Doctoral Researcher Rijal Ramdani started in the University of Eastern Finland’s shared doctoral student position system in 2021 and is now finalising his doctoral dissertation on palm oil production and peatland fires in Indonesia.
In his home country, Rijal Ramdani worked as a teacher and researcher in Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta, which is a private university in Indonesia. His interest in issues relating to natural resources governance was sparked during a field trip to Sumatra in 2016–2018, when Ramdani noticed how vulnerable peatland ecosystems are.
“I began to think about sustainable ways for peatland governance. Indonesian peatlands are an important ecosystem for climate change mitigation, biodiversity and water regulation. I began to wonder whether it would be possible for national and local governments, timber and palm oil companies, local communities and NGOs to collaborate in the governance of peatland ecosystems.”
These ideas led Ramdani to the University of Eastern Finland and to the Responsive Natural Resources Governance Research Group led by Professor Irmeli Mustalahti. Last year, Ramdani got selected to the university’s new shared doctoral student position system. Half of his salary is paid by the University of Eastern Finland, and the other half by his own home university in Indonesia.
“The University of Eastern Finland’s research groups in the field of natural resources governance are well linked with the field’s international research networks. Our research groups include professors and senior and junior researchers from all over the world, so we are capable of publishing our findings in the leading scientific journals. This is very important not only for the development of scientific knowledge, but also for the relationship between people and society.”
Expansion of palm oil production poses a threat to Indonesian peat swamp forests
The majority, i.e., more than 80%, of the world’s palm oil used by the food and cosmetics industry is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia.
“In legal terms, most of Indonesia's peatlands are controlled by the government and operated through private permits. In practice, the government does not have the necessary tools for peatland governance, and corporations have claimed peatlands for their own use. In addition, local communities that do not have ownership of the land have also claimed peatlands for the production of palm oil.”
Fire is used to clear the land mainly by smallholder farmers, and this has increased the number of uncontrolled peatland fires and, as a result, harmful gas emissions.
“As a result of the palm oil boom, the local elite has benefited from the illegal burning of peatlands by buying off areas designated for palm oil production from local people.”
Policy briefs are one way of making research-based knowledge available to decision-makers, businesses, NGOs, the media and citizens.
“Not everyone has access to scientific publications and many scientific terms need explaining. We hope that policy briefs will make the results of scientific work more widely accessible to society,” Ramdani says.
“It is the responsibility of research institutes to promote research-based knowledge and decision-making that relies on it,” says Irmeli Mustalahti, Professor of Natural Resources Governance at the University of Eastern Finland.
Every year, the Responsive Natural Resources Governance Research Group of the University of Eastern Finland publishes a policy brief, which is also translated into several languages – the most recent one into English, Swahili and Indonesian. Policy briefs are formulated in joint workshops between researchers and stakeholders, after which a smaller core team of researchers will crystallise the key messages.
“Before a policy brief is published, it is reviewed by external evaluators. This is to ensure that the policy brief is clear also for those who are unfamiliar with the research context.”
Policy brief 2022 in English
Policy brief 2022 in Indonesian
There are problems with the certification of responsible palm oil production
Ramdani sees that the responsibilization of timber and palm oil companies as well as private plantation owners is still a challenge. It should be possible to ensure that companies comply with the criteria of the Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil certificate, RSPO, and don’t expand their plantations to, for example, peat swamp forests, which play a significant role as carbon sinks and conservation areas.
“Most Indonesian palm oil plantation owners, such as local elites and smallholders, are not certificated either by the RSPO or the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil certification, ISPO. Based on my observations, certification ends in palm oil companies and the origin of the raw material is not always certified. An important question is whether palm oil companies are aware of the quality and sources of the fresh palm fruit coming to their mills and refineries.”
Ramdani points out that based on the ethos of responsibility, not only the government but also other actors, such as the national and local administration, palm oil companies, NGOs, and palm oil farmers, should be responsible for the sustainable use of natural resources.
He has looked at similar examples from North Karelia, Finland, where one forest owner took initiative in conserving an area of forest around a lake, and a fisherman pointed out that he only fishes what his family needs.
“These conversations taught me a lesson about responsible citizen behaviour and responsible attitudes. I hope that this kind of responsibility will be found more also in Indonesia, where companies are increasingly committed to protecting 30% of the area covered by their permit, and actually comply with certification criteria. In addition, I would like to see fewer people in Indonesia to set up palm oil plantations on peatlands, and less use of forest fires to clear the land.”
Responsibilization can build mistrust
In Indonesia, citizens’ and environmental organisations’ opportunities to participate in natural resources governance have been increased. Ramdani found in his study that responsibilization can build mistrust between environmental NGOs operating from different perspectives.
According to Ramdani, advocacy ENGOs with global networks are able to use, for example, demonstrations and legal measures against palm oil companies.
Some ENGOs, on the other hand, are focused on service and apply community development and empowerment programmes in collaboration with the government and corporations.
“They are unable to reconstruct and modify these programmes based on their best knowledge and principles. It is therefore good to consider whether organisations are supported in their responsible activities, or whether they are responsibilized without giving them the necessary resources. A lack of resources leads to mistrust when different NGOs have negative expectations of each other's actions, institutions and material support received.”
The centralisation of forest ownership on the state is one of the greatest challenges of sustainable natural resources governance in Indonesia.
Rijal Ramdani
Early Stage Researcher
Indonesia could learn from the Finnish forest ownership system
In Finland, 60% of the forest area is owned by private individuals, while 70% of Indonesian forests are state-owned. Of these, 60 million hectares have been allocated to commercial timber and palm oil production. Ramdani believes that Indonesia could learn a lot from the Finnish system.
“The centralisation of forest ownership to the state is one of the greatest challenges of sustainable natural resources governance in Indonesia. However, the country has potential for decentralising ownership of, and access to, forests. This could be done, for example, through village forests, community forestry and community plantations, as well as through Adat forests. Under the scheme of Adat forest indigenous people could have the right over the forests in the area where they live.”
However, in a study carried out in Java, Ramdani found that the administrative requirements to get a permit are very complicated and still centralised to the top political administration in Jakarta.
Without the advocacy of NGOs and the help of experts hired by them, local communities would not be able to get the permits needed for community forestry and community plantations.
After finalising his doctoral degree, Ramdani would like to promote the idea of forest decentralization and community rights in Indonesia.
“An NGO expert I interviewed for the study said that a system similar to the Finnish system of forest ownership should be the future of Indonesia as well, with local people and families having true rights over the forests, like in Finland.”
Access to scientific knowledge is good in Finland
Ramdani has enjoyed working on the Joensuu Campus. The university offers excellent working facilities, equipment, and access to the necessary materials.
“Here, the situation with access to scientific knowledge is different than in Indonesia, where researchers themselves must pay for access to non-open access articles.”
The Ramdani family has also enjoyed their time in Finland. The children go to a local day care centre and on their free time, the family enjoys spending time outdoors, in the local nature.
“We’ve spent hours cycling around Joensuu, and we’ve also hiked in the forest. The kids are so excited to hear birds singing in the morning and to see wild rabbits playing in the yard in the afternoon. In the autumn, we collect berries and mushrooms. We'll never forget our winter ski tours, nor relaxing in the sauna after a busy day. We’ve enjoyed all of this during our stay in Finland.”
Policy brief 2022 in English
Policy brief 2022 in Indonesian
