Para-Diplomacy Perspective in Climate Crisis Mitigation: Jakarta’s Local-Global Collaborations for Sustainable Urban Transport and Mobility

Abstract

This study aimed to describe how Jakarta’s collaboration with local and global actors took shape in the development of sustainable urban transport and mobility. The climate crisis, seen as a global issue, has instigated the emergence of more actors to address the impacts and mitigate it. The world’s cities have demonstrated their role by adopting sustainable policies and initiating transnational actions. While Jakarta, as a city in the Global South, was also exposed to the global trend toward sustainability, its initiatives to mitigate the climate crisis by developing sustainable urban transport and mobility were overlooked. This study used the qualitative descriptive method with a case study design and the concept of para-diplomacy. The findings show that Jakarta’s local-global collaboration took shape in several initiatives, starting from pedestrian facilities improvement to multi-year mass transport projects. Such collaboration was meant to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, involving various actors like corporations, NGOs, think tanks, and local communities. This study suggests cities, especially those in the developing world, are also willing to catch up by integrating sustainability into local policies, one of which is addressing global problems like the climate crisis with local initiatives. This study presents a perspective that para-diplomacy, emphasizing collaborations across borders, should be perceived as a strategy for mitigating the climate crisis at the local level.