The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) can play a key role in mapping out a research agenda “to develop a more sustainable Indonesia,” said Armida Alisjahbana, Indonesian State Minister for National Development Planning (BAPPENAS). In a speech she delivered at CIFOR’s annual meeting in Bogor, the minister explicitly referred  to landscapes as part of the research agenda.

This is what she said:

“Certain areas that can be enriched by CIFOR are: the concept of managing natural resources and environment presented in the technocratic draft, ensuring that it is comprehensive and integrated — this is consistent with the new view of seeing the landscape as a whole. This is a good opportunity for CIFOR to undertake research to find a model of landscape management in an integrated manner.  Research may look at the use of landscape in a balanced way, in the production of forest or other land uses such as agriculture, fishery, or others, while maintaining forest conservation and protection. Other valuable research would be to find a combination of use models and activities that generate various economic values, but also include the surrounding communities (rather than forcing them out which is sometimes the case).”

See the full speech at cifor.org