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.