Environmentalists set up biodiversity network

Environmentalists set up biodiversity network

JAKARTA (JP): Environmentalists here have agreed to establish
a cooperation network to fight the increasing danger of biopiracy
and exploitation of the country's rich biodiversity by
irresponsible businesses.

The desire to establish such a network was one of the outcomes
of the three-day 2001 Indonesian Biodiversity Forum which ended
here on Thursday.

Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (Yayasan Kehati) founder
Emil Salim said the country was prone to biopiracy, a process
through which developed states tried to patent Indonesia's
natural resources as their own.

Emil, a former state minister of the environment, argued that
such a network could function as a starting point for local
communities, administrations and non-governmental organizations
to monitor the exploitation and conservation of biodiversity.

"Do not underestimate the benefits of such a network. It could
have a snowball effect in applying pressure and increasing
knowledge about the need to protect our indigenous biodiversity,"
he told a media briefing after the close of the forum.

He noted that global policies and multinational businesses had
become additional threats to Indonesia's biodiversity.

"The developed countries have the brain power, while
developing countries provide the resources. They get the patents
for breeding or inventing substances from our resources, but we
don't get any return."

"That's the battle we're in now," he remarked.

The three-day forum, which was attended by the representatives
of local communities and administrations, non-governmental
organizations and ministries, as well as experts from 25
provinces, drafted a blueprint on the issue of biodiversity.

Vice chairman of the forum's organizing committee Ismid Hadad
revealed that a working group would be formed in September to
establish a biodiversity information center to gather and
disseminate information as needed.

"This forum has decided not to wait any longer for Jakarta
(the government) to take action to protect biodiversity. All the
stakeholders involved in the question of biodiversity will use
the network to empower themselves," he said.

"In a year from now, the forum will evaluate the progress that
each of us has made," Ismid added.

The committee's chairman, Wahjudi Wardojo, who is also
director general of forest protection and nature conservation at
the Ministry of Forestry, said the forum would also urge the
government to revise the law on regional autonomy No.22/1999 so
as to give more authority to village administrations in
sustaining biodiversity within their jurisdictions.

"In some cases, indigenous communities should be entrusted
with greater power to manage natural resources, either by
themselves or by collaborating with companies setting up business
there," he said.(bby)