Emil warns of impact from environmental damage

JAKARTA (JP): The rolling out of regional autonomy in January next year could lead to widespread environmental damage due to local governments' lack of vision and concern on biodiversity management, an expert warned on Friday.

"Most local administration leaders, from governors to regents, are busy thinking of exploiting their regions and environment by altering rather than preserving it," chairman of Indonesia's Biodiversity (Kehati) Foundation Emil Salim said at a media briefing about the Kehati Awards on Friday.

Emil, a noted economist who has also served as minister of the environment for three consecutive terms in the Soeharto era, said the danger lies in the fact that biodiversity is not positioned as a central plank of the country's development.

"Most regions (in the autonomy era) will be busy garnering local revenue. In West Kalimantan, there is a regent who does not want to preserve 75 percent of its forests as he says 'he'll get nothing'.

"The local leaders always think that 'development' means having a great mall or industrial estate. This is a mistaken and dangerous concept," Emil said.

Most parts of the national parks in the country's western region, such as Gunung Leuser and Kerinci in Sumatra, are already damaged, he said. "In Java, the conditions are the worst."

In an effort to cope with these problems, Kehati and the West Java administration, along with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), have established a holistic biodiversity board that will issue guidelines for environmentally friendly development programs to regency and mayoralty administrations.

The board is a pilot project designed to coincide with the implementation of regional autonomy, he said.

"We'll start with the conservation of Ciremai mountain, whose rivers have the shortest distance to flow to the sea. The mountain's resources have been so severely exploited as to lead to the destruction of mangrove forests on the coast and along its rivers," he said.

The board will meet in November and discuss concrete problems such as the river sedimentation that affects three regencies in West Java, namely Ciamis, Kuningan and Cirebon.

"We have no choice but to directly approach the regions and open their minds so as to conserve nature," he said.

From the era of Soeharto, through that of Habibie right up to the present administration of Abdurrahman (President Abdurrahman Wahid), they all had their own excuses for not paying more attention to the environment, he said.

"It is shameful that this country is home to the world's greatest biodiversity but that we don't have the brains to utilize it. My dream is that we can survive globalization through availing of our own natural resources," he said.

Emil cited the example of how marginalized tribes such as the Baduy in West Java and the Kubu people in Jambi (in Sumatra) must struggle to survive and defend their forests.

"We even have sharks in the open sea in Sikka regency, East Nusa Tenggara, that have oil in their livers that can be used as an anti-aging or rejuvenation agent. People were unaware of this and never used it as an economic resource," Emil said.

As part of its environmental campaign and the effort to heighten public awareness, Kehati will present its second "Kehati Awards" which will be given in five categories, namely individuals, officials, companies, researchers (groups or individuals) and journalists for their outstanding contributions to saving the environment.

The public is welcome to submit the names of prospective candidates for these most prestigious biodiversity awards at the Patra Jasa Building on Jl. Gatot Subroto No. 32-34, Tel. (021) 522-8031/32.

The deadline is Dec. 1, 2000 and the award will be presented in January next year. A special jury and assessment team will select the candidates. The selectors include senior journalist Atmakusumah Astraatmadja and management specialist Anugerah Pekerti.

This year's winner was Tumenggung Tarib, chief of the Kubu people in Jambi who, together with his tribe, has been fighting against forest exploitation in Jambi. He received a Rp 40 million (US$4,705) grant, which will be used by the tribe to purchase rubber tree plants to help build a "bastion" for his people against timber looters. (edt)