RI needs to protect coastal ecosystems from destruction<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Poor management and coordination between
\ngovernment agencies are the main reasons for the difficulties in
\ndetermining who should be responsible for the problems occurring
\nalong the coastal regions.<\/p>\n
Participants in a one-day forum on how to prevent the
\ndestruction of coastal and marine ecosystems, yesterday, said
\nthat only through clear coordination could there be a stricter
\nenforcement of the law.<\/p>\n
The forum, which was attended by members of government
\nagencies, NGOs and the private sector, felt that there had to be
\nmore cooperation between each of their organizations to achieve
\nan optimum result.<\/p>\n
\"However, we have to remove all feelings of hostility between
\nus before we can start any sort of cooperation,\" said Surna T.
\nDjajadiningrat, third secretary to the State Minister of
\nEnvironment overseeing Operations Coordination.<\/p>\n
Overlapping authority in the coastal regions between the
\nMinistry of Environment, the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry
\nof Agriculture, the Armed Forces and local (city and provincial)
\nauthorities often occurs in this region, as there is currently no
\nclear distribution of authority there.<\/p>\n
In other instances, however, parts of the regions are not
\noverseen by any of them and are left unattended, making them prey
\nto illegal fishing and man-made environmental destruction.<\/p>\n
As a result of the poor coastal resources management, coral
\nreefs and fish in various parts of Indonesia, which were once
\nextremely rich in variety, have been destroyed by poisonous
\nfishing, explosives, pollution and a lack of environmental
\nconsciousness.<\/p>\n
Research conducted by the Office of the State Minister of
\nEnvironment revealed that, as of last year, only seven percent of
\nIndonesia's coral reefs were in satisfactory condition. Thirty
\nthree percent were categorized as average, 14 percent were in
\ncritical condition and 46 percent were completely destroyed.<\/p>\n
State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who
\nopened the forum yesterday, said his office was considering
\nprohibiting the export and trade of a certain expensive species
\nof reef fish commonly known as the Napoleon fish. \"The way they
\nare captured is very cruel as divers use potassium to stun them
\nand reefs are destroyed to catch the fish,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Sarwono said that good coordination could only be achieved if
\nIndonesia abandoned its tradition of managing marine environment
\non an administrative basis instead of good, reliable information.<\/p>\n
Surna said the source of environmental destruction was in fact
\nthe poverty which still existed among the community of fishermen.<\/p>\n
Poverty<\/p>\n
Conservation should not only be done for the sake of
\nconservation itself but also to alleviate poverty in these
\ncommunities, he said. \"We have the strategy and the policy, the
\nquestion is how do we implement it?\" he asked. He added that
\nwithout definite guidelines, there would be no improvement.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Sarwono also launched Indonesia's Sustainable
\nDevelopment Network which is sponsored by the United Nations
\nDevelopment Program.<\/p>\n
Surna, a member of the SDN's Steering Committee explained that
\nthe network is made up of four nodes: the government, NGOs,
\nbusinessmen and a university body.<\/p>\n
\"These four are expected to interact and disseminate
\ninformation concerning the environment to their respective fields
\nas well as to the public,\" he said.<\/p>\n
UNDP Resident Representative C. Jan Kamp said the UNDP has
\nsponsored US$138,000 for the network's operation, for 18 months.
\nThe network was expected to become independent afterwards, he
\nsaid.(pwn)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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