CRC for Plant Biosecurity - Indonesia

Bringing biosecurity and food security to community developers in five Continents

CRICHTONA — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:16:23 +0000

Eka Martiningsih and Gung Sri Jayantini have been researchers on the Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity (CRCNPB) research project on community management of biosecurity. This project is a collaborative venture between Indonesia and Australia, and Eka and Sri are researching some Indonesian aspects of the project.

Professor Ian Falk (Charles Darwin University) is the project leader, while there are a number of partner institutions such as the University of Satya Wacana (UKSW) in Central Java, Nusa Cendana University (Undana) in West Timor and Mahasaraswati University (Unmas) in Denpasar Bali, where Eka and Sri work as lecturers.

In 2010, as a result of this research, Eka and Sri had a great opportunity to travel abroad to Malaysia, to attend the International Conference on Sustainable Community Development (ICOSCD) held at the University of Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Selangor, Malaysia.

While the CRCNPB supported the research itself, the travel to Malaysia was supported by the Directorate General of Higher Education (DIKTI) in Jakarta. In Malaysia Eka and Sri presented a paper related to the research field of biosecurity and community development, which focused on gender issues.

The conference’s main theme was Harnessing Human and Social Capital Growth Towards Community Regeneration. Eka and Sri reflected this theme in a paper entitled Gender and Cultural Issues in Biosecurity and Food Security Management, Local Knowledge Practices in Bali Province. The co-author, Gung Sri, had just finished her Masters of Linguistics at Udayana University (Bali) concerning scientific translation in biosecurity issues and has also been a member of the CRC’s cooperative research in Indonesia from its inception as the project’s translator.

Organised by the Institute for Social Science Studies (IPSAS) at the University of Putra Malaysia (UPM), Eka and Sri also found the rest of the conference interesting. Various ideas were shared by the researchers from all over the world.

The participants were representatives of five continents: Asia, Europe, Australia, America and Africa, who sat together talking about the challenges and future of community development in their countries. In that way, the conference offered a good opportunity for the participants to talk to each other about their community empowerment and development programs which were linked with agricultural issues, cultural diversity as well as the research that they conducted on human and social capital development and the challenges of sustainable community development, education and services.

Bringing biosecurity issues to ICOSCD 2010 was a wonderful experience, partly because the issue of biosecurity was, in fact, part of community life. People could not be separated from their environment in which the issue of biosecurity existed impacting directly on the quality of food that they ate. In addition, it was really interesting to link the issue of biosecurity and food security with sustainable community development programs in an international conference like ICOSCD 2010.

Eka and Sri at a poster paper presentation.

CRC60157: Biosecurity Policy - PhD

VANMEURSA — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:41:09 +0000

East Indonesia holds inaugural biosecurity forum

VANMEURSA — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 07:30:58 +0000

Indonesia is a major gateway to Australia from all parts of Asia and the Pacific and is therefore vitally important for Australia’s biosecurity. The CRCNPB’s work in Indonesia is more important than ever, given that Indonesia is a part of the recent free trade agreement between China and the ASEAN nations. In order to raise awareness of the issues involved, East Nusa Tenggara, an Indonesian province comprising 566 islands, was the location for the first ever forum dedicated to biosecurity issues held in this area.

The event was an initiative of the Australian Indonesian Biosecurity Community Management (AusIndoBIOCOM) research consortium, a group established in 2007. AusIndoBIOCOM comprises eight universities and non-government organisations spread across Indonesia. On July 17, 2010, the Universitas Nusa Cendana (Undana), one of the leading universities in Nusa Tenggara, hosted the forum attended by representatives from government, agriculture, NGOs, community, researcher networks and postgraduate students. CRCNPB researcher and project leader of AusIndoBIOCOM Research Consortium, Professor Ian Falk from Charles Darwin University, was invited to give the keynote public lecture entitled, ‘Biosecurity issues for sustainable food production in the tropics: A focus on Indonesia’.

Also, present at the forum was leading researcher on the AusIndoBIOCOM team, staff member of Undana and CRC PhD scholarship holder, Mr Wayan Mudita. Mr Mudita said the aim of the forum was to inform East Nusa Tenggara communities of the importance of food security for the sustainability of local food production.

“The forum is expected to enhance communities’ awareness about the dangers of biosecurity threats to the security of local food supplies. It is also intended to strengthen the communities’ preparedness to deal with various forms of biosecurity threats. These threats can result from the transportation of agricultural seeds, seedlings, aquacultural material, ornamental plants, fruits, pets, and aquarium ornaments, all activities which people take for granted and are often overlooked,” he said.

During the meeting, Professor Frans Umbu Datta, Vice Chancellor of Undana announced that East Nusa Tenggara through the University will be pioneering a research centre that will specifically study issues related to biosecurity. The establishment of this centre is a major initiative and step in raising the awareness of biosecurity issues in Eastern Indonesia and will help protect the region from biosecurity threats to local agriculture and the environment.

The CRCNPB is dedicated to helping regional communities across Eastern Indonesia to understand the threats posed by biosecurity and the devastating impacts an incursion may have.

Article courtesy of Ian Falk

Community Management of Biosecurity: Overview of some Indonesian studies

VANMEURSA — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:16:27 +0000