Rare's implementation strategies of environmental conservation in Indonesia

Alvaro Arvizo, University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

Like most developing nations, Indonesia is at a crucial stage in its modern political and economic history. Opposing forces are constantly at work, a government struggling to make Indonesia a modern nation and the economic demands of a growing population. This presents the country with a multitude of problems. One of several is that nature's resources are exploited for personal economic gain with no regard for the long-term effects. This is a major concern for environmental conservation and non-profit government organizations (NGOs) worldwide. The American NGO Rare is at the forefront of this issue. Its aim is to meet community and environmental needs at the local level. Research was conducted to study Rare, its collaboration with its partners in Indonesia and its implementation strategies of environmental conservation. A crucial and key factor used by Rare in its campaigns is known as the "barrier removal operation plan" - BROP. This paper analyzes the implementation of environmental advocacy campaigns in Indonesia with a focus on how Rare uses BROP as the "behavioral change" strategy needed to ensure local communities' engagement in environmental campaigns. This approach helped create and change awareness, attitudes, and behaviors toward conservation at the local level, which is paramount in changing the way people relate to nature. Local adaptation, by integrating the economic and livelihood needs of local communities while striving to achieve the goals of biodiversity, proved to be a crucial part of the process. Employing an agroforestry system of farming and creating a credit union empowered the local communities by building confidence and mobilizing grassroots efforts to support rural development programs and prevent deterioration of the quality and quantity of forest. These findings provide a new perspective of Rare's operations and reliability concerning environmental conservation campaigns in developing countries.

Subject Area

Communication|Environmental Studies

Recommended Citation

Arvizo, Alvaro, "Rare's implementation strategies of environmental conservation in Indonesia" (2010). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI1483818.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI1483818

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