Sustainability Challenges: Systems Thinking Approach to Deforestation

This essay explores the critical role of systems thinking in addressing sustainability challenges, focusing on deforestation in Indonesia. It contrasts systems thinking with traditional approaches, highlighting its holistic perspective and emphasis on interrelationships. The essay identifies key factors driving deforestation, including agricultural expansion, livestock ranching, illegal logging, infrastructure development, and overpopulation. It discusses Indonesia's deforestation rates and the impact of policies like temporary deforestation bans. The essay proposes solutions such as community involvement in forest management, reforestation programs, and corporate responsibility from companies reliant on palm oil. It concludes that systems thinking is essential for developing comprehensive strategies to combat deforestation and promote environmental sustainability.

Running head: SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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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

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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

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losing the fertility, and thus there is an added emphasis on the deforestation to acquire more
lands (Hosonuma et al. 2012). 2. Livestock ranching- clearing the forest for the livestock
ranching is one of the major contributors to deforestation. Since the year 1990, Brazil has
stopped to be the largest exporter of beef and this has led to the loss of forest area. Brazil has lost
around 3 fourth of the forest area and the area is similar to the area of Texas. The high demand
for the beef is also supported by the government and this has led to the increased rates of
deforestation (Cohn et al. 2014). 3. Logging- Logging is one of the illegal activities that has
contributed to the deforestation and is one of the prime reason for deforestation. Especially in
Indonesia, the illegal logging has led to people losing their earning ability and thus it has reduced
below 1 dollar a day. It is also important to note that destruction of the forest also leads to the
destruction of the livelihood of the people that depend on the forest. Indonesia is the largest
exporter of the timer in the world and majority (80 percent) of the export is illegal. It is also
estimated that due to illegal logging about 10 to 15 dollars are received by the criminals
(Boekhout van Solinge 2014). 4. Infrastructure expansion- construction of the roads and
buildings leads to deforestation by providing an entryway into the forest and the remote lands.
The interoceanic highly which is 5404 km long passes through the Amazon rainforest and the
runs from Brazil to Peru. This has resulted in the conservationists to worry about the damage the
road is causing to the biodiversity (Hosonuma et al. 2012). The road expansion through the forest
area leads to the increase in illegal activity of logging and increase the illegal slashing of the
trees without the prior permission from the government. Also when the forest trees are slashed
down, illegal settlers start to settle in those lands and it disturbs the peace of the area (Boekhout
van Solinge 2014). 5. Our planet Earth used to house 15 million people in the prehistoric times
and now it houses around 7 billion people and counting. Due to the overpopulation, the global

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needs of the people has increased and this has led to expansion and deforestation. The rate of
deforestation has is equal to the rates of growth of the population.
Reports suggest that the rate of deforestation is the highest in Indonesia. According to the
researchers at the University of Maryland, Indonesia has lost about 15 million acres of forest
from the year 200 to 2012. According to a journal, Monga Bay that focusses on conservation.
The Indonesian president has put a temporary ban on the deforestation. This step proved to
success and ban required permits for the forest-related activity and thus protected 63 millions of
hectares of forest and peatland (Erickson-Davis 2018). Tropical rainforests are considered as the
rich spots for as carbon sinks, while the peatlands are the more powerful carbon sinks that are
more effective with respect to the rainforest. In the year 2014, due to the high carbon emission in
Indonesia, the effect of El Nino was found to be higher (Landen 2018). This has resulted in the
forest drylands that are susceptible to fires. This will further hamper the country that had taken
the pledge that it will reduce the emission of carbon by 26 percent by the year 2020. According
to the reports of the world resource institute, the Indonesian forest and the peatland fires have
increased considerably in the month of March and are concentrated in the areas that are managed
by the palm oil, pulpwood and the logging companies (World Resources Institute. 2018).
Indonesia has the rates of deforestation which is more in comparison to the rates of deforestation
in Brazil. The deforestation has also led to the endangering the world’s most endangered species.
According to the report published in the Nature Climate Change magazine, the archipelago has
lost twice the forest area in comparison to Brazil by the year 2012 (Business-standard, 2018).
The underlying causes of forest degradation and deforestation are the shift in the
developmental paradigm that is adopted by the multilateral, bilateral and structural adjustment
loans; regional and the international trade pressures; the paradigm of the economic growth

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development under the natural resource that is depleted. The systems thinking involves the
solutions to the difficult and the complex problems. This problem of deforestation includes the
issues and have resulted into destruction of the environment, the habitat for wildlife and the
natural resources. Thus, solutions framed with respect to the systems thinking will result into
addressing the issues from multiple directions or through a holistic way.
Solutions- since the Indonesian government generally owns the forests. The inclusion of the
community in the management of has not been applied on a large scale. The engagement of the
community has been done only to areas that have the been specifically designated by the
Environment and the Forests Ministry. The areas that are designated are the districts of
Yogyakarta and Gunungkidul. The areas of the Gunungkidul was one a degraded piece of land
due to deforestation. This area has been reforested with the effective tree plantation strategy.
This has been done effectively by the smallholders and cooperatives. The farmers in the
Gunngkidul derive the most of their income from the animal husbandry and agricultural crops.
The farmer looks at the trees as assets and saves the same as long-term savings. Considering the
weak legal framework of the forest governance, the forest management involves the prevention
and the hindrance of the further deforestation. Thus the sustainable management of the forests
can only be done by actively integrating the local communities that around the forest area and
within the forest area (Center for Indonesian Policy Studies 2018). Reforestation programs are
one of the best strategies to counter the deforestation. In order to simply increase the number of
trees in the wild, the reforestation program is best-suited areas that are already undergoing the
land degradation and deforestation. The reforestation program will serve to reduce the carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere and the reduce the build-up of the same in the future, the wildlife

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habitats will again build-up, restoration of the ecosystem that will help in balancing the water
cycle and the carbon storage (Barr and Sayer 2012).
The deforestation rates in Indonesia is high due to the companies that entirely depend on
the palm oil. Companies like Ferrero, Nestle, Pepsi, Unilever, Kellogg's must be contributing to
the future of Indonesia and help the country to have a deforestation-free environment. The
supply chain of the majority of the companies must sacrifice in order to reduce the pressure on
the environment. Protest march can be organized so that the pressure from the people can force
and compel these companies to stop moving into the rainforests of Indonesia. The big companies
must cancel contracts with other companies like the Sinar Mars so that the corporate giants
remain committed to the benefit of the Indonesian people and the forests (Greenpeace USA
2018). No exploitation, no peat and no deforestation is the slogan that the majority of the
consumer good companies must take into account in order to reduce the deforestation. This can
be effectively achieved through the banning of the deforestation activities that is widely rampant
in Indonesia (Pacheco 2018).
Thus, from the above conclusion, it can be concluded that the systems thinking is one of the best
and the suitable methods of addressing the sustainability issues. The systems thinking employs
the strategies that look at the problem in a holistic way and the must provide a solution through
effective strategies. The effective strategies of the systems thinking are best suited for the solving
the environmental problems. For this study, deforestation issues in Indonesia are selected and the
reasons for the deforestation is highlighted and along with it, the solutions are provided that are
in accordance with the systems thinking.

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