The country's rich natural resources endangered<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A high ranking official with the (then) Trade and Industry
\nMinistry was clearly puzzled when a journalist asked for his
\ncomment about a number of companies accused of polluting a river
\nin West Java.<\/p>\n
Seconds later, he laughed and asked the journalist to solicit
\ncomments from the State Minister for the Environment instead.<\/p>\n
"I work for the Trade and Industry Ministry, not the KLH," he
\nsaid, referring to the State Ministry of the Environment.<\/p>\n
The response clearly reflects the mind-set of most decision
\nmakers here -- that environmental issues are exclusive; separate
\nfrom issues of trade or industry.<\/p>\n
The Chairman of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI),
\nLonggena Ginting, says decision makers are ignorant of the fact
\nthat environmental issues always link to other aspects of life.<\/p>\n
"Decision makers here always associate environmental issues
\nwith floods, droughts, landslides, pollution and waste," says
\nLonggena, complaining that they fail to understand the core of
\nenvironmentalism -- that nature has its limits.<\/p>\n
The nation's economic policies are often considered
\nexploitative from the environmental perspective. This year
\nIndonesia saw two major environmental cases that highlighted this
\ntendency.<\/p>\n
The first was the enactment of the water resources law in
\nFebruary, and the second the issuance of a presidential decree on
\nmining, followed by a government regulation in lieu of law that
\nallows 13 mining companies to resume open-pit mining operations
\nin protected forests.<\/p>\n
Speculation has been rife among activists and experts that the
\nwater resources law was enacted in order to allow privatization
\nof the water sector, as has been sought by certain international
\nwater companies.<\/p>\n
The regulation on open-pit mining seems to have been issued to
\navoid possible lawsuits by mining companies in arbitration
\ncourts. The 13 mining companies are among 22 mining firms that
\nhad sought to resume operations in protected forests. They had
\npreviously received contracts from the government years before
\nthe Forestry Law was introduced and the government designated
\nconcession areas as protected forest.<\/p>\n
Environmental activists, however, contend that environmental
\ndestruction caused by open-pit mining outweighs any economic
\ngains from mining operations.<\/p>\n
The 2003 state of the environment report, which outlines the
\ncondition of the country's environment, reveals that supply of
\nwater in 2003 reached 483.1 billion cubic meters while demand was
\n66.4 billion cubic meters during the dry season.<\/p>\n
By 2020, it is projected that demand for water will reach 75.5
\nbillion cubic meters while supply will remain static at 483.1
\nbillion cubic meters.<\/p>\n
"It appears that Indonesia plenty of water but there is a
\ndeficit in Java and Bali, which have only 25.3 billion cubic
\nmeters of water to meet a demand of 38.1 billion cubic meters,"
\nit says. The combined population of Java and Bali makes up around
\n60 percent of the country's more than 220 million people.<\/p>\n
The reduction of forest area in Java -- currently only 15
\npercent of the island's 12 million hectares -- has been blamed as
\nthe major cause of its water deficit of 32 billion cubic meters a
\nyear since 1995. Java will very likely suffer a water deficit of
\n134 billion cubic meters per year by 2010.<\/p>\n
The report also warns that the water resources continue to
\ndecline due to excessive water pollution, either by industry,
\nhouseholds or agriculture, while population continues to grow.<\/p>\n
"People mistakenly consider the amount of water in the world
\nto be constant due to the hydrology cycle. In fact, the quality
\nof water continues to decrease so that an increasing proportion
\nof it cannot be consumed," the report said.<\/p>\n
Land is the most important store area for water during the
\nrainy season. "Unfortunately, forests and water catchment areas
\nhave been turned into housing estates, or used for industry or
\nagriculture," it says.<\/p>\n
The report claims that nearly 7,000 large-scale industries,
\nsome 15,000 small to medium enterprises, and about 240,000
\nhousehold industries are contributing to the pollution of the
\nnation's air and water.<\/p>\n
The state of the environment report also reveals that the
\ncondition of forests in the country has entered a critical stage
\ndue to legal and illegal logging, forest fires, legal and illegal
\nmining in forests, as well as the conversion of forests into
\nhousing estates or plantations.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Forestry's MS Kaban expressed hope for a
\nrevival of the forestry industry in a bid to turn it into a
\nrevenue generator for the nation. His remarks sparked protests
\nfrom environmental activists.<\/p>\n
Data from the report reveals that some 43 million hectares of
\nthe nation's 120 million hectares of forests have been damaged.
\nEvery year, an additional 2 million hectares of forest are
\ndamaged.<\/p>\n
The World Bank has predicted that all lowland forests in
\nSumatra will have disappeared by next year, and in Kalimantan by
\n2010.<\/p>\n
Water and forests are amongst the most important elements of
\nthe environment, and this is particularly critical for Indonesia
\nbecause of its very large population.<\/p>\n
The government currently gets US$379.81 million in taxes and
\nnon-tax revenues annually from the 13 mining companies, which
\nemploy 47,269 workers. They also get millions of dollars more
\nfrom water and logging business.<\/p>\n
But, in the words of former environment minister Emil Salim,
\nthe government cannot keep implementing "live for today"
\npolicies.<\/p>\n
Emil is a staunch advocate of sustainable development.<\/p>\n
The money the government must spend to deal with problems
\ngenerated by environment destruction may well exceed the profits
\nof natural resources exploitation.<\/p>\n
Severe drought, caused by, among other things, deforestation,
\ncauses crop failure to nearly 300,000 hectares of some 10 million
\nhectares of rice fields.<\/p>\n
Whilst droughts did not create a domestic rice supply problem
\n-- Indonesia simply imported more rice -- it did impoverish
\nmillions of farmers, experts said.<\/p>\n
The crop failure of 300,000 hectares could potentially put
\nsome 1.2 million families into poverty.<\/p>\n
Last year, the government allocated Rp 1.2 trillion for the
\nreforestation of some 3 million hectares of damaged forests
\nthroughout the country.<\/p>\n
"If we keep up these live for today policies, then the
\nnation's future generations will potentially inherit conflict."
\nEmil warned.<\/p>",
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