Universitas Brawijaya holds International Seminar and launching of “Towards A Sustainable Ecology: Global Challenges and Local Responses in Africa and Asia” book on Tuesday May, 30 2012 in Rectorate Building 8th floor Universitas Brawijaya.
The International Seminar is participated by presenter who are not only coming from Indonesia but also from some foreign country, such as Japan.
Some papers are presented in this International Seminar, they are: “Ecosphere in Catastrophe: From Globalisation to Ethos for Planetary Life” by Yukio Kamino and “From Urban Studies to Urban Architecture: Critiques on The Use of Eurocentric Theories in Shaping the Emerging Cities” by Eka Swadiansa. Beside the International Seminar, this event also had launching of a book entitled ”Towards A Sustainable Ecology: Global Challenges and Local Responses in Africa and Asia”.
One of the editors, Dharwis Khudori, said that this book is made based on Bandung Spirit through Asian-African Conference on 1955.
This book discusses that after 55 years of African Asian Conference on 1955, globalization will be more threatening toward ecology and raise local and national problems. Threats to ecology can raise crisis to the planet, such as air pollution and climate change. Whereas local and nasional problems like unemployment, foreign occupation, poverty, and corruption problem.
“What happen in the world after KAA in Bandung is a challenge for all of us to look for alternatives for a better future. Because right now, we do not face the colonialisme like in the cold war, but the ones related to poverty and diseases,” Darwis said.
Darwis Khudori as one of the editors also said that untill now, poverty is still one of current issuess in Africa and Asia, in spite of cultural diversity and heritage protection.
“Current issues in Africa and Asia are poverty and diseasea. Beside, Africa and Asia have cultural and ethnic diversity that not western representation. Africa and Asia not uprooted yet by western culture,” said Dharwis Khudori.
The book entitled ”Towards A Sustainable Ecology: Global Challenges and Local Responses in Africa and Asia” is divided into two approaches, city and environment.
On environment approach, Yukio Kamino, who is also an editor of the book, said that environment is everything that are related to biotic and abiotic factor, condition, and everything that influences living organism.
Environment is transforming through increasing global temperature, biodiversity decline, nitrogen pollution that harm the planet through water pollution, extreme weather, and unfertile soil.
In city approach, Darwis Khudori said that city refers to an built-up area with a relatively dense population that is larger than a village or even town. The growth of population in an area will influence environmental degradation. Asia and Africa are countries with the most dense population in the world.
Based on the current publication, on the future, there will be significant increase of temperature that will cause 75 to 200 milions of people in Africa to experience water stress and rain-fed agriculture could decline by as much as 50 per cent. In Asia, more than 1 billion people will face reductions in fresh water and be vulnerable to flooding. In Asia, 1.4 to 4.2 billion people will face water shortage.
The merits of urban agriculture for sustainable ecology includes providing green spaces with greater biodiversity that shelters more wildlife and aids residents’ mental health and community life.
In remarks closing of this book, executive secretary of Research Center for South-South Cooperation Studies (RCSS) at Universitas Brawijaya, M. Faishal Aminuddin in his writing entitled ”Sustainable Ecology: Phantasma and True Hypocrites” said that political and economic liberalisation in post-1998 Indonesia has produced nearly uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources in all area and raise greedy government strifing only for personal gain. [Translated by Oky]