42 years of WALHI: Striving to shift the paradigm of environmental movement
On October 15 2022, WALHI celebrates its 42nd anniversary. 42 years as an environmental movement, WALHI has gone through at least three cycles, building public awareness, democratizing natural resources, and expanding the environmental movement in Indonesia.
For more than four decades, WALHI’s works to deliver ecological justice have been carried out through various interventions and capabilities, from encouraging the recognition and expansion of Community-based Area Management (WKR), pushing for law enforcement in environmental crimes, to providing various environmental education for the youth to have ecological perspectives.
One of the great successes of WALHI in doing its advocacy works is encouraging the government to issue a moratorium policy on primary natural forests and peatlands in 2011 and on oil palm expansion in 2018. These efforts have at least contributed to stopping deforestation in forest areas, reducing and repositioning the corporate power and reducing natural resource conflicts with communities.
Despite these attainments, the situation of natural resources management in Indonesia is still managed in exploitative nature, communities are still being subject to criminalization, and as the new criminal code law recently passed, democracy is experiencing a setback.
WALHI believes that the root of these problems is the Indonesian government's policy culture, which is based on political decisions that prioritize economic growth and put aside the people’s interest.
Change in the paradigm and policy of natural resources management is needed. In this spirit, WALHI as an environmental movement is striving to shift the paradigm of environment movement with the new initiatives that will become centre of our work in the coming years, they are Akademi Ekologi and Ekosistem Ekonomi Nusantara.
We hope this end-year edition of our newsletter will keep you inspired. We are always grateful for your unwavering support to WALHI. Enjoy the read.
Download link: WALHI Newsletter 2022 (Fourth Edition)
