Environmental advisers

Environmental advisers

I find commendable that the Indonesian authorities have engaged foreign advisers in environmental policy formulation. (The Jakarta Post, Opinion Page, Feb. 1). May I recommend that the environmental advisers read the working paper Environmental Innovation and Management in Curitiba, Brazil issued by the World Bank's Urban Management and the Environment?

We started in Curitiba, where I lived, spending a couple of weeks every two years or so, by showing that rubbish is a problem, and launched "Operation Rubbish" to fight litter, pollution and dirt.

People put all conceivable types of rubbish by the side of the road on Saturday evenings and trucks collect the garbage on Sunday mornings. After years of cleaning up we have still much to do. We are not a rich town and we have still several urban problems but the world heard what we did.

Curitiba was chosen as a showcase to host the World Urban Forum, a meeting of mayors and urban experts to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

The International Institute for Energy Conservation (Washington D.C.) gave Curitiba its 1990 global energy efficiency award in recognition of the environmental benefits of our transportation system. Indonesians (who are more disciplined than us) can also do an operation 100 times bigger.

OSVALDO COELHO

Bandung, West Java