Using Systems Thinking to Address Deforestation in Indonesia

Running head: SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability
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1SUSTAINABILITY
In developing solutions to sustainability challenges systems thinking is critical. A
systems thinker frames a problem in terms of the behaviours or the pattern that are existent over
a period of time. Whereas, systems thinking is not focussed on the particular events. The
perspective of the seeing thing things is done macroscopically instead of seeing microscopically.
The subject is seen beyond the details of the contexts of relationships within which it is
embedded. Presently, the practitioners and the academics use the systems thinking in order to
address the sustainability challenges. Deforestation is one of the environmental degradations and
it occurs through the destruction of the forests to make land available for other uses (Palo and
Vanhanen 2012). Deforestation occurs throughout the world and especially takes place in the
tropical rainforests. It is even estimated within 100 years the rainforests may vanish. A
significant amount of deforestation occurs in countries like Africa, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil and Eastern parts of Europe. The aim of the essay is to use
the systems thinking in the analysis of deforestation in order to develop solutions pertaining to
the sustainability challenges. The issues of deforestation will be discussed based on Indonesia
and the integration of the systems thinking into the management of the deforestation and finding
solutions in association to the reduction of deforestation.
Systems thinking is useful when dealing with the problems and the issues rated to the
sustainability. The approach is much more macroscopic than it appears and it includes the
looking at things in a broader way rather than just looking at the shorter picture. Systems
thinking is used widely by the practitioners and the academicians. In the year 1956, systems
thinking was founded by the professor Jay Forrester. There is a wide difference between the
traditional approach and the systems thinking approach. The traditional approach focuses only on
the subject that is studied, while the systems thinking approach lays emphasis on the

2SUSTAINABILITY
interrelationships between the constituents of a system (Nguyen and Bosch 2013). It is no
denying that the world is moving towards an era of globalization and industrialization and due to
this, there are several problems and issues that are surfacing due to the needs of the world.
Systems thinking thus helps in dealing with the complex problems and systems test is an
effective approach to the systems thinking. There are three important parts of a systems test are
functions, elements and purpose. The first part of the systems test includes the purpose of the and
the aim due to which the systems thinking is adopted. The second part deals with the different
elements of systems thinking. The final part deals with the interrelationships that exist within the
different elements. One can say that the computers have made the calculations of the complex
solutions easy (Banson et al. 2015). The systems thinking is also helpful in finding and
developing interrelationships with the environmental impacts, human behaviour and technology.
In the present world, there is a shift from the computational thinking to systems thinking. It can
be said that the computational thinking lays a lot of emphasis on the algorithms and the
programming in order to solve an issue. There is a limitation with respect to the algorithm and
algorithms hinder the proper expression of the problems. Thus, due to this problem complex
systems thinking has gradually evolved (Pandey and Kumar 2016).
Systems thinking is a holistic approach and thus the management and deforestation will
depend upon the several aspects and the reasons due to which the deforestation is actually
occurring. In order to manage the deforestation, there is a need to focus on the different factors
that are enhancing the rates of deforestation. 1. Agricultural expansion- the conversion of the
agricultural land the forest lands are one of the major cause of deforestation. The global demand
for the food crops has increased and the due to this rates of deforestation has increased
alarmingly. Also due to the increased effects of agricultural activity, the agricultural lands are