Strategy for reducing environmental disaster based on social capital (A case study in Indonesia)

Abstract

Social capital is the main resource in developing strategies to overcome natural disasters as well as to mobilize community participation in preserving environmental based-local wisdom. Social capital is the ability of individual and communities to represent their own resources and transgenerational solidarity driven by high trust and shared values to achieve goals through established social relations. This paper is intended to explore why the social capital are able to build communities’ behaviour that minimize the occurrence of environmental degradation. The study was conducted in Wonosobo Regency, Central Java Province. Historically, the region was the first place for bottled water production in Indonesia. However, the source of the spring water of the region remain sustainable up until now. The study’s results show that the strength of social capital in local communities contributes to the effectiveness of building collective action for environmental conservation. The strength of social capital also accelerates capacity building and transformation process of local institutions in order to reduce environmental degradation. More specifically, social capital entities that play an important role are participation in a network, trust, reciprocity, solidarity, togetherness and mutual cooperation.