Natural resource use conflicts in Indonesia : a challenge for sustainable development and education for sustainable development

Many of Indonesia's natural resources are degraded due to over-utilization. Examples are over-exploitation of fish stocks or non-timber forest resources. In many cases "commons dilemmas" regularly occurring in open access situations are responsible for the difficulties in natural resource management. Commons dilemmas are characterized by an incongruity between resource appropriators and those burdened with the negative impacts of resource use. Not surprisingly, the 2010 targets for halting biodiversity loss were missed. Sustainable solutions are unlikely to be forthcoming without changes in the institutional setting of the problem. In order to govern open access natural resources more sustainably, measures to improve the effectiveness of traditional local institutions formal and informal are promoted. An empirical investigation on current natural resource management practice in Indonesia's Lore Lindu region in Central Sulawesi has confirmed the effectiveness of local institutions while state-induced rules and regulations have failed. From a natural resource management education perspective, well educated graduates as future educators, agricultural advisers or decision makers in the field of natural resource management are essential. With a profound background concerning commons dilemmas and possible solution strategies the graduates contribute to the sustainable utilization of natural resources which serve as livelihood for many rural poor and the preservation of biological diversity, respectively ...