Dwi Amalia Sari

China's Belt and Road Initiative in Indonesia

28 Februari 2023
Inbound investment from China (including Hong Kong) in Indonesia has grown dramatically in recent years, particularly after the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was launched. In addition to its scale, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) is unique in two ways. First, it is concentrated in the environmentally sensitive sectors of metals industry and infrastructure. Second, the environmental and social oversight of these projects is left solely in the hands of the Indonesian government, due to China's “country systems” approach. Thus, Chinese investment makes a useful example to explore the management of inbound investment waves in a highly biologically and culturally diverse setting
2022_ART_PP_Dwi_Amalia_Sari_01.pdf

Mitigating social ecological risks from the surge in China's overseas investment: an Indonesian profle

28 Februari 2023
Rapid development has become a global priority as countries strive to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Sustainable development is crucial for increasing human well-being in emerging economies while avoiding perverse outcomes on livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) promises to help countries reach their national goals for economic growth, trade, and development, but there remain widespread concerns over how this boom in Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) will impact social-ecological systems. Here, we discuss the risks implicit in BRI-related FDI projects to ecosystems and local communities, and how these risks can be miti gated or exacerbated by national governance of BRI projects and national development policies. We frame our discussion around Indonesia, where convoluted governance of some of the largest Chinese FDI projects may reduce accountability, and a recent job creation law brings risks of rapid unsustainable development practices across this biodiversity hotspot.
2021_ART_PP_DWI_Amalia_Sari_02.pdf

Transdisciplinary science for improved conservation outcomes

28 Februari 2023
Major advances in biology and ecology have sharpened our understanding of what the goals of biodiversity conservation might be, but less progress has been made on how to achieve conservation in the complex, multi-sectoral world of human affairs. The failure to deliver conservation outcomes is especially severe in the rapidly changing landscapes of tropical low-income countries. We describe five techniques we have used to complement and strengthen long-term attempts to achieve conservation outcomes in the landscapes and seascapes of such regions; these are complex social-ecological systems shaped by interactions between biological, ecological and physical features mediated by the actions of people. Conservation outcomes occur as a result of human decisions and the governance arrangements that guide change. However, much conservation science in these countries is not rooted in a deep understanding of how these social-ecological systems work and what really determines the behaviour of the people whose decisions shape the future of landscapes. We describe five scientific practices that we have found to be effective in building relationships with actors in landscapes and influencing their behaviour in ways that reconcile conservation and development. We have used open-ended inductive enquiry, theories of change, simulation models, network analysis and multi-criteria analysis. These techniques are all widely known and well tested, but seldom figure in externally funded conservation projects. We have used these techniques to complement and strengthen existing interventions of international conservation agencies. These five techniques have proven effective in achieving deeper understanding of context, engagement with all stakeholders, negotiation of shared goals and continuous learning and adaptation.
2020_ART_PP_Dwi_Amalia_Sari_03.pdf

Governance challenges to landscape restoration in Indonesia

28 Februari 2023
Indonesia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world (Keenan et al., 2015; Margono et al., 2014), and has been losing forest cover at a rate of 1.1 % per year throughout the period 1990–2015 (FAO, 2015). Indonesia is also experiencing unprecedented rates of forest degradation (Morales-Hidalgo et al., 2015; Supriatna et al., 2017). Partial canopy cover opening (FAO, 2015), now affects six times as much forest in the tropics as deforestation, and the area of partial canopy cover opening in Indonesia is equal to the area of annual deforestation (Sloan and Sayer, 2015). The level of degradation suggests high levels of future deforestation, as past deforestation has mostly occurred in areas where the forest is already degraded (Margono et al., 2012). Deforestation in Indonesia in recent years has been principally driven by clearance for tree crops but forest degradation is often caused by small-scale clearance for agriculture and by poor logging practices. Degraded forests are susceptible to fire, leading to further degradation and eventual clearance for agriculture or plantations (Abood et al., 2015)
2020_ART_PP_Dwi_Amalia_Sari_04.pdf

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