Politani Kupang Inaugurates Two Professors, Highlighting Rabies Control and Social Forestry
The Kupang State Agricultural Polytechnic (Politani Kupang) in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) has inaugurated two lecturers as professors. The ceremony for Ewaldus Wera and Fransiskus Xaverius Dato took place at the Politani Kupang student centre hall on Saturday.
Ewaldus Wera, a lecturer in the animal husbandry department’s veterinary health programme, was inaugurated as a professor with expertise in epidemiology and veterinary economics. Meanwhile, Fransiskus Xaverius Dato is a lecturer in the forestry department specialising in social forestry.
In his scientific oration, Ewaldus stressed that rabies is a zoonotic disease whose management must be carried out through a One Health approach, integrating human health, animal health, and environmental health. He presented research integrating various scientific perspectives, from epidemiology and ecology to social psychology and health economics, to provide a scientific basis for decision-making in rabies control. His oration was titled ‘Science and Policy Collaboration: Transforming Rabies Control Through the Integration of Epidemiology and Veterinary Economics within the One Health Framework Towards a Rabies-Free Indonesia’.
According to Ewaldus, an interdisciplinary approach is necessary to understand the pattern of rabies spread, the behaviour of dog owners towards control programmes, and to determine the most effective strategies, especially in areas with high dog populations like Flores Island. He asserted that the success of rabies control depends not only on mass dog vaccination but is also influenced by social, economic, and cultural conditions, as well as government policy support. He explained that rabies control is not merely a medical or veterinary issue, but a shared challenge requiring a holistic, integrated, and sustainable One Health approach.
He revealed that one of the most effective ways to prevent rabies in humans is by controlling it in the dog population. Various strategies have been applied in different countries, including mass dog vaccination and culling in infected areas. Under certain conditions, culling can be effective in stopping the spread of rabies, with rapid culling after an outbreak successfully controlling it within about seven months. However, experience in Flores shows that a strategy’s success heavily depends on the community’s social and economic conditions. The dog culling programme in Flores did not yield the expected results due to low owner participation. His research indicated that about 60 percent of dog owners were unwilling to cull their dogs even when rabies cases occurred in their village. This happened because, for most people in Flores, dogs hold economic, social, and cultural value. In many rural households, a dog is considered a valuable asset, so culling policies are seen not only as a disease control measure but also as a loss of family economic resources. Beyond economic factors, psychological factors also influence community decisions, with most dog owners believing that culling will not reduce the incidence of rabies in humans. This belief leads to low community awareness and support for culling programmes. These findings provide an important lesson that the success of rabies control is determined not only by the technical accuracy of the strategy but also by the extent to which it is accepted and supported by the community. Therefore, every rabies control policy must consider the social, economic, and cultural conditions of the community to be implemented effectively and sustainably.
Fransiskus Xaverius Dato stated that social forestry should no longer be understood merely as a programme for distributing land access. The ecological, social, economic, institutional, and cultural dimensions must be seen as a governance spectrum encompassing interactions that shape the future of Indonesia’s forestry development. This is particularly relevant for NTT Province, given its high ecological vulnerability, community dependence on forest resources, and the wealth of local wisdom that can serve as a basis for effective governance. He delivered this in his oration titled ‘The Spectrum of Social Forestry in Forest Governance to Realise Community Welfare and Forest Sustainability in East Nusa Tenggara’. NTT possesses a wealth of local wisdom and social capital that are important foundations for supporting sustainable forest management. Social forestry is not only a forest management instrument but also a development strategy that can harmonise community welfare goals, environmental conservation, and regional resilience to climate change. To understand social forestry as an important strategy in current forestry development, it is first necessary to review the evolution of the forest management paradigm in Indonesia. However, the success of social forestry cannot be measured solely by the area of land that has received permits. The success of granting access does not necessarily align with successful implementation on the ground. Findings indicate that many social forestry groups still face various challenges, such as limited business capital and low institutional capacity.