YOGYAKARTA – Society involvement in development in the era of regional autonomy is absolutely necessary. The community with their local knowledge is expected to be empowered and involved in development policy resolution. Ignoring the role of society, the development will not run properly. "We could see that current forest destruction, among others, is solely because the government’s development policy resolution mostly ignore the role of local or community involvement," says Prof. Dr. Mustafa Agung Sardjono from Mulawarman University when speaking in a series of WISDOM 2010 parallel workshops in the Meeting Room at Prambanan temple on Tuesday (7/12).
This workshop raised the theme of Managing the Environment: Learning from the Past, Reaching for the Future. Also attending as a speaker on that occasion, among others, were Prof. Dr. Ni Nyoman Tri Puspaningsih (Airlangga University), Dr. Soeryo Adiwibowo (IPB), Dr. Hilda Zulkifli (Sriwijaya University), and Erin Joakim (University of Waterloo).
Agung added that the community could be involved if there is authority and access to them. Extensive damage of natural resources today, such as damage to forests, especially in Java, is an evidence of community involvement along with its local wisdom being ignored, moreover that one hundred percent of forest ownership has been controlled by the state. "People are at the forefront of development in the region. In the era of regional autonomy, its involvement should not become ignored,"Agung added.
Meanwhile, other speakers, Ni Nyoman Tri Puspaningsih, suggested the utilization of crop waste from the community. She mentioned the use of straw, maize knob, and palm oil waste which contain carbohydrate. Once degraded and added with a kind of bio-activator enzyme, the various wastes can be utilized, such as for fertilizer and animal feed. "There are maize knob, straw, and palm oil wastes that can be utilized. Don’t burn them," said Tri Puspaningsih.
The lack of utilization of this crop waste, in her view, is mostly due to the low level of public knowledge. Waste combustion yields more harm. If it is not restricted, it would increase CO2 emissions that can contribute to the effects of global warming. "The policy was not implemented by the community because of their lack of knowledge," she said.
On the other hand, Erin Joakim highlighted more on the environment and disaster management that involves many people. Cooperation to develop the knowledge of disaster and environmental management can be started from research. "Research on the issue of disaster and environment management cannot be separated from social, cultural, economic, and even political impacts," Erin said.