Environment bill 'fails to cover basic issues'

JAKARTA (JP): The environment bill, due to be passed by the House of Representatives next month, fails to address fundamental environmental issues, a conservationist said yesterday.

Siti Megadianty Adam of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) said the bill covers neither forest conservation nor the protection of wildlife.

"The legislators might have thought that those issues had already been covered by the laws on conservation, forestry and biodiversity," she said.

According to Megadianty, the new bill is overly focused on enforcement.

However, she said she was pleased that the bill included harsher penalties for violators than the 1982 law which it is intended to replace.

The bill provides for a maximum jail term of 15 years for offenses that result in human death or severe injury and a maximum fine of Rp 750 million (US$300,000) for environmental offenses. The current law mandates a maximum jail term of 10 years and a Rp 100 million fine.

Both the government and conservationists have repeatedly complained that the 1982 law has not been properly applied by enforcement agencies and that judges are too lenient on environmental offenders.

Megadianty praised the bill for guaranteeing the right of citizens to bring class actions against violators of environmental laws.

The bill permits conservationist organizations to sue companies for environmental offenses but forbids them to seek compensation. Only people who are directly affected by environmental damage are entitled to seek compensation.

Another major improvement regarding law enforcement, according to Megadianty, is that the bill allows out-of-court settlements in environmental disputes, pursuant to the ruling of a neutral arbitration body which is to be established.

Conservationists have welcomed the bill's total ban on the importation of toxic waste. Industries using toxic waste as a raw material will have a five-year grace period before they must comply.

The 1982 Environment Law does not regulate the import of toxic waste. The importation of such waste as an industrial raw material is currently regulated by Government Regulation No. 12/1995.

Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have expressed disappointment that the bill makes no express mention of people's right to participate in the management of the environment.

"The bill doesn't give as much attention as the 1982 law does to NGOs," said Megadianty. "It merely mentions them as being one type of environmental organization."

The bill defines environmental NGOs as those organizations which have described themselves as environmental NGOs in their organizational statutes.

Separately, Indonesian Consumers Foundation chairwoman Tini Hadad said that the bill was "still not satisfactory" as far as NGOs were concerned.

"Our foundation, for instance, is an NGO whose concerns relate directly to environmental matters," she said. "But that is not mentioned in our statute," she said. (aan)