Project

Decentralized environmental management system and social capacity development in Indonesia

• Our lab has been continuously researching environmental issues and policies in Indonesia through JICA’s evaluation projects and 21-century CEO program. In 2006 and 2007, Matsuoka headed the JBIC/SAPS project and conducted a research regarding situation and challenges of decentralized environmental management system in Indonesia, particularly focusing on river water quality control In this project, round-table committee (RT) was organized in East Java, South Sulawesi and Lampung to establish the participatory scheme of government, firms and citizens, as well as strengthening social environmental management capacity. Also, in the capital Jakarta, steering committee (ST) has been established, involving central government, chamber of commerce and University of Indonesia, to discuss the rural supporting policies.
• From November 2006 to July 2007, we held five RT and SC meetings in four cities, worked to establish sound relationship among different social actors, deeply discussed the action plan to improve environmental management system, and made recommendations for future actions. In September 2007, a report including the recommendations was completed in English and Indonesian. This research has proved that RT and SC can be effective tools to develop and strengthen social capacity. Our lab is now applying this RT and SC scheme to combating-desertification project in Mongolia, and working for capacity development to combat desertification.