PPIW 2.0 : Home (for) initiatives and innovation

It is time to implement the (policy and governance) science or to play people-policy interface.

Menimba ilmu di rantau, memupuk rasa rindu terhadap tanah air. Maka dari itu, kemudian rasa sepenanggungan ini membuat mahasiswa Indonesia di luar negeri berkumpul di bawah 'Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia' (PPI). PPI Wageningen berdiri (PPIW) sejak 1987, banyak hal telah dicapai untuk memberikan 'rumah' bagi para perantau pelajar Indonesia, dan juga kontribusi lainnya bagi Indonesia serta komunitas lain di sekitar Wageningen.

Global change membuat fungsi PPIW juga terus bertransformasi, tak hanya sebagai 'paguyuban' Indonesia, tapi juga bisa menjadi hub bagi ide-ide inovasi para mahasiswa Indonesia, untuk menjadi cikal bakal 'think tank' bagi isu strategis di tanah air dan membuka potensi untuk kerjasama internasional (Fig 1). Transformasi ini yang diharapkan menjadi PPIW 2.0.

Figure 1. Integrated programmes

Social innovation for energy transition

Last month, Ignasius Jonan, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources released the statement that Indonesia may not be able to achieve target for the energy mix 2025. He said that existing policies are already more than enough to attract investor, but the problem is competition with traditional fuels which is comparatively cheaper. He also argued that despite the price is lower and the technology is available, the development of renewable energy would still take time. Then what we can do to contribute to the acceleration of the renewable energy transition?
 

Beside economic issues, societal acceptance topic is also important in the renewable energy transition. The energy transition includes macro-level innovations that often consist of a series of technological advancements. This is usually followed by changes in societies, their economic and social domains. Therefore, it requires social innovation. 

Promoting sustainable learning for cacao farmers

Concept of farmers' labs

Many provinces could be turned into major cacao producing areas through an intensification program. However, a sustainable agriculture concept should be adopted so that the intensification program would not harm the environment.

Sustainable practices are applied by some farmer groups in Indonesia. Yet many farmers still use the traditional approach to agriculture, which harms the environment and brings little benefit. Immediately after harvesting, they strive to sell their cacao beans to middlemen in order to get quick money, without considering the sustainable market for their product and enhancing their own income.

The main barrier to pro-environmental and sustainable practices is the personal attitude of the farmers. They do not put much effort into gaining knowledge about the negative impacts of their agricultural practices, which can result in a more vulnerable situation for their livelihood. The mind-set of the farmers makes them act and react based on the experiences of their forefathers, not based on knowledge and science. This value creates perceptions among the farmers that their forefathers who used old farming practices for a long time are more reliable than the knowledge that comes from external actors.

Why do we need social scientists in environmental research?

Risk governance framework

There are many environmental challenges which are threatening ecosystem and global biodiversity. Environmental issue is an interdisciplinary topic which has complex interaction between human with nature system. It has substantive uncertainty and strategic-institutional uncertainty among the stakeholders. Scientific research is required to manage risk of the uncertainties. Scientists have to collaborate in interdisciplinary research to solve wicked environmental problems. Interdisciplinary research generally refers to the process of coordination, collaboration, or investigation by researchers are combined into a public issue with sharing, invention, and knowledge mix between disciplines.

The social sciences research produces strong output that contributes to environmental studies. Social scientists are studying humans in some form or another, this output is required to produce various kinds of socially robust knowledge to address environmental issues. Consequently, it creates potential for knowledge transfer and scalability, praxis planning and policy-making bridges to implement solution for the problems. Scientific research on societal environmental issues requires a full collaborative role of social scientists.