Farm labourers returning from overseas can, if empowered, form a pool of experienced talent that Southeast Asia’s vulnerable agricultural sector can tap into for food security.
Despite support for action among local communities to protect biodiverse marine reserves like the Derawan archipelago from poaching, the Indonesian authorities have not allocated sufficient resources to conservation.
As Indonesia forges ahead with plans to become an advanced economy, an honest reckoning needs to occur, to ensure that it does not squander its vast environmental resources for short-term gain.