The Green Economy in Yogyakarta
Farsijana Adeney-Risakotta
Dear colleagues, friends, and family,
I am writing my last newsletter from Yogyakarta to the PC(USA) congregations and individuals during this lamenting season of Lent. For 22 years and three months, I have been called to serve in Indonesia with Presbyterian World Mission. I began mission service in collaboration with Duta Wacana Christian University (DWCU) to facilitate the cultural Maluku dialogue to establish a peace agreement between Muslims and Christians in Maluku province, which, from 1999 to 2004, was faced with mass violence. In 2006, I organized women to respond to disasters following the deadly earthquake that year. It took a year for their homes to be rebuilt. Now, at the end of my ministry with PC(USA), I have begun organizing civil society in Yogyakarta to respond to the issue of climate change mitigation and green economic transformation.
The unification of the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Office of the General Assembly has transformed PC(USA)’s mission ministry. Going forward, global ecumenical engagement will be carried out through partnerships and international ecumenical liaisons.
I will continue to serve Indonesia through the Griya Jati Rasa Foundation (House of Authentic Sense Foundation or HASF), which I founded over the last 10 years. HASF is an institution that analyzes and empowers the nation for justice and peace. HASF has empowered the formation of HAS Consumer Cooperative or HAS Co-op, which currently serves throughout Indonesia with a mobile accounting system via the Semar Mobile application. Both of these professional organizations are supervised by the Indonesian government.
My ministry with HASF is to strengthen the capacity of co-op members to receive education and advocate for state policies that support poverty alleviation, grassroots economic development, climate change mitigation, and peace methods. In particular, I pay attention to green economic transformation to overcome the problem of climate change. Yogyakarta is a very suitable example for services that integrate peace, interfaith relations, and environmentally friendly grassroots economic transformation with climate change mitigation to carry out the development. Thus, the HASF, in collaboration with the HASC, and the Center for Community Development and Transformation Studies, Faculty of Business, DWCU, conducted a series of seminars with the theme “HASC towards Indonesia 2030.” What will happen to Indonesia in 2030? Firstly, Indonesia will have a bonus demography in 2030, and Indonesia hopes to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas by 32%.
The five seminars have been completed. I wrote the terms of reference and questions to the speakers for each seminar. In the previous newsletter, I shared the stories of these seminars. The fourth and fifth seminars also went well. The fourth seminar was held in Panggungharjo village, Bantul district with the topic “Green Tourism Villages as an Implementation of Sustainable Development Preparing Communities to be Involved in Low Carbon Markets in Indonesia.” Learn more about it by visiting jogjabroadcast.com/post-wisata-hijau-implementasi-pembangunan-berkelanjutan-49. The seminar was held January 20 in Karangkirti. Karangkirti is a good place for residents to learn about intercropping farming, which has the same principles as agroforestry. Interestingly, participants generally admitted that they did not know about low-carbon markets or climate change.
Panggungharjo Village was chosen as the venue for the seminar because its location is surrounded by a highway called the Southern Ring Road. This is the busiest road used by tourists to get to the South Coast of Yogyakarta. So, the level of greenhouse gas emissions in the village environment is high. It is hoped that in the future, people will plant more trees on their agricultural land to help absorb carbon.
The fifth seminar was held in the middle of the forest in the Giricahyo village where many in the community are forest farmers. The topic of the seminar was “Exploring the Potential of Village Forest Conservation to Overcome Community Poverty.” Learn more at jawainovatif.com/seminar-konservasi-hutan-desa-diselenggarakan-di-giricahyo.
Participants learned that climate change mitigation efforts must be supported by a culture of forest conservation. Resource persons came from the Regional Development Planning Agency, the Environment and Forestry Service, and the Faculty of Business, DWCU.
As a follow-up to the seminar, I held audiences with DWCU faculties to offer research and empowerment collaboration on the topic of “Climate Change Mitigation Movement and Green Economic Transformation. The focus was on villages around the Southern route. Conservation needs to be strengthened in this area amidst tourism development because the road route in the South of Java was opened to allow travel through the natural green hills that give way to cliffs and the Indonesian Ocean.
The results of this conversation will be discussed at the celebration of the first decade of HASF, which will be held March 27-28 at Edge Resort Yogyakarta. The proposal on climate change mitigation and green economic transformation will be presented at the celebration. This proposal will be submitted to the Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta and forwarded to the Norwegian government. It is hoped that HASF’s efforts to organize the Yogyakarta business, academic, and government community to put together this proposal will inspire others to be involved in transforming climate change and supporting green economy policies in Yogyakarta. We were able to do this because of assistance from the St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Iowa and the HASF.
I would like to thank the churches and individuals who have supported my ministry. If you would like to hear about my ongoing ministry, please send your request email to pondokjatirasa@yahoo.com and griyajatirasa@gmail.com.
Salam,
Farsijana