Climate Change: Global Institutions versus Local Actions

Climate Change Global Institutions versus Local Actions

Tony Djogo

Climate changes, global warming, carbon markets, water issues, deforestation, poverty alleviation, and all other related and pertinent contemporary and interlocking issues have been in the heated debate nowadays. Many donors and governmental institutions have poured much money into research, policy dialogue and development, meetings, and capacity building.

How could we really be convinced that human beings can control nature and mitigate climate change while they have destroyed the environment? Humans have greedily exploited natural resources with their political, economic, or financial powers?

In the 1970s, there were heated debates about the future of our earth, with several concepts proposed for protecting the environment, such as sustainable development. The more research conducted, the more discussions organized, and the more policies developed for protecting the environment, the more degraded forest, land, and water resources we may have seen anywhere on this planet.

I witnessed in the early 2000s, during an early stage of political transformation, the massive destruction of forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Political transformation and decentralization significantly had negative impacts on forests and the environment.

Sustainable development or an environmentally sound approach was proposed without predicting the threats from massive and market-based rapid economic development. There was also no anticipation of rapid technology and industrial growth, market and economy, and consumerism that consumed and burnt the fuel with massive emissions of gaseous pollutants.

The ideas of the Club of Rome, The Limits to Growths, UNFCC and IPPC, Al Gore, and Leonardo de Caprio might be brilliant for discussion at the global level. Now, we have more government leaders or celebrities who are concerned and talking about environmental issues. But who will solve the problem at the local level? How is the local community involved, committed, responsible, and interested or got incentives to help solve this global issue?

Every time I attended any international, national, or local level meetings, I have always asked more or less the same questions related to how local people and local institutions could play the role and share the responsibilities and roles in addressing environmental issues. Are they interested in dealing with those issues?

Environmental awareness campaigns have almost never successfully influenced or changed people's behavior and attitudes toward the environment. There is only a very small portion of the population who is really concerned about environmental problems.

Local communities and institutions have failed to participate and demonstrated their commitment to address environmental issues. So much money has been spent by environmental organizations while, at the same time, the global and national economic powers have been more successful in exploiting and destroying nature with massive and rapid destruction.

Without radical changes in approaches and methodologies, policies and institutions, laws and regulations, all the visions about reducing emissions, controlling global warming, or preventing environmental destruction would be the utopia.

Let us look back at the 1950s when the rich and industrial countries supported by non-profit charity organizations supported rural development, community development, poverty alleviation, and agricultural development endeavors but have left nothing or little legacies such as stories and interesting publications. In the 1980s, the World Bank proposed a massive project on T&V in agricultural extension, but nothing changed. In the 1990s, the World Bank and ADB spent millions of dollars on ICDP (Integrated Conservation and Development Program) in Sumatra, but more conservation areas have been significantly damaged, degraded, or destroyed. I reviewed one of the ICDP projects in Sumatra in the early 2000s.

I am so worried that all endeavors to address global warming or control climate change will have the same destiny as those campaigns on community development, poverty alleviation, or with a sustainable development approach, ICDP, T&V, MDGs, etc. The other people at the global level discussed the problems, proposed policies and ideas, institutions, and technologies, but others should work on it. Global institutions and experts designed the goals and objectives of certain programs and projects, but the locals should implement them. Are there any clear examples with success stories of good connections between the global and local institutions in addressing the problems of common property regimes?

Let us discuss how could we develop institutions, mechanisms, incentives, policy, and legal frameworks and design at the very local and small-scale level that all the small activities could contribute to the global efforts to combat climate change. Are there any technical, market, and financial mechanisms, or institutions (socially and economically) that could be developed at the local level in such a way that the local people and their institutions would be interested and able to support the prevention of and mitigate climate change?