Climate change is a scientific based – global issue. The climate change issue developed when scientists/researchers discovered the phenomenon that the earth’s temperature rise due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHG) will have an impact on various sectors of human life. Through Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the scientists/researchers and representatives of the State parties come together to find solutions for mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts.
Considering the issue of climate change is a science-based issues, the handling effort also requires the support of experts, scientists and researchers (scientific community), particularly related to the technical aspects/methodological. In addition, in the process of negotiations in the UNFCCC convention, also required the support of science in the form of research results that are more representative of the national context, so that the negotiations are not burdensome implementation at both national and sub-national. Furthermore, the role of universities, research institutes and training institution as a center of excellence is also important in order to improve understanding (awareness raising) and capacity (capacity building) in addressing climate change.
In relation to the matter above and to build resources/expert pools in forestry and climate change, it is necessary to build/establish networks between universities, research institutes and training institution in Indonesia. In addition to support efforts to address the impact of climate change, networks are crucial to mapping expertise and research focus of each university and research institutions so as to contribute to fill the gap of technical/methodological aspects in handling climate change in the area/region respectively.
APIK initially is a national organization comprised of seven regional networks focusing on research, education, and community services related to climate change. APIK members come from various universities throughout Indonesia, Forestry Research institue, and Training Institute, as well as individuals who have concerns about climate change. Earlier, seven regional networks that facilitated and established by the support of the Center of Standardization and Environment (Pustanling), the Ministry of Forestry.
Seventh these networks merged into a national network in 2013 as the “Network for Research and Education on Climate Change and Forestry of Indonesia”. To improve APIK role in encouraging and expanding the participating parties to address climate change, at that time was considered to be a network/organization that is more open and more inviting interested parties to participate. For this reason and based on the results of the meeting held on 21-22 December 2015 in Yogyakarta, then the network comes with a new name: “Jejaring Ahli Perubahan Iklim dan Kehutanan (APIK Indonesia Network)” and began to take on a more significant role to handle the climate change.