Empower local govts, summit concludes

Empower local govts, summit concludes

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Parapat

The Lake Toba Summit that brought around 1,000 delegates of
developed and developing countries to northern Sumatra, concluded
here over the weekend with a joint declaration calling for the
strengthening of regional governments, businesspeople and the
local community to implement sustainable economic development.

North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin who read out the joint
declaration, said that the earth's fate could no longer be solely
entrusted to national governments and international institutions
because besides being ineffective and inefficient, agents of
development were actually local governments, businesspeople, non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) and the local people.

"All governments at the local/regional level have the
authority to make necessary bylaws, concrete measures to carry
out their own development programs benefiting the people, the
economy and the environment," he said. He added that cooperation
among regional governments worldwide must thus be "encouraged,
maintained, or enhanced to allow them to exchange information,
technology, experience and human resources".

But the three-day talks, which was the first summit of the
Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development was
only attended by low-echelon officials. Several figures from
international bodies failed to show up.

Erin Brockovich, a noted activist of Save the World Air Inc.,
emphasized the importance of a strong alliance among regional
governments and the empowerment of vulnerable groups such as
farmers, fishermen, women and children to implement the concept
of sustainable development and help protect the environment.

She cited how some state governments in the U.S. play an
increasing role in the efforts to protect the environment by
accepting the Kyoto Protocol despite the fact that Washington has
not signed the treaty aimed to reduce the global greenhouse gas
emission.

Susie Ellies, vice president of the Indonesian and Philippine
program of Conservation International, said a strong alliance
among regional governments in northern Sumatra and local people
was needed to seek a win-win solution for the environmental,
economic and social problems in the region.

"Local administrations in Aceh and North Sumatra have to make
the necessary bylaws to enforce the environment law ... while
locals in cooperation with NGOs have to influence decision makers
... to design an environmentally friendly economic development program."

Environmentalists have cited the endangered condition of the
Gunung Leuser in Aceh, Bahorok and Batang Gadis National Parks in
North Sumatra due to "rapid economic activities" inside and
outside the protected forests.

The summit was jointly organized by the UN Environmental
Program (UNEP), UN Habitat and UN Institute of Training and
Research (UNITAR), and the Association of Indonesian Provincial
Administrations. But many of the officials, along with governors
from Riau, Jakarta, Papua, and Aceh went home after the opening
ceremony in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra.