INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BASIC AND APPLIED SCIENCE

Insan Akademika Publications

P-ISSN: 2301-4458 E-ISSN: 2301-8038 Vol. 01, No. 02 Oct 2012

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Socio-Cultural and Political Implications of Environmental Damage

Bambang Yuniarto
Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Education Islamic State Institute of Syekh Nurjati Cirebon-Indonesia bambangyuniato@yahoo.co.id

Key Words
Socio-cultural, Political, Environmental, Sustainability

Abstract
The purpose of the study is to analyze the socio-cultural and political implications of environmental damage. The methodology used in the study is qualitative approach, which is a research process to understand and investigate the social or human problem based on the traditions of a particular research methodology. The conclusion from this study, in terms of socio-political aspect, the government should develop the implementation of biocracy/ bio-democracy, which treats nature as a citizen who has the rights to be protected and developed according to its function
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1.

Introduction

Over-exploitation of natural resources has resulted in the destruction of nature and the loss of thousands of species on earth. In Indonesia, from 6978 endemic plant species, 174 species of which are threatened with extinction. The rapid rate of deforestation (1.6 million ha of the decade 1985-1997 to 2.1 million ha in the decade 1997-2001) caused by the high conversion of forest land to residential, industrial, farming and mining, illegal logging, and lack of knowledge and awareness of the public cause millions of germplasm perished (Forestry Planning Agency of Ministry of Forestry, 2003). These conditions lead to an imbalance of the ecosystem that leads to a variety of catastrophic natural disasters to mankind. In addition, the fact that urban development is lack of attention to environmental aspects adds problems to global warming, climate change, habitat loss, clean water scarcity, pollution, flood and other natural disasters that cause hardships for humans. Moreover, secular Western worldview which assumes that man is in an absolute position thus it has an implication to the efforts to solve environmental problems. This ism leads to a position where human has total mastery over nature (Umehara, 1995). As a result, natural functions are treated as "a dead entity", the objects that need to be conquered by science and technology. Meanwhile, the concept of ecology is closely related to the concept of "life" that shows the essence as a self-regulating system of life. It has some implications to the development and progress without limit concept, the concept of development that encourages community behaviour towards a way of life which continues to meet changing needs through the efforts of changing the things and objects into resources that are used to satisfy the boundless wants of the possessive individual (Illich, 1995). This fact is at the root of environmental crises such as global warming as a result of the imbalance of the relationship between the human civilizations with the environment. In this condition, Gore (1992) analyzes that the root cause of the most severe destruction of nature is the lack of spiritual values embedded in human life.
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2.
2.1

Literature Riview
Nature Damage Leads to Imbalance of Nature

Studying the verses guiding or enlightening the development of science may commence from any verses saying about the creation (Subandi, 2012). The concept of balance of nature is an effort to utilize the nature (earth) as the creation of God Almighty according to the existing rules and following a harmonious law and order and treat the nature fairly. God (Allah SWT) created the universe in a great balance, so that if the balance is not maintained anymore, it will lead to the end or disaster. The concept of balance as spoken by the Lord (Allah SWT) is the key of all harmony/order of nature. The whole laws of physics, chemistry and biology expressed as the findings of science and technology experts, that have transformed human civilization, basically stem from the concept of the Divine balance. And the earth where we live in is specially designed and "enhanced" by God (Allah SWT) for humans, as stated in the Qur'an (Surah AnNaazi'at, 79: 30). Unfortunately, due to human greed to perform development activities according to their passions, they don't care anymore about the Divine balance, thus results in danger to the man himself. Various natural disasters that occur on land and at sea nowadays actually have been pointed out also in the Qur'an, directly and indirectly as an act of human behavior as a sign of ungratefulness to God (Allah SWT). This is a warning for people to finally have the awareness to return to the path of the righteous (Surah Ar-Rum: 41). The warning of God (Allah SWT) in the verses of the Qur'an above is quite straightforward and hard. God will send punishment (catastrophe) to the earth when the man who have been given a mandate is not able to perform it in accordance with his mandate. With arrogance and desires, men do mischief in the land under the pretext of doing development. Thus, the concept of the balance of nature does not mean it should not be used, instead, it must be used in a proportionate and balance manner according to the laws of balance that provided for in the norms of religion and state. The nature that must be managed and maintained exists in physical nature where human do activities and in the resources with their economic and social values. Nature should also be treated the same as human beings who have rights to be protected, and their utilization by the state must be for the greatest welfare of all people.

2.2

Aspects of Nature Damage

According to Law No. 32 Year of 2009 on Environmental Management, natural environment consists of biotic, abiotic and socio-cultural elements. According to the analysis of this study, the nature damage is conclusively because of: nature is not preserved; nature is not oriented to the welfare of the people; people do not care about the law; pragmatic perspective/ egoistic; the unsupportive use of technology. Thus, the environmental damage that occurs nowadays is mainly because of human actions, directly or indirectly. Some human activities that directly or indirectly have an impact on environmental damage, among others, are illegal logging (deforestation), poaching, destroying mangrove forests, swamps hoarding for housing, waste disposal in any place, illegal buildings in the river basin (DAS) and excessive utilization of natural resources.

2.3

Factors Causing Natural Damage

There are two factors causing environmental crisis that is also supported by the analysis of Baharudin (2009), the indirect and direct cause. Indirect cause factor is the dominant cause of environmental damage, while direct cause factor is limited to the act of government, businesses and local residents who exploit the forest/environment excessively because of greedy needs. According to Baharudin (2009), indirect causes are as follows:
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1)

2)

3)

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Population growth. The fact that population continue to grow each year requires the provision of needs for "food, clothing and shelter (home)". Meanwhile, earth space where people earn a living is not expanded. Such expansion of economic activities in turn leads to excessive and/or wild exploitation of the environment.. Government policy. Some government policies have a negative impact on the environment. Since 1970, Indonesia's development was focused on the development of industries based on agricultural development supporting the industry. Impact of Industrialization. The process of industrialization, among others, includes the timber industry, housing/real estate and paper industry. These three industries require large quantities of wood as their raw material. This is the beginning of the exploitation of timber in the forests, that involves many parties in it. Unsuccessful Reforestation and Reclamation. Reforestation efforts that have been cleared and reclamation of pit/open land mines dug produced very minimal results because the process takes decades, and funds are not sufficient because a lot of abuse. Increased poverty and unemployement. The increased number poverty and unemployement as a result of unsuccessful recovery after economic crisis is a trigger factor of the environmental damage by the poor in rural areas. Poor Law Enforcement. There are many laws that have been made concerning the environment and in particular forest management, but the implementation is so poor as if the laws do not exist, because what happen in reality is not in accordance with the regulations that have been made. Low Public Awareness. In general, most citizens have low awareness on the importance of environmental/forest conservation and this leads to the intensified public's indifference to environmental degradation. Environmental Pollution. Environmental pollution, be it in water, soil and air, has become increasingly serious.

Looking at the aforementioned phenomenon, there is a tendency that technology optimism (Keraf, 2002) is becoming stronger, that human dominates the nature with the development and advancement of technology in their hands. Nature is treated as "a dead entity" (Umahera, 1995), exploited in the name of science and technology. Gore's analysis (1992) shows that the root cause of such environmental degradation is because humans "lack of ... spiritual" (a lack of understanding of religion). Therefore, now is the time to develop and foster community residents to understand the "Divine Belief" (Keraf, 2002), that is to understand that man is a creation of God Almighty, acting as kholifah fil'ardhi (literally: God's mandate on earth) with a duty to maintain and preserve the nature in accordance with its function.

3.

Methodology

The present study employs a qualitative approach, which is a research process to understand and investigate the social or human problem based on the traditions of a particular research methodology. The research tradition used is grounded theory. According to Creswell (1998), this tradition is a theory derived inductively from the study of phenomena that it describes. The use of grounded theory is to find or develop a theory formulated and proved through systematic data collection and data analysis related to the phenomenon under investigation. Data collection, data analysis, and theory that are found or developed is examined to be interrelated in mutual relations. As noted by Strauss and Corbin (2003), a researcher did not start the investigation with a foundation of a particular theory, but with a reference to some fields of study and matters related to the research study. In the present study, data and information collection technique being used is the literature study, interviews, and documentation study.

4.

Result and Discussion

The portrait of environmental damage is now affecting the social, economic and political life of society. There are changes in cultural patterns of society in adjustment with the changing nature of life, agrarian pattern gradually changes to a pattern of industry, natural pollution causes increased health care costs, and the economical cost of living is growing by the changing in the cropping pattern of farmers. With the
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environmental crisis that occurres this will automatically bring up different forms of social and cultures relations to adapt to the existing natural conditions. Logical implications consequences of this natural environment damage, as stated by Soedjatmoko (1976), will be experienced by all nations of the world, all human beings on this earth, even all the sources of life and livelihoods, including human civilization itself, without exception. Environmental issue can be classified as a political issue, because the debate on environmental issue cannot be separated from the interaction of political forces within a society or nation. Those who pro-democracy pointed out that the root of the environmental crisis in this country (Indonesia) today is that the government are not serious in dealing with environmental issues. Furthermore, there is no certainty of punishment for the perpetrators of environmental damage. The government is still applying a double standard model in prosecuting cases of environmental damage. As a result, the current environmental crisis is reaching the crisis of sovereignty and justice that should be borne by the people, especially the poor. In this context, the discourse and implementation of democracy in the country have to be more geared towards the creation of biocracy/bio-democracy (Vandana, 1995), that is an environment-oriented government who are equipped with the facilities and certain law enforcement and strict penalties for any forms of environmental damage. Just like citizens, nature has natural rights that have to be protected and the potential needs to be developed. Political reform results in democratization, and then is taken to environment reform that gave birth to the concept of biocracy/bio-democracy. In democracy, human is the only subject and object under consideration. In biocracy, human is not the only subject and object, but also animals and ecosystems whose interests have to be represented. Humans, animals and ecosystems are parts of interdependent system. Decisions and policies that neglect animals and ecosystems as part of the system will eventually bring harms to the human component. Therefore, with political and practical activities consideration, people should not ignore the interests of animals and ecosystems in their lives. One of aspect which becomes attention in the social and politic aspect in environmental recovery shows that governments support is important (Ramdhani and Santosa, 2012)

5.

Conclusion

The environment damage is caused by the natural imbalance that occurs because of natural events and human exploitation, either directly or indirectly. This imbalance affects the occurrence of natural disasters, climate change, global warming, habitat loss, clean water scarcity, pollution, flood, until the threat of starvation. In terms of socio-political aspect, the government should develop the implementation of biocracy/ bio-democracy, which treats nature as a citizen who has the rights to be protected and developed according to its function

References
Baharudin, E. (2010). Kearifan Lokal, Pengetahuan Lokal dan Degradasi Lingkungan. Available at: http://www.esaunggul.ac.id/index.php?mib=content.detail&id=215&title=Kearifan%20Lokal,%20Pe ngetahuan%20Lokal%20dan%20Degradasi%20Lingkungan. Accessed on January 25, 2012. Creswell, J.W. (1998). Research Design Qualitative and Quantitative Approach. London: Publications. Gore, A. (1992). Earth in The Balance Ecology and The Human Spirit. Rodale, New York. Illich, I. (1996). The Shadow Our Future Throws. ALTI Publishing, California, USA. Keraf, A.S. (2002). Etika Lingkungan. PT Kompas, Jakarta. Ramdhani, M. A., and Santosa, E. (2012). Key Succes Factors for Organic Farming Development. International Journal of Basic and Applied Science, Vol 1, No. 1, July 2012, 7-13. Soedjatmoko (1976). Sistem Nilai dan Pendidikan tentang Lingkungan Hidup Manusia. Yayasan Obor Indonesia, Jakarta.

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Subandi, M. (2012). Several Scientific Facts as Stated in Verses of the Quran. International Journal of Basic and Applied Science, Vol 1, No. 1, July 2012, 60-65. Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (2009). Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Pustaka Pelajar, Yogyakarta. Umehara, T. (1995). The Civilization of Forest : Ancient Japan Show Post Modernism The Way. ALTI Publishing, California, USA. Vandana, S. (1995). Keragaman Hayati: Dari Bio-Imperialisme ke Bio-Demokrasi. Terjemahan oleh Sri Nurhayati. Gramedia, Jakarta.

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