'Govt lacks will to reduce pollution'<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Environmentalists have said the government must pay more
\nattention to the environment in its development policies, in
\norder to reduce pollution problems at home before it is too late.<\/p>\n
"The way the government manages the government is way off
\ntrack," executive director of the Indonesian Center of
\nEnvironmental Law (ICEL) Wiwiek Awiati told the Jakarta Post on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
She said the government was not sufficiently aware of the
\nenvironment, as evident from its weak environmental policies and
\npoor enforcement of the law against those violating environmental
\nregulations.<\/p>\n
"Law enforcement against polluters cannot be upheld, and
\nenvironmental legislation lacks power to deter them here;
\ntherefore, many polluters remain untouchable," she said.<\/p>\n
The US$1 million fine imposed on plantation firm PT Adei
\nPlantation for clearing land using slash-and-burn methods was
\nencouraging, but not enough, said Wiwiek.<\/p>\n
"What about air, water and waste polluters?" she added.<\/p>\n
Wiwiek was responding to the World Bank report on the
\nenvironment in Indonesia, which said the country was under threat
\nfrom air, water, solid and hazardous waste pollution.<\/p>\n
The Environment Impact Management Agency (Bapedal), which is
\nexpected to take a leading role in environmental conservation as
\na result of its authority to approve environmental impact
\nassessments (Amdal), was powerless, she said.<\/p>\n
Worse still, the government managed to allocate only a small
\nbudget to the Office of the State Minister of the Environment,
\nthus limiting its scope to chase polluters, she said.<\/p>\n
The monitoring of companies that are prone to polluting the
\nenvironment remained insufficiently thorough, which left the
\ngovernment with inadequate evidence to sue them.<\/p>\n
Senior official at the Office of the State Minister of the
\nEnvironment Masnellyarti Hilman admitted that limited funding was
\nthe main obstacle to her office's efforts.<\/p>\n
"We even have difficulty in monitoring environmental quality
\nat the sites of large companies such as Newmont Minahasa Raya,
\nFreeport Indonesia and Toba Pulp Lestari," she said.<\/p>\n
Wiwiek said there were many confusing regulations related to
\nthe environment, which caused conflict between environmental and
\nindustrial interests.<\/p>\n
Law No 41\/1999, which bans opencast mining in protected
\nforest, is still expected, by mining companies, to be amended.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Forum on the Environment (Walhi) executive director
\nLonggena Ginting agreed with Wiwiek.<\/p>\n
He claimed that environmental management by the government in
\nthe last seven years had deteriorated, in view of the huge number
\nof incidents involving pollution and environmental disasters.<\/p>\n
Ginting even accused the current government of being a regime
\nwithout an environmental agenda.<\/p>\n
Wiwiek suggested that the government start improving the
\nenvironment by implementing a system of linked licenses for
\ncompanies, ranging from operating to environmental licenses.<\/p>\n
"Thus, if a company pollutes the environment, the state
\nminister of the environment revokes the environmental license,
\nand the other licenses are automatically revoked, too," she said.<\/p>\n
The government should also establish under one roof an
\nenvironmental enforcement body, comprising civil servants, police
\nand prosecutors, to help simplify the process of legal action,
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
For the sake of justice, the Supreme Court ought to establish
\na special court for environmental cases due to the huge impact of
\npollution on people and the environment.<\/p>\n
"The public must also continuously monitor law enforcement on
\npolluters," she said.<\/p>\n
She added that companies that managed to protect the
\nenvironment deserved incentives.<\/p>",
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