ABSTRACT
This chapter surveys the broad socioeconomic context in which our study is embedded: the demography of Indonesia, the economy and the politics, government, religion and culture, and the environment. Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world in terms of population, and has a young, growing population. It is a developing country, with growing prosperity and a declining incidence of poverty, but with most people still vulnerable, and rising inequality. Two salient trends are the growth of the middle class and the rapid rate of urbanisation. Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country in the world and, since the 1980s, has experienced massive Islamisation, with rising religious intolerance and fundamentalism. The demographic shifts, economic development, democratisation and decentralisation have been deleterious for the environment.
The chapter then presents what is known about environmental awareness in Indonesia, underlining the observation that the populace, the public service and the government have very little knowledge or even awareness of the dire environmental problems that Indonesia faces – let alone what to do about them. Finally the chapter examines environmental non-government organisations and their role in plugging that hole, trying to spread environmental concern and enthusiasm among the populace.
