The roles of religion in participatory development communication in the environmental issues in Indonesia

Abstract

Being a country with abundant natural resources and a big human population, Indonesia faces the challenges of an environmental crisis that demands to be addressed immediately. Besides of that, Indonesia also has many local wisdoms within cultural and religious traditions. This local wisdoms plays an important role in facing social transformation and environmental crisis. This study tries to compare multidisciplinary perspective in the environmental issue. Conducted in the highlands of Dieng, Central Java Province, this study wants to see how religion playing role in participatory development communication in maintaining environment in Indonesia. Religion' roles dealing with environment issue can be understood through the concept of participatory communication. The role of religion in participatory communication is through faith-based organizations, religious meetings, and places of worship. Religion is a factor that encourage the creation of effective communication, create knowledge and build communities in a sustainable environment. Ethnographic methods are used to find out the phenomena that occur in this research.