On Friday (02/11) Filantropi Indonesia conducted a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with several philanthropy institutions which focuses on environment and conservation issues such as The Nature Conservancy (TNC), KEHATI, Belantara, Greenation, Yayasan Budha Tzu Chi, Badan Amil Zakat (Baznas), and Domet Dhuafa. The discussion was conducted to discuss further about the establishment of living environment and conservation cluster.

Until now, Filantropi Indonesia has established 5 clusters which are; cluster of residential and urban areas, art and culture, food and nutrition, education, and zakat on SDGs. The establishment of these clusters is to facilitate all members of Filantropi who have the same focus so they will be able to do a mutual sharing and encourage collaboration.

There is an initiative from philanthropy institutions which focus on environmental issue to establish a living environment and conservation cluster because environmental issue is a multi-sector issue and therefore need the involvement of many parties. Not only a movement from philanthropy institutions, environmental issue is also currently being heavily promoted by the government. It can be seen by the establishment of President Regulation about the Regulation on marine waste No. 38 year 2018. Through this regulation, its targeted that in 2025 Indonesia will be able to lessen solid waste to 70%. By the issuance of this regulation, hopefully it can be a momentum from philanthropy institutions to be more active in promoting environmental issues to general public.

“Environmental issue cannot be solved alone thus why a collaboration is needed, it’s the key, and for that together we work for our contribution to support SDGs achievement”, Syiir A. Amanh, Greenation.

A charter of Living environment and Conservation was created as a form of joint commitment to lessen the environmental problems. TNC was appointed as the coordinator of cluster for the next year and will continue to take turns with other members with different colors and focus. This is to ensure that they are equal and have the same opportunities. The first step that will be done by this cluster is to determine the priority issue  that will be raised based on discussion among members.

In this discussion, it was also explained that there were some obstacles experienced by philanthropy institutions about the environmental issues such as the limited number of philanthropy institutions that focus on conservation issue, the limited number of human resources, and the data for the program baseline tends to be estimation or result from international research. The other big challenge is how to promote a movement to the general public so that it is not only understood but also supported.

Therefore, through the living environment and conservation cluster we hope that it could be a platform for all philanthropy institutions that focus on environmental issues to develop strategies to reach a more significant focus, to mutually share data and information, and do research together. Moreover, the result of the research can be the baseline for all the data in Indonesia. Announcement regarding the cluster is also an important note for people so that they are aware about the specific cluster which focuses on environmental issues. It’s a good momentum to announce about the cluster on FIFest 2018.

For more info about other Filantropi cluster and updates on our activity, contact us on info@filantropi.or.id