Bruntland warns of pollution's pitfalls

JAKARTA (JP): Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland is urging Indonesia to avoid repeating the mistakes of developed countries in ignoring environmental conservation.

"It is we, in the West, who have developed at the expense of the environment. We are stuck with the huge costs of cleaning up past mistakes," Brundtland said yesterday, after signing the extension of a 1990 Memorandum of Understanding on technical assistance.

Developing countries, she said, should "leap-frog past the most polluting stages of development".

Brundtland also opened a one-day seminar on environmental management and technology, which included the attendance of 27 Norwegian companies in that field.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed yesterday, between Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and Norwegian Ambassador to Indonesia Jan Wessel Hegg, marked the third phase of a bilateral agreement signed by the two countries in 1990.

The first phase included coastal and marine biodiversity management and the second stage involved pollution control programs, namely seabed mapping and oil spill contingency planning.

Under this umbrella agreement, three more Memorandum of Understandings were signed between private Norwegian companies and Indonesian government institutions.

The first agreement, between The National Institute of Sciences and Norwegian company Oceanor, is a feasibility study for pollution elimination. The institute's chairman, Sofyan Tsauri, said the study in the Brantas river in East Java may develop into a model for other rivers.

The second Memorandum of Understanding is between Oceanor and the National Space and Aviation Agency on a wind-based electricity generating system for supplying electricity to rural areas.

The third agreement, between the Directorate General of Sea Transportation and Norway's Det Norske Veritas, covers a master plan study for safety in sea transportation and managing marine pollution.

Brundtland pointed out that mutual interests of cooperation in environment technology lie in the oil industry.

Norway produces three million barrels of oil per day, Minister of Mines and Energy, Jens Stoltenberg, said.

He said for the last 25 years Norway has been able to carry out a profitable oil business, with environmentally sound technology.

Brundtland said cooperation will also benefit Norway because Indonesia "will become a leading industrial nation in the time span of not much more than a generation".

Sarwono underlined Norway's genuine concern for environment issues. He referred to Brundtland's chairmanship of the United Nations Commission, which produced a document on sustainable development called Our Common Future. (anr)