Strategic Innovations for Sustainable Management of Natural Resources: Agriculture and Climate Change

Abstraksi

Indonesia is one of the countries in South-East Asia that can be most hit by the effects of climate change in the future. Climate change can have an enormous impact on natural resources, economic activities, food security, health and physical infrastructure. Especially the eastern part of Indonesia, where the majority of people are much relying on agriculture and natural resources. In the eastern provinces, climate adaptation measures take on a special significance for safeguarding rural livelihoods and ensuring sustainable development. The government of Indonesia launched its first national action plan addressing climate change (RAN-MAPI) in 2007. The plan functions as coordination tool to create an integrated effort among various institutions to tackle climate change within as many sectors as possible. With data from BPS Statistics Indonesia on financial growth of sectors relying on natural resources in Eastern provinces, climate data from those provinces and general socio-economic data of the region, we have observed a relationship of declining economic value in some sectors relying on natural resources in relation to climate variability in the region. The research results show that climate change adaptation should be integrated into development planning and policy decisions. It also suggests that policy makers analyze their public investments and public-sector programs in the context of climate change.