author: Satriyo Panalaran (panalaran@gmail.com)
Challenges in Managing an Islands Country
Indonesia is islands country which has large marine resources. In this chapter will be identified several problems on an islands country. Those problem are categorized in three major aspect, namely socio-economy aspect, environmental aspect, and the defense and security on sea territory.
2.1. Socio-economy aspect
Problem in socio-economy aspect is described by condition of fisherman household and household of small islands communities. In fact there are many household of fisherman who are poor. The major problem which causing the discrepancy of economy between one region and another is because uneven development. The centralized development in the past led to emergence of underdeveloped region which impact on the lower regional economy, problem in accessing education and health services. This matter also motivating people to migration to urban. In the recent period, the concept of development is no longer centralized, however it is not easy to achieve equitable development on an islands country. Indonesia has about 5000 of islands are inhabited by communities, where the community settlement tend to spread. The development challenges which faced by islands country is organize an infrastructure construction which separated geographically between one region and another. This problem is causing amount per item of infrastructure which is provided by government should be more.
As described before, the lack of infrastructure yields inequalities of social and economy between communities. For example, the difficulty of access to educational facilities can cause the low of education level so that has also resulted the lower welfare. The lack of infrastructure especially on the small islands cause peoples only be able to work traditionally that results in low productivity of society.
Another problem faced by fisherman household from economic view is the limited financial resources (capital). Whereas the capture fishing industry is industry which require a lot of capital. Capture fisheries sector is difficult to obtain capital from banks, it due to there is no certainty in profit, high risk business, as well as there is no guarantee that can be offered by fisherman to the banks. It addition with many records of “Non Performing Loan” by traditional fisherman. The difficulty of access to capital result the fisherman rely on loans which obtained from middlemen (in Indonesia is called as Tengkulak).
2.2. Environmental aspect
Free definition of environmental based on author’s opinion is The living space where occur the interaction between biota and its relationship with a substance or inanimate object (which is called as abiotic) which support the living of organism. There are several problems related to the environmental, among others is global warming, environmental degradation and overfishing in marine area.
Trend of global warming that occurred in last decade has effect on marine environment. Global warming has caused the death of coral reefs (coral bleaching) especially in Indonesia marine areas. As we know, the ecosystem of coral reefs has rich nutrient that contains a lot of phytoplankton and inviting small fish, and further it will generating the food chain in an ecosystem. Trend of global warming is also assumed as a factor of sea level rise along the coastline. The sea level rise on coastal region is feared to flood some land areas so that should be planed the mitigation effort to minimize the impact.
Environmental degradation can be caused by natural process or artificial process. The natural coastal degradation for example is phenomenon of abrasion, erosion and sedimentation in coastal areas. Actually, those phenomenon is a natural occurrence, but because of it can interfere on human life, then it is classified into coastal problems. The environmental degradation by other natural processes that is global warming, as mentioned before. Environmental degradation by interference of human has example among others marine waters pollution, damaging fishing tools, and changes in function of land use. Changes of land uses in marine areas potentially can damage the existences of ecosystem of coral reefs or mangrove.
Other problem beside environmental degradation is overfishing in some waters regardless of the preservation of fish resources. The incident of overfishing and coastal environment degradation causing fisherman are forced to capture fish on the sea farther from their home. It certainly require larger capital and more pressing the fisherman life. Coastal environment degradation is directly impact on traditional fisherman life. It confirms that the issue of coastal protection should not only focus on the protection for human settlement, but it must be consider on the principle of environmental sustainability as well socio-economic improvement to coastal communities.
2.3. Defense and security aspect of sea territory
Indonesia is a country which has 2/3 sea area of the total areas of the State, and immediately adjacent to marine borders of some neighboring countries. Therefore, the strength of the defense and security of the State should give more portions to the sea and air defense. The defense and security of sea territory is useful to confront the threat that incoming from marine borders, and also securing the territorial sea from the illegal fishing action, piracy, oil theft by tanker and smuggling prohibited goods.
Indonesia is islands country which has large marine resources. In this chapter will be identified several problems on an islands country. Those problem are categorized in three major aspect, namely socio-economy aspect, environmental aspect, and the defense and security on sea territory.
2.1. Socio-economy aspect
Problem in socio-economy aspect is described by condition of fisherman household and household of small islands communities. In fact there are many household of fisherman who are poor. The major problem which causing the discrepancy of economy between one region and another is because uneven development. The centralized development in the past led to emergence of underdeveloped region which impact on the lower regional economy, problem in accessing education and health services. This matter also motivating people to migration to urban. In the recent period, the concept of development is no longer centralized, however it is not easy to achieve equitable development on an islands country. Indonesia has about 5000 of islands are inhabited by communities, where the community settlement tend to spread. The development challenges which faced by islands country is organize an infrastructure construction which separated geographically between one region and another. This problem is causing amount per item of infrastructure which is provided by government should be more.
As described before, the lack of infrastructure yields inequalities of social and economy between communities. For example, the difficulty of access to educational facilities can cause the low of education level so that has also resulted the lower welfare. The lack of infrastructure especially on the small islands cause peoples only be able to work traditionally that results in low productivity of society.
Another problem faced by fisherman household from economic view is the limited financial resources (capital). Whereas the capture fishing industry is industry which require a lot of capital. Capture fisheries sector is difficult to obtain capital from banks, it due to there is no certainty in profit, high risk business, as well as there is no guarantee that can be offered by fisherman to the banks. It addition with many records of “Non Performing Loan” by traditional fisherman. The difficulty of access to capital result the fisherman rely on loans which obtained from middlemen (in Indonesia is called as Tengkulak).
2.2. Environmental aspect
Free definition of environmental based on author’s opinion is The living space where occur the interaction between biota and its relationship with a substance or inanimate object (which is called as abiotic) which support the living of organism. There are several problems related to the environmental, among others is global warming, environmental degradation and overfishing in marine area.
Trend of global warming that occurred in last decade has effect on marine environment. Global warming has caused the death of coral reefs (coral bleaching) especially in Indonesia marine areas. As we know, the ecosystem of coral reefs has rich nutrient that contains a lot of phytoplankton and inviting small fish, and further it will generating the food chain in an ecosystem. Trend of global warming is also assumed as a factor of sea level rise along the coastline. The sea level rise on coastal region is feared to flood some land areas so that should be planed the mitigation effort to minimize the impact.
Environmental degradation can be caused by natural process or artificial process. The natural coastal degradation for example is phenomenon of abrasion, erosion and sedimentation in coastal areas. Actually, those phenomenon is a natural occurrence, but because of it can interfere on human life, then it is classified into coastal problems. The environmental degradation by other natural processes that is global warming, as mentioned before. Environmental degradation by interference of human has example among others marine waters pollution, damaging fishing tools, and changes in function of land use. Changes of land uses in marine areas potentially can damage the existences of ecosystem of coral reefs or mangrove.
Other problem beside environmental degradation is overfishing in some waters regardless of the preservation of fish resources. The incident of overfishing and coastal environment degradation causing fisherman are forced to capture fish on the sea farther from their home. It certainly require larger capital and more pressing the fisherman life. Coastal environment degradation is directly impact on traditional fisherman life. It confirms that the issue of coastal protection should not only focus on the protection for human settlement, but it must be consider on the principle of environmental sustainability as well socio-economic improvement to coastal communities.
2.3. Defense and security aspect of sea territory
Indonesia is a country which has 2/3 sea area of the total areas of the State, and immediately adjacent to marine borders of some neighboring countries. Therefore, the strength of the defense and security of the State should give more portions to the sea and air defense. The defense and security of sea territory is useful to confront the threat that incoming from marine borders, and also securing the territorial sea from the illegal fishing action, piracy, oil theft by tanker and smuggling prohibited goods.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar