How to deal with environmental rift?<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Non-governmental organizations should try to
\nwork closer with the government in helping to settle
\nenvironmental disputes, the deputy of the Environmental Impact
\nManagement Agency says.<\/p>\n
\"There has been increasing distrust between the government and
\nnon-governmental organizations in the last few years,\" Nabiel
\nMakarim said yesterday at a discussion on out-of-court settlement
\nof environmental disputes.<\/p>\n
\"Non-governmental organizations should realize that,
\nespecially at the regional level, the administration is the only
\nauthority.\"<\/p>\n
\"Currently, both parties have created walls,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) say the regional
\nadministration does not care about environmental matters, and the
\nbureaucracy says the NGOs always put them in the wrong, he noted.<\/p>\n
Nabiel told Asian and American participants of an
\nenvironmental resolution program that NGOs are actually vital to
\nout-of-court settlements.<\/p>\n
\"The only way to make conflicting parties equal in
\nnegotiations is to have an NGO mediate, particularly if the
\nparties consist of a community and a corporation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
However, with the current situation of distrust, Nabiel said
\nmediation is very difficult.<\/p>\n
\"We hope to create trust by showing that mediation works, but
\nthis needs more publication of success stories,\" he said,
\nregretting that the media only highlights \"exceptional\" failures.<\/p>\n
The discussion, organized by the Asia Foundation and the
\nIndonesian Center for Environmental Law, was the last part of a
\none-month program. Twenty Asian participants took part in an
\ninternship on \"alternative dispute resolution\" in the United
\nStates for three weeks. The last week was spent in Indonesia for
\nexposure to the experience here in settling environment-related
\ncases.<\/p>\n
This included a visit to Dukuh Tapak in Semarang, Central
\nJava, where an out-of-court settlement in 1992 succeeded in
\nresolving a conflict between residents and a number of factories.<\/p>\n
The center's executive director, Mas Achmad Santosa, said
\nearlier that one of the problems with legal settlement of
\nenvironmental disputes is the lack of clout of the Office of the
\nState Minister of Environment, which only coordinates
\nimplementation of government policies.<\/p>\n
\"It is the other ministries like the ministries of industry
\nand mines which have the power,\" he said.<\/p>\n
However, environment law expert Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri said
\nyesterday that if the Office of State Minister of Environment
\nbecomes a ministry with a portfolio, \"no one will listen to it.\"<\/p>\n
Koesnadi and a former judge of the State Administrative Court,
\nPaulus E. Lotulung, said there should be amendments to the 1982
\nLaw regarding the need for material evidence of environmental
\nharm for one to be able to file a lawsuit.<\/p>\n
\"The law should also provide the possibility of legal action
\nto prevent pollution,\" Lotulung said.<\/p>\n
Since the environment law became effective in 1982, Santosa
\nsaid, less than 20 cases have been settled in court.<\/p>\n
He said that out-of-court settlements are also better because
\nof the long-term nature of an environmental solution.<\/p>\n
\"Environmental cases are not just a matter of losing and
\nwinning, there is also the obligation of complying with
\nenvironmental standards,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"However, there is no incentive for conflicting parties to
\nnegotiate due to the low level of enforcement of the environment
\nlaw,\" Santosa said.<\/p>\n
He also said there is low awareness on the part of the
\nbureaucracy on the need for the presence of a neutral party.<\/p>\n
Participants from China, South Korea and Malaysia also said
\nout-of-court settlements were preferred in their countries due
\nmainly to cultural factors.<\/p>\n
A participant from the United States said that 95 percent of
\ncases are usually settled out of court there.<\/p>\n
The preference for out-of-court settlements in the U.S. is
\nbecause environment-related cases are low on the priority of
\ncourts compared to criminal cases, Deborah Dalton of the
\nEnvironmental Protection Agency, said.<\/p>\n
\"Litigation also moves conflicting parties as far apart as
\npossible,\" she said. Cooperation, she added, is actually needed
\nto implement a court decision regarding steps to correct
\nenvironmental damage. (anr)<\/p>",
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