By Happy Tarumadevyanto – Stakeholder Engagement, Monitoring and Evaluation and Certification Specialist
Sustainable natural resource management is a consolidated effort to bring all aspects of environmental, economical, and social aspects blended together into one action Efforts to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner would need inter-sectoral supervision and coordination so that there is a synergy in its implementation.
Why sustainability is a consolidated effort? With the existence of integrated actions, activities that support the sustainability process can be carried out in a good manner. Sustainability is a multi-stakeholder movement that involves various stakeholders in the process of decision-making and implementation. Sustainability can be built with multistakeholder cooperation hand in hand in maintaining the sustainability of a natural resource.
The decision-making process will need the active participation of stakeholders who have either direct or indirect interests in business activity in a particular area. If previously the company focused more on the maximum profits for the company, from now on the stakeholders impacted by the company’s operations have begun to be invited to communication in various ways to discuss the challenges of managing sustainable management of an operation [either private sector or other operational activities].
This means that these stakeholders need to be heard, through continuous dialogue and intensive communication they are expected to contribute a positive impact, new ideas on how to handle natural resources appropriately.
Handling Natural Resources by Adhering to Sustainability Principles: A Case Study
The principles of sustainability have characters that need to be met carefully. Characteristics of the principle of sustainability include the area of certainty or legality in which a particular activity is recognized by relevant stakeholders.
One of the efforts to gain recognition from stakeholders is to build mutually understanding partnerships.
One example is in social forestry activities that are being widely promoted in Indonesia. The government has set a target of around 12.7 million hectares of land allocated for Social Forestry activities.
On the one hand, the government has encouraged the implementation of Social Forestry at the [field] base level, on the other hand, it is necessary to adjust the program implementation by conducting field inspections regarding the status of the land, the activities that are existing and the availability of resources for land cultivation.
Market Demand-based Empowerment
In facing the current era of globalization, agricultural and forestry actors are often faced with difficulties in marketing their products to other groups. Usually in certain areas they carry out agricultural and forestry operations to meet their own needs.
Training that empowers local communities is an important part of creating social entrepreneurs who understand the market situation.
Currently, there are many community groups in the area around the forest who need assistance in marketing their forest products. The forest products can be in the form of Non Timber Forest Products and Forest Products.
Efforts to manage the environment in an integrated manner require the cooperation of various parties including stakeholder engagement.
Cooperation between parties in integrated environmental management aims to face the challenges of today’s sustainable development. For marginalized groups, it is necessary to get support from parties who can elevate their status to a better level. One of the important things in sustainable natural resource management is equality between parties.
Cooperation Among Relevant Stakeholders
Cooperation between parties is very necessary to encourage sustainable management. Cooperation between sectors in a certain area aims to realize sustainable development that is integrated and mutually supportive of each other.
In several events at the site level, this cooperation is sometimes difficult to realize because one sector negates the other sectors. The mining sector, for example, will have to develop a strategy so that the mining that is cultivated does not interfere or reduce the impact of the land there. Usually some locations negate the plantation and forestry sectors because mining needs to build infrastructure on the land where mining exploitation will be carried out.
Recognizing the roles of stakeholders is one of the basic needs for building a long-term sustainable natural resource management strategy. By understanding the character of each of the stakeholders around the activity area, we will get to know the main basis for building a partnership with these stakeholders.
In another hand, the main spirit of sustainability itself comes from the integration of sustainability aspects to be implemented into good management that is structured and mutually supportive of one another.
In sustainable natural resource management, the process of understanding and bring to better management needs to be carried out through interaction side by side and intensive communication. Yes, the point is the integrated activities result to be implemented in a form of harmonious initiative to maintain.
The facilitation of natural resource management will have to function to provide a better understanding of the science of sustainability. Among the science of sustainability is that we comply with international agreements in order to actively participate in realizing Sustainable Development Goals.
There are many important things in environmental governance that we should be paying attention to.
In addition, to understand a consolidated system in environmental management, environmental policies are also determined in the implementation process to see the commitments and implementation. Important environmental aspects should be preserved for future generations. But how much of that saving effort will be for us and for our future generations? of course depending on our knowledge in sustainable management.
Such a harmonious and healthy environment is the dream of every human being. The harmony of nature should be created and built by relying on the principle of balance, by maintaining environmental, social, and economic aspects as well as mutually supportive policies.
The balance in natural resource management is a reflection of our concern for the best possible preparation for life today and in the future. Currently, many companies are paying attention to this balance by controlling the origin of the raw materials they will process. Legal origin of raw materials, production processes that pay attention to social elements, production economics and efficiency, post-production management that takes into account the surrounding natural conditions without making excessive noise and waste are part of the elements of environmental balance that must be properly considered.
Natural resource management itself includes various commodities and has different characteristics. All of these varied natural resources require careful handling to produce high-value products. With a variety of natural resources property, it will imply the process and way of facilitating the process to create a more high-end product.
High Value Products
Many consumers today are aware that the meaning of High-Value Products is not only the quality of the ingredients but also the background of the production process of a particular product. A product is considered to be of high value if:
(1) The origin can be traced properly
(2) The production process from start to end product is environmentally friendly and socially responsible
Why are People now Shifting their Belief on Responsibly-sourced Products?
Natural resources that are contained on land, sea, and air are utilized to a large extent for the prosperity of the people.
Most of the natural resources that are around us to be utilized optimally for the prosperity of the community. Often to optimize management for better results, a learning process and product refinement are needed. In the end, the resulting product can have a positive impact and benefit its users. In our country, the social aspect is an important thing to consider in the context of sustainable natural resource management.
Social context is very meaningful to be developed in our region because our region’s population of more than 350 million inhabitants occupies areas in all parts of the country. It is very important and needs a strategic decision process to maintain our interaction with the existing people.
Utilization of natural resources is inseparable from the capacity for sustainable management and utilization.