In terms of principle and philosophy of managing ecosystems always depends on the management of human activities. Therefore, if humans can appropriately manage their actions, the utilization of ecosystems can be adequately controlled.
"It's just that we had to manage activities as human beings which are the source of problems," said Prof. Dr. Suharsono, LIPI coral reef expert at BioTalks # 2 Management of Biodiversity and Ecosystems in Indonesia after Covid-19 on Thursday (6/25).
According to Suharsono, protecting ecosystems is not only depended on the management of his human activities, but we also cannot separate it from threats from climate change. The threat of climate change is quite substantial in the current ecosystems.
"It's just that if it happens naturally, then usually the changes caused by nature make the community structure and ecology return to normal," he said.
It is quite different if a human activity causes change because it certainly will not return to its original position. In fact, it might bring up another condition.
Thus, there is a balance behind Covid-19. From the aspect of biology or ecology, the existence of Covid-19 management and control of human activities becomes automatic. All stopped, as well as fishing, including destructive fishing activities in the ocean, ended dramatically.
"This certainly provides an opportunity for ecosystems to recover. The declining activity makes conditions better, like Jakarta, it has a clear, beautiful sky because vehicle and factory activities have automatically stopped," he said.
According to him, biodiversity and ecosystem management strategies currently require active participation in the provision of information data for the management of conservation areas. For this reason, to increase the capacity and capability of human resources in the regions, it is necessary to have planned training and competency testing.
"Hopefully, there will be an encouragement for the self-management of coastal ecosystems by residents through the cooperation of local governments, NGOs and universities," he said.
Besides, there are efforts to encourage and support the fulfilment of requirements, the legality of high economic commodities. With these methods, many parties can undoubtedly take advantage of the existence of biodiversity in Indonesia.
"We have a lot of biotas if we can push to meet international requirements, for example, the biota included in the site test. There are corals, napoleon fish, sea cucumbers, such as encouraging sustainability like what, then what kind of traceability, then the fish certainly able to provide high foreign exchange because indeed it has a very high the prices," he explained.
Prof. Dr. EKS Harini Muntasib, MS, Professor of the Faculty of Forestry of IPB, stated that the Covid-19 pandemic and the biological wealth in the forest had been disrupted in the form of interference and disturbing in terms of natural ecology. Covid-19 occurs because of increased human interaction with wildlife so that the virus is currently widespread. Therefore it then results in a pandemic.
"Covid-19 has made the interaction between humans and wildlife has finally declined. We can take values from this condition for the post-Covid-19 pandemic to use biological wealth more wisely," she said.
Harini emphasized that the management of biodiversity is a mechanism for the organization and relationship of biological wealth institutions. Hopefully, people can maintain the aspect of biodiversity conservation and its habitat based on the biodiversity conservation mandate.
"Aspects of utilization, biological wealth can be optimized, the surrounding community and the government can benefit as well as be responsible for its preservation," she said.
According to her, the government, including regional governments, communities, NGOs, universities, and the private sector should be able to build a mutual agreement about the concept of ecosystem-based biodiversity management. Although it does not have to be formal, its base is still on the ecosystem.
"Hopefully, all parties can unite their perceptions with the target ecosystem being maintained and make its indicators. Yes, it is using forest indicators because of my study background study is in the forest. The central and regional governments might not only make rules but can also give awards if the management is good," Harini added.
Prof. Dr. Suwarno Hadisusanto, professor of the Faculty of Biology UGM, added how to anticipate this post-Covid for a better atmosphere. Sometimes the local government thinks that the forest is more valuable than a lake, even though the lake must also be maintained.
"So, even though forests produce wood at very high prices, the so-called water bodies must be maintained, especially as some lakes in Indonesia have special endemic species," he said.
Author: Agung Nugroho
Photo: Brilio
Translator: Natasa A