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Avoiding our ghastly future – the power of collective action
Indonesia provides examples of sustainable interventions that have reduced deforestation, much of it through collaborative efforts and collective actions.
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n an unusually blunt assessment, a group of scientists early this year warned of the catastrophic consequences of climate change. Their paper, “Underestimating the Challenge of Avoiding a Ghastly Future”, published last month, presented ample evidence that our environmental conditions are much more dangerous than commonly believed.
Almost as dangerous is the chronic underestimating of the perils of climate change by leaders and governments, leading to the failures to achieve the already established sustainable development goals.
The Paris Agreement adopted at the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015 set the 1.5–2 degrees Celsius target to avoid dangerous climate change. However, without huge additional commitments, global warming is expected to reach 2.6–3.1 degrees by 2100, even if present commitments are achieved – an impending catastrophe for biodiversity and humanity.
In another assessment, the 2020 United Nations’ Global Biodiversity Outlook reported that none of the ambitious goals of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets were reached. The targets were set in 2010 by 196 countries in Japan, aimed at conserving the world’s biodiversity. The aim of the 2020 Outlook is to reset the 10-year plan so that the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity could be achieved, a task that would require a global collective effort.
How likely is that to happen? Skepticism abounds but if we treat the current response (however imperfect) to the global suffering and disruptions caused by the pandemic as a dress rehearsal to confront the dangers ahead, society may respond in the same way for the climate change crisis.
As the UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated in the report: “the response of governments and people around the world [to the pandemic] has demonstrated society’s capacity to take previously unimaginable steps, involving huge transformations, solidarity and multilateral effort in the face of an urgent common threat.”
Indeed, contrary to what many governments and leaders believe, there is strong evidence of widespread support for urgent climate change action. In the largest survey of public opinion on climate change ever conducted, for example, 64 percent of the 1.2 million people polled in late 2020 by the UN Development Program believed climate change was a "global emergency".
Climate policies favored by the UNDP poll respondents included conservation of forests and land, more renewable energy use, and more “green’ investment in business. There was strong support for the conservation of forests and land in countries with high emissions from deforestation and land-use change, such as Brazil and Indonesia.
Despite the overall grim outlook, there are many examples of successful sustainability interventions, at both local and regional level, that should be scaled-up to a much higher degree if they are to make a global impact.
Indonesia provides examples of sustainable interventions that have reduced deforestation, much of it through collaborative efforts and collective actions. A study undertaken during May-December 2020 by the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) with Daemeter Consulting indicated that Indonesia has achieved significant progress in the last decade in slowing the rate of deforestation. The TFA is a platform hosted by the World Economic Forum to advance deforestation-free commodities and trade, established by the global Consumer Goods Forum.
Since 2010, deforestation and peat and forest fires have been reduced significantly in Indonesia. In addition, recognition of customary forest and community-based forest management has increased while the palm oil sector is gradually transitioning toward intensification growth models.
The main driver has been the government’s enactment of policies and programs that have advanced sustainable development in the forestry sector. These are extensively described in the government’s State of Indonesia’s Forests report 2020. Other dominant factors include corporate action and transformation toward no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation (NDPE) policies, growth of the trade of sustainable palm oil, civil society as a force for change, a renewed focus on smallholder oil palm farmers and a general expansion of information and knowledge on sustainability.
Government policies over the past decade have opened up opportunities for cooperation among stakeholder groups – at national, provincial and district levels – to pursue more coherent sustainable development and embark on a collective action strategies. As highlighted in the government’s report, “Good environmental governance takes into account the important roles of actors who influence the environment, such as NGOs, civil society, business and government. Cooperation and synergy are critical steps to achieve effective governance towards a sustainable future”.
The TFA is documenting best practice evidence-based responsible Indonesian cases on such issues as fire-free programs, revitalizing small holders, and sustainable supply chains. At the same time, we take a hard look at prospects of sustainable financing by examining green financing cases.
The ultimate objective is to bring sustainable financing to the Southeast Asia region as well as to demonstrate to the broader stakeholders that collective action to conserve and protect tropical forest landscapes has potential “up-sides” and those who lag behind will face not only increased regulatory and public scrutiny, but also constrained growth.
Collective actions involving government, corporations, communities, civil society organizations and financial bodies are a key feature of the best practices associated with these cases. They also show that collective actions are not easy to do, taking much time and effort, particularly in the building of mutual respect, mutual trust, and mutual benefit.
But as the cases also show, once trust is established, real progress can take place that can bring benefits for the country, communities, climate, and companies.
TFA Southeast Asia through its collective action platform aims to demonstrate the region’s progress by way of strategically communicating Indonesia’s transformation toward a deforestation-free supply chain and promoting sustainable commodities and trade that we all hope will be the new normal in the next decade and beyond.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, just this month, was elected as cochair of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action 2021-2023 and that can only help Indonesia’s commitment to advance its sustainable development goals.
Underlining the urgency, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, at the 2021 Climate Adaptation Summit in January this year, called for “extraordinary measures” that can multiply global climate action through solidarity, collaboration and global collective leadership. Easier said than done perhaps – but words can lead to the collective actions that in the end can help us avoid our “ghastly future”.
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The writer is the Southeast Asia regional director of Tropical Forest Alliance and former country director of The Nature Conservancy – Indonesia Program.
