Environment Day

Environment Day

In your editorial of June 5, 2003, you raised the question of
whether there is anything to justify celebrations, when all
around us we see rapid environmental degradation. Ironically, in
the same paper the state minister for the environment admits to
"not having a clue about how to handle illegal logging". Other
articles point to the close links between water resources,
environmental degradation and poverty alleviation and Indonesian
perceptions about the U.S. and Americans.

As you have pointed out, Indonesia is one of the first
developing countries to have enacted legislation in response to
environmental concerns. Prof. Dr. Emil Salim, the architect of
the early legislation and one of the "Berkeley Mafia", is said to
have exclaimed at the Bali summit, "What do we do about the
Americans?"

The current state minister for the environment has asked
people to suggest fresh and concrete measures on the grounds that
the political will is already high. However in the next breath,
he admits to a lack of coordination among different agencies.

Commercially minded businesspeople are generally uninterested
in the political issues which often result in much talk about
good governance, war and destruction. The government has to take
note of the fact that integrated actions relating to the
environment in general, and forests and water resources in
particular, can proceed only when the political will is
consolidated as a joint statement by sectoral agencies at the
center and the provinces for specific river basins, large and
small.

There are, no doubt, many purely business-oriented entities
including those from the U.S. (consultants, contractors and
investment companies) who have the expertise and the willingness
to act on solutions which will benefit themselves and the poor
communities which live in and around the rapidly diminishing
forests. They will enter the fray when they see strong commitment
to tackle the main concerns, such as environmental conservation
and poverty alleviation, in an integrated and economically and
financially efficient manner.

VIVEKANANTHAN, Jakarta