WWF manages people rather than nature: Betts
WWF manages people rather than nature: Betts
JAKARTA (JP): The idea that conservation efforts are meaningful if the "stakeholders", the people directly affected, are involved is an underlining principle of the activities of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Indonesia.
Conservation is not really about "managing nature" as is widely believed, it is about "managing people's interaction with nature", said Russel Betts, who stepped down as chief executive officer of the Indonesian Program of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-IP) this month after seven years of dedication.
Conservation, after all, is not a "top down" issue, he told The Jakarta Post. "Conservation requires cooperation by the government, people, and all other stakeholders."
One of the programs now being carried out by the WWF-IP promotes what is called the "conservation culture" among Indonesians. It is designed to raise public awareness to the point that conservation-related issues will be just as important as development issues in determining the future of Indonesia.
WWF is also helping to develop an effectively managed Indonesian Protected Areas System which will assure the protection of the most important elements of Indonesia's vastly rich biological heritage.
Its targets include assisting the government to place 10 percent of Indonesia's land area and 30 million hectares of sea area under effective conservation management by the year 2000.
WWF is also helping Indonesia comply with the terms of the global Biodiversity Convention Jakarta signed.
WWF, which was founded in 1962, has been in Indonesia since as far back as 1963.
The current phase of its program, which was begun by Betts in 1989, focuses on the integration of conservation and development, and people's participation in conservation and nature protection.
WWF-IP currently has 15 field projects in Bali, Irian Jaya, Java, Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi and Sumatra, run by professional staff with relevant expertise.
Betts said WWF-IP has established respectful rapport with the Indonesian government and has also gained popularity among the public because of its wide range of activities.
"It is also because the importance of conservation and protection of Indonesia's natural resources and of a clean and healthy environment is increasingly recognized and accepted by the public," Betts said.
Betts said WWF-IP is not free of problems.
"WWF-IP works within the Indonesian bureaucracy and socio- economic system, and sometimes it is difficult to obtain needed permits and authorization, especially when dealing with officials or special interests who do not understand the goals and objectives of WWF or who, for their own reasons, are more interested in exploiting natural resources than in protecting and conserving them," Betts said.
Many development and business activities are carried out in ways which are extremely damaging to the environment, he said.
"Often, this does not need to be the case, but an understanding of environmentally-friendly development is not yet understood well enough by many people," Betts said.
Another problem is that much of the work of WWF-IP is carried out in remote and difficult areas where traveling, living and working can be difficult, he added.
The current WWF-IP program is more than 15 times larger than it was seven years ago, Betts said, and less than 10 percent of the costs are covered by the WWF International Secretariat.
Most of WWF-IP's funds are received as grants to specific projects or program activities from the development assistance agencies of donor countries. (31)