Climate diplomacy next for Murdiyarso?
Daniel Murdiyarso was born in Cepu, a small town in Central Java, Indonesia. He grew up surrounded by teak forests. Although he had dreamed of working in the forestry industry from a young age, he could never have imagined that he would devote 30 years of his life to scientific research on ecosystems, swamps, mangrove forests and climate change.
“That’s when I associate forestry with only commercial interests,” he said, admitting he had little or no awareness of environmental issues at a young age.
By 2022, Murdiyarso became the first Indonesian scientist to receive an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Helsinki in recognition of his significant contribution to forest research on 17 June.
He is currently a leading researcher at the Center for International Forestry Research-World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), where he has worked since 2003, and a professor at the Department of Geophysics and Meteorology of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (FMIPA – IPB). ) In Indonesia, where he has been teaching since 1997.
His journey has been adventurous. Much of his fieldwork has been done in high-risk conditions, such as passing through the neck and water in swamps and mangrove forests across Indonesia, where elephants, tigers, crocodiles and snakes gather a wealth of data to measure the stored carbon of these “blues”. carbon ecosystems.
He remembers being one of the first climate scientists at CIFOR-ICRAF. “Climate change has become a global priority today. But when I started, we had to push for climate change to be on the agenda and for forestry to be linked to climate change.
Murdiyarso has made a significant contribution to the development of climate change research in Indonesia as well as on the international stage. Over the past two decades, he has published more than 100 papers on land use change and biogeochemical cycles, climate change mitigation and adaptation. He has received many prestigious awards during his career, including this recent one, including the Ahmad Bakrie Award (2010), the Sarwono-LIPI Award (2018) and the Habibie Award (2020). Since 2002, Murdiyarso has been an active member of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences.
In the future, Murdiyarso hopes to be able to strengthen relations between Finland and Indonesia through climate diplomacy through his academic and research positions at the University of Helsinki, CIFOR-ICRAF and FMIPA – IPB.
“The University of Helsinki is the oldest and largest public research university in Finland and IPB is one of the oldest universities in Indonesia. Both have a long history of forestry and agricultural education, he said. “To me, [this honorary degree] is a great start for scientific diplomacy and exchange. “
Murdiyarso, in particular, believes that restoring bogs – one of his key areas of research – can act as a catalyst. Despite their different biophysical properties, countries can still benefit from dialogue on sustainable vascular care.
“I learned that in the past, significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions were achieved in Finland from drained peatlands and extraction to energy production,” he said. “However, following Treaty of Paris, Finland has shared its long-term strategy, which presents sustainable development scenarios and impact assessments for the national carbon neutrality target set for 2035 and for the development of greenhouse gas emissions and emissions by 2050.
Political decision – making is no stranger to Murdiyarso, who served as Indonesia ‘s Deputy Minister of the Environment for two years from 2000 to 2002. As co-author of the IPCC Third Assessment Report and the IPCC Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry, he firstly understands the crucial role of researchers in public policy-making.
“As modern scientists, we don’t just produce numbers or information. We need to get our message there, too, he said. “To do this, we need to act as a bridge by building relationships with other key stakeholders in both the public and private sectors.”
Example: Murdiyarso has leveraged his decades of scientific and public policy experience to serve as one of the leading architects behind the recent establishment of the World Mangrove Center in Teluk Balikpapan (WMCTB) in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Indonesia is home to all of the world’s mangrove forests, making it a world leader in mangrove research and management, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity protection and ecosystem services.
“Indonesia is very lucky. In the midst of all the natural disasters and catastrophes, we have been blessed with many things, including the mangrove ecosystem. We need to be wise about treating it as a national treasure rather than just considering it as an economic resource.”
“All eyes are now on Indonesia, after the opening of this center,” Murdiyarso said. “I hope the WMCTB will help promote the importance of the mangrove tree and its impact on global climate change. In fact, mangrove forests store much more carbon than other land ecosystems, which means they play an important role in combating climate change.
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