Action needed to implement WSSD

Action needed to implement WSSD

JAKARTA: Experts said on Friday the results of the World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) would remain mere words
on paper if no concrete action was taken at home.

Noted environmentalist Emil Salim urged the relevant ministers
to draw up action plans to implement the recommendations of the
WSSD, and to stick to them.

"At least five sectors must start sitting down together to
prepare action plans, namely the water, health, energy,
agriculture and biodiversity sectors," he said.

"Don't talk so much, just do it."

Mas Achmad Santosa of the Indonesian Center for Environment
Law (ICEL) agreed with Emil, and slammed ill-conceived policies
that neglected the environment.

"We can see how other ministries want to revise Law No.
41/1999 on forestry so as to permit mining in protected forests,
and how the Jakarta administration wants its coastal reclamation
project to continue despite the decision of the State Minister
for the Environment to prohibit it," he said. -- JP