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Abstract
This doctoral dissertation contributes to the academic literature on diakonia science and diakonia management by exploring global diakonia in the palm oil industry in Indonesia. Palm oil for almost three decades has become the backbone of the Indonesian economy. In the Indonesian context, this industry's nature is characterized by the dominance of private transnational corporations, which causes the community, indigenous people, laborers, and smallholders, cornered and face serious unintended social, cultural, economic, and environmental implications. Palm oil brings not only positive but also negative impacts. Even though the industry is taking place in Indonesia, the global supply chain links this sector worldwide. On the basis of this observation, churches are called to practice diakonia in this industry, globally.
Data for this research were obtained through library research and empirical study. Interviews were conducted with the community in Baidub, Papua, together with church workers, governments, and NGO activists. Findings indicate that the community faces food access challenges, land grabbing, unfair payment, and forced lifestyle and cultural change. The study details the historical evolution and contemporary palm oil industry in Indonesia and worldwide. A thorough analysis of the palm oil industry and global market demands, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and palm oil sustainability certifications, enrich the interdisciplinary finding in this thesis.
Towards a more sustainable palm oil industry: maximizing the development benefits to the community while minimizing the negative social, cultural and ecological impacts, the nature of a free-market economy will be replaced with embedded economics to bring the relations back to their place. One outcome of the research is global diakonia with a go-between role, to bring the embeddedness to the state, business, and society. The projected ecclesiological model from this dissertation is interdisciplinary and multirationality.
Keywords:
Palm oil industry, Global value chain, Global diakonia, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Regulatory ethics, Communication, Economic ethics.