Thirteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Indonesia has been continuously experiencing forest fires with a peak in 2013-2015. Forest fires cause ecosystem damage, impact the health of community, and destroy the supply of food from nature. But, for communities in peatland areas, forest fires are not entirely a disaster because it increases the fertility of the land for planting swamp rice. With the prohibition to cultivate in burnt forest land, the community loses its main food source (rice) while their income is also greatly reduced as a result of forest fires. Social cohesion has become the backbone of the community members to be resilient in facing life’s challenges with institutional of mutual help as the basis of collective action to overcome community problems. However, with reduced household incomes there is a change in community social cohesion. This paper will analyze the various impacts of forest fires on community social cohesion and its impact on community resilience in adapting and resolving food insecurity threats. This paper explores a constructive policy to strengthen community resilience in order to survive independently in the face of threats of forest fires in peatland areas.