The new Indonesian government still has the opportunity to improve the quality of the environment and the utilization of natural resources. This was discussed in a public lecture with Dr. Vandana Shiva, an environmental activist and ecofeminist from India. The event took place at the Multipurpose Hall of Walhi Eknas, Jakarta (8/18/2014).

According to Shiva, the development practices that have been ongoing for a long time have resulted in a decline in environmental quality, unequal power structures, ownership, use, and exploitation of natural resources (land, water, and all natural wealth within it), and have led to various conflicts. The ecological crisis has occurred because the state, investors, and science have reduced nature to a pile of commodities that can be engineered to gain economic profit. In the context of Indonesian politics, the newly elected government through a participatory democratic process should be a momentum to break free from the trap of global economic development failures and crisis management.

We are currently in the era of globalization, where everything is interconnected and interdependent. In this era, the main power is no longer in military strength, but in economic power. Shiva mentioned the transition, “first we lived in villages, then we lived in countries, and now we live in the global market era.” This is a significant transition because it affects and even changes previous ways of life.

The reality of economic globalization is that all regulations and policies are made to benefit global corporations. This is in line with the concept of sustaining the global economic system, where profit must continue to grow and develop. If profit declines and cannot grow, the existing economic system will collapse, and the collapse of the economic system will destroy all existing structures. “Everything must support the sustainability of the economic system, including eliminating any burdens that are considered hindering the sustainability of the global economic system,” emphasized the Philosophy Doctor from the University of Western Ontario.

A profit-based economic system will not lead to sustainability, especially environmental sustainability (Environmental Sustainability). A profit-based economy will instead focus on the sustainability of the economic system alone, and by being profit-driven, nature will always be the sole resource to be managed. Global-scale companies compete to privatize natural resources because that is where they gain their profits.

Privatization must be eliminated or at least resisted because it relates to the sustainability of life. When a community managing natural resources in their area is denied access to those resources, it will affect their way of life. This is what needs to be done, limiting the privatization of natural resources. Shiva said that there are at least two efforts that can be made to resist privatization by companies; strengthening the local economy and empowering a community-based economy.

Currently, natural resources are a powerful force that has a significant influence, both nationally and internationally. Those who have access to natural resources influence policy-making. Large-scale companies strive to profit from the natural resources they control. However, they do not produce these resources; they only use access to natural resources and turn them into profits. Shiva refers to this as “rent economy”, where these companies do not produce natural resources but only accumulate them and turn them into profit through privatization and patent rights.

This poses a challenge for the new government to improve the governance of natural resources. Shiva said that there are at least two things that the new government needs to do, which are nationalizing natural resources and providing access to the community, as well as strengthening a community-based economy. By doing so, democratization in the governance of natural resources can be achieved (Summarized from BTOR Fahmi Alamri).***