Indonesia-Japan Forest Talks 2022 x Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
“The Next Generation Dialogue for Future Research Collaboration
between Indonesia-Japan Against Deforestation and Climate Change”
On Tuesday, August 2, 2022, Mr. Rasis Putra Ritonga, a student of TUAT-WISE (United Grad School of Agricultural Science, D3) held a symposium entitled “Indonesia-Japan Forest Talks or IJFT 2022” which was jointly organized by the Indonesian Forests and Wood Association in Japan (MIDORI) of which he was one of the founders, the TUAT-WISE Program, the Indonesian Embassy in Japan, TUAT, and the TUAT Agricultural Institute. Located in the 50th Anniversary Hall (Fuchu TUAT Campus), around 30-40 people attended the event which involved various stakeholders from academia and government as keynote speakers.
In the opening remarks, Prof. Kazuhiko Misawa (Vice President of TUAT/Chief Academic Officer) expressed his gratitude for the arrival of eleven Indonesian delegates, marking the first step toward creating a sustainable alliance in terms of research collaboration between Japanese and Indonesian Universities to address global climate and forests and other land use (FOLU)-related issues. In the second opening remarks, H.E. Heri Akhmadi (Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia), said that IJFT 2022 is an important momentum in realizing future research collaborations with Japan to address food, energy, and drug security problems globally and locally through potential extensive research partnerships.
From the Indonesian Delegation Keynote Speaker, Dr. Agus Justianto, Director General of Sustainable Forest Management at the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry, conveyed an important issue from Indonesia’s current strategy to address climate problems in Indonesia with the “FOLU Net Sink 2030” scheme, which aims to reduce Indonesia’s GHG emissions by FOLU sector. He also stated that research and development established by strategic partner institutions from various countries are important to improve mitigation actions in the field of sustainable forest management in Indonesia. Next Prof. Rudianto Amirta, Dean of the Faculty of Forestry, Mulawarman University, said that currently Indonesia is focusing on managing forest utilization with other potential uses such as food, pharmaceuticals, and energy, and emphasized that collaboration between Indonesian and Japanese universities is very much needed to optimize this target.
Next Prof. Ryo Funada as the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, TUAT, introduced the previous collaboration between TUAT and universities in Indonesia such as Gadjah Mada and IPB University in the double degree program scheme. He also mentioned that the collaboration has expanded new creations in the field of research and hopefully it can be expanded again after this symposium. Interestingly, Prof. Takashi Gomi delivered a speech on the use of forests and timber as green infrastructure to achieve sustainable forest management which plays a role as effective mitigation in overcoming climate problems.
More importantly, Hangga Prihatmaja, Chairman of MIDORI stated that the presence of MIDORI in Japan consisting of young researchers and diaspora will increase the possibility of cooperation between Japanese Universities and Indonesian stakeholders by acting as an effective partner of the Forestry Attaché in bridging bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Japan in the forestry sector, including research, business, and investment in the field of sustainable forest management.
The last session was a panel discussion of the younger generation to convey their vision in science and technology for forest and timber research. First, Andreas Ade (University of Tokyo/MIDORI, M2) implied that forest health by managing tree diseases is an important factor that is often overlooked in sustainable forest management schemes, so he urged foresters to consider this research area more. Ryu Sato (TUAT-WISE, D2) proposed a new technology based on research on forest harvesting waste to be transformed into the three pillars of potential forest use mentioned by the Indonesian Ambassador, namely food, energy, and drugs. Equally important, Toru Miyata (TUAT WISE, D2) mentioned a very important message that in addition to forests as green carbon, blue carbon from the sea is very effective as a CO2 absorber, therefore he suggested that sustainable forest management needs to be considered both green and blue carbon. Rasis Putra Ritonga (TUAT-WISE/MIDORI, D3) emphasized that building broad relationships such as the IJFT2022 held at TUAT would be very effective in building international research collaborations that focus on climate and FOLU issues, and he also hoped that can form a research group so that the collaboration will continue and not just stop after the symposium ends. To wrap up the symposium, a commentator, Prof. Yoshiki Horikawa (Associate Professor of the Faculty of Agriculture, TUAT) gave comments to each panelist and encourage them to develop their research and their precious network.
Lastly, Prof. Naoko Ohtsu, a Director of the TUAT-WISE Program conveyed the main message that Indonesia-Japan research collaboration is indispensable to address global climate problems and FOLU, and the role of the young generation is important in realizing their unique vision to address the challenges of the forestry sector in the future.
Link: The report page on TUAT official homepage (in Japanese)