Dr Daniel Murdiyarso has been elected president of the Indonesia Academy of Sciences (Akademi Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia or AIPI) with a mandate to explore how science and technology can address environmental and social development issues.
AIPI was established by the Indonesian government in 1990 to provide advice to the public and private sectors on how science and technology can be applied to tackle issues such as climate change, biodiversity erosion and blue carbon, Murdiyarso told Eco-Business.
Murdiyarso, who has been a member of the academy since 2002 as chair of the basic science committee, brings over three decades of expertise in forest meteorology, climate change mitigation and adaptation to the role.
He takes over from Professor Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro, who served as the academy’s president over the previous five years.
“This is not an easy mandate, but I am confident that through the collegial fashion of the academy, we’ll realise our purpose in nurturing how Indonesians use science to improve the environment,” Murdiyarso said.
Murdiyarso currently holds the position of principal scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), an Indonesia-based non-profit and scientific institution that conducts research on forest and landscape management globally.
He is also a professor at the department of geophysics and meteorology at Bogor Agricultural University, with a research focus including climate change mitigation and adaptation and land-use change and biogeochemical cycles.
Throughout his career, Dr Murdiyarso has contributed to climate change research in Indonesia and internationally.
As former deputy minister of environment of Indonesia, he was the national focal point of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Convention on Biological Diversity.
He was part of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as convening lead author of the IPCC Third Assessment Report and the IPCC Special Report on Land-use, Land-use Change and Forestry.
Over the past two decades, he has published more than 100 research papers on land-use change and biogeochemical cycles, climate change mitigation and adaptation.
