STARTED WITH A FOREST FIRE
Environment issues have exists since decades. These issues have also becoming the focus of improvement for some big country in the world. It is reflected from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) program in the seventh point, which is “Ensure Environmental Sustainability”. However, even after the MDGs program ended in 2015, this environmental sector has not shown any significant improvement.
Then in the same year, the world leaders gather together and agreed to create a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) program as a continuation for MDGs program. SDGs contain 17 issues in it. Environmental issue is one of the issues that requires more in-depth discussion and covers a larger scope.
In order to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals itself, there are lots of new program appeared in Indonesia. These programs are managed at various levels: national to district. One of the programs in the district level is “KELOLA Sendang” which stand for “Sembilang-Dangku Landscape Management Partnership”. This program aim to actualize the sustainable landscape development in the province of South Sumatra.
The journey and experience in implementing this program then are poured into the book entitled “Belajar dari KELOLA SENDANG: isu-isu Kritis dalam Tata Kelola Lanskap”. This book is written by Muhammad Sigit Andhi Rahman, International Relation Study Program lecturer in President University (PresUniv), with Akhmad Arief F. and Meiardhy M. Published by Penabulu Foundation, this book discussed the benefit of KELOLA Sendang program, its success criteria, how to implement it, and the issues that must be faced in implementing KELOLA Sendang.
KELOLA Sendang focusing on landscape management. The purpose of this program is to formulate the method that can integrate the need for environmental conservation, economic growth, and social welfare, so that sustainable development can be achieved. The combination between these 3 aspects will be the defining factor to decide KELOLA Sendang success in supporting the SDGs that was proclaimed by the world leaders.
KELOLA Sendang program is also considered to be more effective than the previous programs that tend to be more spatial. The reason is because KELOLA Sendang has partnership and collaboration quality in it, so that the progress and developments experienced by the environmental sector will also have an impact on improvements in other sectors, such as the economy and community welfare.
The first chapter of this book discusses landscape governance from various sides in detail, as well as the progress of its implementation from year to year. Sigit and colleagues also discussed the development of landscape governance in Indonesia, especially from the context of green development. Starting from the terminology, legislative policies related to landscape governance, planning processes, implementation, until the adaptation to landscape governance.
Then, the discussion narrowed to the Province of South Sumatra. The forest fires that occurred in 2015 become the trigger to the emergence of the urgency of sustainable development in South Sumatra. This is because the forest fires do not only affect the local population, but also has already reached national and even international levels. Finally, various parties ranging from the government, private companies, community institutions, and the people of South Sumatra itself, agreed to actively contribute in forest fire prevention programs in the future.
The Governor of South Sumatra at that time, Alex Noerdin, mobilized the existing resources with support from national and international parties. The goal is clear, it is to create a balance between economic, social and environmental aspects, which are incorporated into a sustainable development framework. In order to successfully implement the vision of landscape management, KOLEGA Sumsel (South Sumatra Province Ecoregional Landscape Management Partnership) was formed in 2017. (Steven Chaniago, PR team. Photo: www.researchgate.net)
