Co-chairs Indonesia and The Netherlands

Prof. Dr. Jamaluddin Jompa (Universitas Hasanuddin / ALMI Indonesia)
Dr. Bert W. Hoeksema (Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, The Netherlands)

Thematic focus

Climate change and direct anthropogenic disturbances threaten to change the rich biodiversity of Indonesia. This may have known and unrecognized consequences for public health, food security, and the landscape (soil erosion and coastal protection). Science can help to identify the problems and find solutions in support of a resilient society.

A major challenge is to understand and predict how populations of marine and terrestrial species of threatened, biodiverse ecosystems (e.g., tropical rain forests, coral reefs, mangroves) will respond to the environmental perturbations. The scientific community needs to help in the development of tools that help to reverse the threats.

Because humans are causing problems, but also are in need of specific solutions, scientific research needs to follow an interdisciplinary approach by involving natural and social sciences.

Governments and NGOs need to inform stakeholders about the threats to biodiversity, their causes, and how they can be controlled.