Climate change is an unavoidable condition nowadays. Society must begin to adapt and survive through the climate changes. In the agricultural sector, vulnerable groups—poor farmers, women, people with disabilities, and the elderly—are the groups that feel the greatest impact from climate change. The lack of socialization and the lack of access to information makes these vulnerable groups feel a big impact on climate change, especially in the agricultural sector. Therefore, it is necessary to advocate for the government to promote inclusive climate resilience policies and actions.
PATTIRO with civil society group partners who are members of the VICRA Program visited the Royal Netherlands Embassy on Monday (23/10). This visit was an event for friendly relations between VICRA partners and the Royal Netherlands Embassy as well as sharing experiences in carrying out advocacy activities for climate change adaptation policies in their respective assisted areas.
Civil Society Organizations are important actors in advocating inclusive climate change adaptation policies. Ardi Stoios-Brakken, Deputy Ambassador and Head of Economic Department, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, said advocacy by civil society groups helped the Dutch government know about things that were happening on the ground. Therefore, the aspirations of civil society groups are very important. He also added that in the Netherlands there is a farmer protest movement due to the impact of climate change. Civil society voices like that need to be accommodated to see the effectiveness of the implementation of the policies that have been carried out.
As an effort to raise people’s aspirations regarding climate change adaptation policies, the social media approach has become one of the most up-to-date strategies lately. Social media can trigger and increase public sensitivity to the importance of inclusive policies in climate change adaptation. This can be done by making a press release. Sometimes, the government has not fully paid attention to vulnerable groups. Tanty from PKBI, said that in West Sumatra the government has not opened up space for vulnerable groups. In fact, West Sumatra is an area that is often hit by natural disasters, such as tsunamis. Vulnerable groups are often left behind in disaster mitigation and climate change adaptation policies, especially in food security.
In addition, in this meeting it was also stated that VICRA was the best proposal in funding selection. Karen Hordijk, Senior Policy Officer, Department of Political Affairs of the Royal Netherlands Embassy, said the funding supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs was prepared to support climate change adaptation policy advocacy carried out by civil society groups in Indonesia. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands wants to know and learn from the experiences of civil society groups in Indonesia regarding advocacy on this matter.
Responding to this, Bejo Untung, Executive Director of PATTIRO, said that the opportunity to visit the Royal Netherlands Embassy was a very valuable moment so that the experiences that had been gained by VICRA partners in the regions in advocating for climate change adaptation policies over the past year could be discussed. and become a reference in developing an advocacy work strategy for the next two years. “We have a big responsibility to achieve the goal of climate change adaptation advocacy,” said Bejo.
