Environmentalists call for new licensing mechanisms
Environmentalists call for new licensing mechanisms
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Environmental experts have called for the introduction of either
integrated licensing or a series of licenses for companies to
ensure the conservation of natural resources.
Asep Warlan Yusuf, legal advisor to the House of
Representatives, and Wiwiek Awiati of the Indonesian Center for
Environmental Law (ICEL) said on Friday such license mechanisms
should be introduced in the planned law of natural resources
management.
"We must consider implementing either integrated licensing or
a series of licenses, as many firms have so far only exploited
natural resources without giving any attention to preserving
them," Asep told reporters on the sidelines of a public hearing
of a draft bill on natural resources management.
The hearing is expected to continue until April next year
before the government submits the bill to the House. The original
submission was scheduled for December, but was delayed until
April.
Meanwhile, Wiwiek expected many parties to agree with the
licensing alternatives.
Asep explained that integrated licensing was a mechanism under
which only one coordinating minister would issue a license to a
company after having received recommendations from various
institutions such as those of the environment, trade, forestry or
mining sectors.
He added that the Netherlands implemented such a policy.
The other alternative, a series of licenses, is a mechanism
under which ministries could issue individual licenses to firms,
but if one license is revoked, the firm must cease operations.
Presently, various ministries can issue sectorial licenses
like those on mining exploration and toxic waste management, but
a revocation of a license does not affect the firm's operations.
In a statement made available to the participants, the State
Ministry of the Environment supported the licensing idea.
The statement said the new licensing mechanism would help
preserve natural resources for the sake of the people and at the
same time, would help raise the national income.
Besides the need for a new licensing mechanism, the public is
to have a say in the exploitation of natural resources from their
surrounding areas under the new draft bill.
The draft bill requires government authorities to secure
permission from the local community before granting exploration
licenses to companies.
During the leadership of former president Soeharto, many
forest areas were given to large private companies without public
consultation, a move that has contributed to widespread damage to
the country's forests.
The draft bill also guarantees the rights of local tribes to
manage their ancestral lands, and stipulates that any decision to
exploit natural resources on tribal lands would not result in the
native peoples from being uprooted from their land.