By Thomas Wainman Food self-sufficiency has been a priority for every Indonesian president since the country won independence from the Netherlands in 1945. Beginning with Sukarno, who began associating food self-sufficiency with rice production, through his successors, initiatives to free the country from dependence on foreign rice have been at the forefront of national food and agriculture policy (Mears 2006). Before continuing to unpack the historical and political context surrounding national food and agriculture policy, it is necessary to understand the significance of rice as it relates t ..read more

By Diana Allos Sitting in Bukit Lawang, it may feel like you are “off the grid.” Yet, this is not the case. For me, the illusion cracked at the sight of a phone set up on a tripod, apparently live-streaming the activities of our bustling local hotel restaurant. Twenty-four hours later, I was sitting deep in the Sumantran jungle when a tour guide from that day’s adventure asked a friend of mine in the group for help with the jungle trekking tour company’s website. The following morning as the group made our way out of the jungle by tubing down the river, the tour guides continued to answer our ..read more

By Patricia Boccard During our trip, my class and I traveled to both the rainforest in Madre de Dios and the mountains in Cusco, seeing firsthand the environmental and socio-political links between the Andes and the Amazon Basin. In both locations, the forest and the mountains seemed immense and impenetrable. Yet, from above, during our plane ride, it was possible to see more clearly the deforestation that is harming the ecosystem.   There is a critical relationship between the Andes and the Amazon. Millions of years ago, the rise of the Andes Mountains through shifts in tectonic pla ..read more

By Laura Levine While visiting Bali, I was introduced to an indigenous bee species that I had never heard of before: the Trigona bee. My first encounter with the bee species was at the home of local legend Chakra Widia. A champion of permaculture and a dedicated member of the community, Chakra is determined to improve the lives of fellow Balinese people through a series of projects focusing on environmental education and initiatives that establish environmentally and economically sustainable occupations for locals, mostly involving agriculture and, soon, tourism as well. Many of his previous p ..read more

By Jennifer Solan Indonesia is the second most biodiverse country in the world, home to tropical forests, coral reefs, mangroves, tropical peatlands, and two of the world’s biodiversity “hotspots” (UNEP). One of these hotspots is the Leuser ecosystem spanning across Northern Sumatra and includes protected forest under the Gunung Leuser National Park. The Leuser ecosystem is the only place where tigers, elephants, orangutans, and rhinos live together in the wild (Putra and Griffith). Maintaining the forest as a carbon sink, protecting biodiversity, and overcoming threats to the Leuser ecosystem ..read more

By Bradley Phelps Protecting or enhancing biodiversity is not new as a policy objective. As ecological systems are threatened in greater amounts due to climate change and human development, biodiversity will likely be even more front of mind for policymakers, scientists, and the public. [1] As authors from Chatham House argue in their report, the global food system is the primary driver of this biodiversity loss. [2] Moreover, they specifically cite monocropping as an unsustainable agricultural practice. [3] If the subaks of Bali mostly grow rice, do the common concerns of monocropping apply ..read more

By JaKyah Beatty In recent years, the sustainability discourse surrounding palm oil has become a complex terrain to navigate, reflecting both the environmental benefits and the potential pitfalls of its cultivation. Delving into the heart of this ongoing debate, it’s worth questioning whether the green label attached to palm oil is genuine or a mere facade – an act of greenwashing. The sustainability conversation around palm oil is often broad, encompassing diverse viewpoints on its cultivation, economic significance, and environmental implications. While some argue that palm oil is a key driv ..read more

By Samaa Eldadah A digital rendering of Nusantara after completion. (Source: Nusantara Capital City) The plans for Nusantara, Indonesia’s planned new capital and green “forest city” in Borneo, are nothing short of ambitious. Official plans for the city were signed into law in 2022 and the city’s inauguration is slated for August 2024 (Nusantara Capital City). Between July and November 2024, just over 3,000 civil servants are scheduled to relocate to Nusantara from Jakarta, over 800 miles away (ANTARA). By 2045, the workforce is estimated to reach 4.8 million (Nusantara Capital City). By that ..read more

By Sal Valdez-Ono As we strolled through the seemingly endless rice fields at Jatiluwih, our group of students from the University of Maryland stopped at several commercial stands selling rice, fruits, and of course, the ever-present tourist goods. Jatiluwih is a subak, or a traditional rice field management cooperative, found in Bali, Indonesia. Jatiluwih is one of the largest subaks left, and accounts for a large portion of daily tourists in Bali. These subak systems are struggling despite being a UNESCO-protected cultural heritage site, with some of the largest struggles being connected to ..read more

By Jordyn Taylor On our three-week study abroad trip in Indonesia, we visited the largest existing subak in Jatiluwih, a UNESCO World Heritage Site highlighting the Balinese subak system. We were guided through the rice fields by Professor Wiwek Dharmiasih, a few of her students, and rice farmers involved in designating the subak as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The UNESCO designation was pursued by Professor Dharmiasih and other Jatiluwih stakeholders to preserve rice farming in light of economic opportunities to sell land to foreign investors for tourism development. However, the UNESCO Worl ..read more