Biodiversity is the future: Emil Salim<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A two-day biodiversity conference with almost
\n500 participants should increase awareness in Indonesia about the
\nneed to expend more effort on conservation rather than
\nconsumption, an official said yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"The future is in biodiversity,\" said economist and former
\nenvironment minister Emil Salim. \"If we can sustain our natural
\nresources by the year 2020, we will be the king of the world.\"<\/p>\n
Indonesia ranks among the world's top five in the world in
\nbiodiversity, he said.<\/p>\n
When the world's population of eight billion are all aiming to
\nchange nature into industrial and residential sites, Indonesians
\n\"will have the competitive edge for survival,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Emil is chairman of the Kehati Foundation which hosts the
\nGlobal Biodiversity Forum of international conservation groups.
\nIt opens today at Hotel Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The talks follow-up the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil. Co-hosted
\nby the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it ends on
\nSunday evening.<\/p>\n
Some 470 participants hope to contribute their views to the
\ninter-governmental Second Conference of Parties on the Convention
\nof Biodiversity, to be held between Nov. 6 and 17 in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Jeffrey McNeely of the IUCN said the informal talks are
\nexpected to \"find ways to spend some of the US$1 trillion a year
\nworldwide on sustaining natural resources, not depleting them.\"<\/p>\n
He was citing environmentalists' estimates that $1 trillion is
\nspent annually to deplete natural resources.<\/p>\n
Emil said today's meeting is vital to make the private sector
\nmore aware of the biodiversity investment opportunities.<\/p>\n
While many companies have entered the waste treatment
\nbusiness, few are interested in cultivating natural resources,
\nsaid Emil.<\/p>\n
\"I only wish we had many bright people who would go into
\n(remote) areas and ask the local people about their knowledge and
\ncultivate that knowledge (scientifically),\" he said.<\/p>\n
Compared to foreign researchers, Indonesians are still \"lousy\"
\nand hesitant to enter areas full of mosquitoes or difficult to
\nreach, he said.<\/p>\n
McNeely said that although governments expressed their
\ncommitment to sustainability at the Earth Summit, \"no one really
\nknows how to go about it.\"<\/p>\n
This, said Emil, a former economic advisor to the government,
\nis because biodiversity is far outside of mainstream economic
\nthinking. (anr)<\/p>",
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