Depok, 25 June 2025. Indonesia\u2019s fisheries resources play an important role in food security, income, and livelihoods, and serve as an affordable source of animal protein for low-income rural communities. This was conveyed by Prof. Dr. Dewi Susiloningtyas, S.Si., M.Si. during her inauguration as a Permanent Professor in Human Geography, Environment, and Coastal and Marine Natural Resource Management at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA), Universitas Indonesia (UI). The ceremony, led by the Rector of UI, Prof. Dr. Ir. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU, took place on Wednesday (25\/6) at Balai Sidang UI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In general, Prof. Tyas reviewed the potential of Indonesia\u2019s marine wealth along its approximately 99,093 km coastline. If these marine resources are overexploited, it will negatively impact food security and the livelihoods of millions of people in related sectors. Therefore, the concept of human geography is essential for regulating space and society, as well as examining the interactions between place and space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The role of humans as agents of environmental change can explain the impacts of human activities on the Earth\u2019s surface, including how coastal and marine areas affect human activities. According to her, there needs to be intervention in the form of regulations that govern social and ecological systems (social ecology system<\/em>) so that overexploitation or misuse does not occur over fishing<\/em> that could harm the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSpatial connectivity in social ecology system<\/em> is composed of physical, biological, and geographical units that are associated with social actors and institutions. The structures or attributes within the social system include values, behavior, levels of knowledge, technology, and the number of individuals or communities. Meanwhile, the ecological system encompasses all natural resources and ecosystem services utilized by humans. The interaction between these two systems requires regulation to prevent overexploitation,\u201d said Prof. Tyas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To strengthen the socio-ecological system, a concept known as Agent-Based Modeling or ABM (Agent Base Model<\/em>) which is developed within the framework of coastal and marine resource management. ABM is a computational model used to simulate the interactions among autonomous agents and serves as an analytical tool for modeling complex societies, such as coastal communities whose livelihoods are influenced by social, economic, and environmental factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prof. Tyas applies the socio-ecological concept in the implementation of the Tri Dharma of Higher Education through research related to nature and the lives of coastal communities. Some of these include the development of sustainable coastal and marine tourism, as well as the development of seaweed cultivation on Tarakan Island, North Kalimantan. From these studies, using a spatial connectivity approach, analyses of dynamics and changes in resource access or direct environmental pressures can be mapped and predicted through modeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe implications of socio-ecological connectivity in shaping sustainability can be guided through policy priorities and by determining the forms of responsibility for the actors involved. The study\u2019s findings can be used as a basis for data-driven decision-making in managing regions that adapt to ongoing dynamics. Activities that utilize coastal and marine resources will affect the sustainability of those resources. This is due to the vulnerability of ecological degradation in critical area<\/em> which are the habitats of most resources on which the lives of coastal communities depend,\u201d said Prof. Tyas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prof. Tyas research on spatial connectivity as a strategy for sustaining the livelihoods of coastal communities in Indonesia has led her to become the 32nd professor inaugurated this year, out of a total of 473 professors at UI. Before being appointed as a professor, Prof. Tyas completed her undergraduate studies in Regional Development Planning at the Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada (1994), her master\u2019s degree in Environmental Science (1998), and her doctoral degree in Coastal and Marine Resource Management at the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, IPB University, in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n