World Population Growth Has Accelerated Since the Start of the Twentieth Century
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ISSN 1329-1440 Learning Communities: International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts Number 2 June 2008 i EDITORIAL Ruth Wallace Charles Darwin University ________________________________________________________________________ Learning communities develop around a broad range of issues and regions. A research partnership between Indonesia and Australia has developed to investigate the community management processes and structures of plant biosecurity in northern Australia and eastern Indonesian communities. This project developed not only an understanding of the learning communities that operate in local areas but their connections to macro scale decision making bodies. The researchers have developed a powerful community of practice that is working to deepen their understanding of the relationships and management systems that inform community processes. This approach has also been an opportunity to engage local communities in identifying, managing and analysing plant threats and responses to those threats. Through the project's initial international forum and subsequent development work, the participants developed a series of papers that explore the ideas around community management of biosecurity and the community processes that inform plant and disease management. These papers point to future development of the research and its connection to policy and practice across countries and discipline areas. The Learning Communities: International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts is proud to present these papers in a bilingual co publication with Kritis; Journal of Interdisciplinary Development Studies. We look forward to the development of the work across regional, disciplinary, workplace and community boundaries. ii CONTENTS COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT OF BIOSECURITY: OVERVIEW OF SOME INDONESIAN STUDIES Ian Falk, Kaler Surata, Wayan Mudita, Eka Martiningsih & Bronwyn Myers……..…………………..1 SOCIAL CAPITAL AND COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING: COMBINING LOCAL AND SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE TO FIGHT INVASIVE SPECIES Cornelia Butler Flora………………………………………………………………………………..…30 ROLE OF COMMUNITY IN THE CONTROL OF PLANT PEST AND DISEASES Haryono Semangun……………………………………………………………………………….…...40 TRADITIONAL ABORIGINAL KNOWLEDGE PRACTICES AND NORTH AUSTRALIAN BIOSECURITY Michael Christie …….………………………………………………………………………………...47 STRUCTURE AND PROCESS IN FACILITATING COMMUNITY ACTION IN BALI Sang Putu Kaler Surata………………………………………………………………………………..55 A COMMUNITY APPROACH TO BIOSECURITY IN A REMOTE AUSTRALIAN REGION Paul Royce……………………………………………………………………………………………..67 THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT OF BIOSECURITY Eka Martiningsih…………………………………………………………………………………….....86 COMMUNITY PROCESSES IN DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PRACTICES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF PLANT PESTS AND DISEASES: A DISCUSSION PAPER Bronwyn Myers……………………………………………………………………………………….110 LINKING BIOSECURITY TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA Petrarca Karetji…………………………………………………………………………………..…....118 CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE PLANT BIO-SECURITY POLICY INTERFACE: A CASE STUDY OF INDONESIAN POLICY AUTHORITY & COMMUNITY EXCHANGE Scott Nathan Knight…………………………………………………………………………………..138 IDENTIFICATION OF SOCIAL CAPITAL FOR UNDERSTANDING AND RAISING PLANT BIOSECURITY AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE, AND ACTIONS IN ONE VILLAGE, KUPANG DISTRICT, EAST NUSA TENGGARA PROVINCE Wayan Mudita & Remi Natonis............................................................................................................156 NATIONAL POLICY ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (BIOSECURITY) Kasumbogo Untung...............................................................................................................................169 REVITALIZING SOCIAL CAPITAL, EMPOWERING LOCAL POTENTIALS: REDUCING POVERTY IN FOREST AREA AT BALI PROVINCE Nyoman Utari Vipriyanti and Ernan Rustiadi.......................................................................................176 SOCIAL PARTNERSHIPS IN LEARNING: EMBEDDING PLANT BIOSECURITY IN REGIONAL COMMUNITIES THROUGH ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING Ruth Wallace………………………………………………………………………………………….185 SOCIAL CAPITAL AS THE BASIS OF BIOSECURITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Tonny D. Pariela………………………………………………………………………………………197 xi FOREWORD Professor Dr Satryo Sumantri Brodjonegoro Director General of Higher Education Ministry of National Education Indonesia ________________________________________________________________________ World population growth has accelerated since the start of the twentieth century. The global population will probably approach 10 billion in 2050 and should by that time have leveled off, according to a study by UNESCO. The question is: will there be enough food for everybody in the future? Meeting the world’s needs between now and the year 2050 would not seem beyond the bounds of possibility, if two challenges are met: the goal of sustainable development and the elimination of poverty. Over 50 years ago, forty-four countries officially created the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with the ambitious goal of feeding the planet. However, the finding of the World Food Conference in 1974 was that there were still 800 million undernourished people on the planet, world prices remain high, stocks in the main exporting counties are at their lowest level, and we are alerted to the threat of a world shortage. According to certain ecologists, natural resources will not be adequate to meet the needs of the world population in 2050. Food security is then to be defined in terms of permanent access by all to the foodstuffs necessary for a healthy and active life. However the world must face the terrible challenge of balancing the growing number of human beings and their needs against the natural resources essential to their development. The choices made in the next 10 years will determine in large measure the future possibilities of inhabiting the planet. The collision between the number of human beings and the resources they need will become increasingly sharp. One of the key factors likely to impact on world food security is the virtually universal drop in fertility levels in developing countries, which leads some to say that the challenges facing humanity are no longer demographic. They are rather ecological, economic and political in nature. Bearing that in mind then it is necessary to increase the role of higher education in sustaining the food resilience program through the approach of plant biosecurity. Indonesia is well known for being rich in natural resources, mineral resources as well as human resources. Due to the high population, approaching 240 million people, Indonesia is currently facing a tough challenge of providing adequate and appropriate food for its people. There is another dimension of the above mentioned challenge; that is, Indonesia is so diverse in ethnic groups and cultures. There are more than 300 ethnic groups across the country’s 17,000 islands. One can consider that for each of these ethnic groups there must be a local indigenous practice that is beneficial for promoting a food resilience program, at least within the local region. It is then the role of higher education institutions to explore the local indigenous practices and knowledge, and develop it to overcome the food security problems. The mission of Indonesian higher education institutions are namely education, research, and community development. Following these missions the institutions should be able to support the iii people as well as the government in providing food resilience programs. We use the term, food resilience, since we are not only tackling the shortage of appropriate food for the people but culturally we empower the local people to fulfill their need properly using local indigenous practices. The higher education institutions should be empowered to accomplish this task, and one of the priority topics is plant biosecurity. The Directorate General of Higher Education will provide adequate research funding to the higher education institutions, on a competitive basis, and one of the priority topics is plant biosecurity. At the same time the institutions could conduct a community development program by educating the people, of both the young and older generation, in how to sustain food resilience programs through plant biosecurity measures. iv FOREWORD Professor John Lovett Chairman of Board Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity Plant biosecurity in a shrinking world One of many consequences of increasing ‘globalisation’ in the early 21st century has been an enhanced appreciation of the need for improved ‘biosecurity’, a term relevant to community health and welfare; to animal health, and to plant health in the production systems which sustain life. The principles of biosecurity are common and may be applied to all classes of ‘pest’ organism, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, insects and weeds. Good surveillance, to prevent ingress by a pest organism if at all possible; preparedness for an incursion by an unfamiliar organism; a diagnostics capability in order that the identity of the organism may be confirmed rapidly, and the ability to initiate a rapid response in order that the potential spread of the pest be limited. Biosecurity challenges to agriculture and to the communities which it sustains are felt by all countries and communities, poor and rich. The Unites States is no exception: “As the United States faces biological warfare for the first time and ponders the consequences of growing genetically modified crops, a largely unnoticed biological