JAKARTA — Since its inception in 2017, the Jakarta-based Sustainable District Association, or LTKL, has brought together district governments and other stakeholders to take collective action toward greater sustainability, mainly in the palm oil industry. Most of the nine districts that currently make up the LTKL network have economies that are heavily reliant on monoculture plantations like palm oil, or other extractive industries like oil and gas. To break this reliance and build a more sustainable economic model, the network is experimenting with various nature-based commodities, from coffee and cocoa, to coconut, bamboo and agroforestry byproducts. The shift is necessary to better preserve forests and peatlands, as well as indigenous Indonesian forest commodities, according to LTKL head Ristika Putri Istanti. She said that while the member districts of the association have lots of potential to produce nature-based commodities, they lack the resources and capacity to identify potential buyers and market their products. At the same time, there’s growing global demand for nature-positive products, Ristika added. “We can’t tap [the market] because the pipeline’s not ready yet,” she told reporters at a recent press event in Jakarta. Part of the problem, she said, is that there isn’t a robust source of information on what nature-based commodities are available in a given district, who’s produce them, and how to buy them. “This pipeline [of data] is what we’re preparing,” she said. The LTKL is also preparing to establish entities at the local level to engage with investors and potential buyers, Ristika said.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
The post Indonesian districts trial a shift from commodity monocrops to sustainable produce appeared first on EnviroLink Network.