population. It is estimated that in 2006 almost 2 million people worked in the Indonesian palm oil industry.
In Indonesia, 8.828 million hectares of forests have been destroyed (see appendix 2). Around fifty acres of forests are removed every minute, not o...
The vast majority of the Papuan people (87 % of the population) reside in rural areas where they rely upon the LTF for agriculture, hunting, and gathering as means for survival (Nicholls, 2004). Needless to say, the occurrence of feasibly-abundant forest resources have extend the benefits and values of Papua’s LTR far beyond their sustenance role to the indigenous population, to include benefits that are financial, social, and environmental in nature. Sequentially, the compound benefits and uses provided by PNG’s LTR have caught the attention of different groups of stakeholders, each of which represents a unique-well-sounded management perspective that well define their own interest in the forest. With that in mind, three major stakeholder groups are believed to be involved in managing PNG’s LTR – foreign investors, local government, and environmentalist groups. The existing ties between these different groups’ involvements and the forest’s benefits in turn create land use tradeoffs that produce contentions among those groups involved. The variation in perspectives among those multiple stakeholder groups brings forward the need to objectively evaluate PNG LTR’s benefits and values from the viewpoint of each group. Simultaneously, addressing the differences in perspectives on ways of managing this forest landscape shall in turn paint a clear picture that better describes the sustainable future of PNG’s LTR.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
In the case of Indonesia, Indonesia economy experience the Stage of Development when Indonesia lead by President Soeharto. Soeharto make Rostow theory as the foundation of his long term development plan. This long term plan was conducted every five years, it is called Pelita.In Pelita I which occurs between 1969-1974, Soeharto target is to raise Indonesia agricultural and food production. Based on Rostow view at this time Indonesia economy is at the traditional society stage, because many agriculture industry born in here, also people still farm with traditional way. In Pelita II 1974-1979, the growth still little, but it can bee seen that time Indonesia economy is on transtition to evolve to pre take off stage and to the take off stage. Indonesia economy f...
The study’s methodology was qualitative. While the study recognizes that palm oil plantation increases deforestation and consequently reducing biodiversity, the authors argues that the demand for palm oil up to the year 2020 can be met without any reduction of forest cover through the improvement of yields and conservation of degraded land. In particular, the study notes that while palm oil plantation endangers orangutan’s habitat, the authors suggest that encroachment of orangutan’s habitat could be reduced by up to 30% through the use of sustainable land use initiatives and policies. Overall, the findings of this article suggest that is there is a need to advocate for an environmental sustainable biomass industry in Malaysia in order to protect the natural habitat for
...ent natural forest as well as non-forest formations that provide PNG with major values and benefits. Namely, the landscape yields bountiful benefits sources of financial, environmental, and social benefits and values. These major benefits in turn attract a distinctive group of stakeholders; namely, foreign investors, local government, and environmentalist, each of which view the landscape’s values from utterly different standpoints. The difference in perspective among these different stakeholders brings forwards the urgent need for these groups to adopt more collaboratively rooted managerial effort. This in turn will result in well-voiced dialogues to take place among theses different stakeholders groups. Ultimately, these dialogues will to moderate the gap between these groups as they all move forward towards a prosperous-developed-sustainable Papua New Guinea.
Borges-Mendez, Ramon. "Sustainable Development and Participatory Practices in Community Forestry: the Case of FUNDECOR in Costa Rica." Local Environment 13.4 (2008): 367-383. Print.
Apart from Manila, several other areas, more specifically provinces, were also affected by the developments. These provinces which experienced the massive conversion from agricultural lands into “residential, commercial a...