Good communities always takes care of the environment

Good communities always takes care of the environment

Agus Pakpahan, Executive Chairman, The Union of Associations of
Indonesian Estate Crops Farmers (GAPPERINDO), Jakarta

Man cannot farm without land; without farming man cannot eat;
and without food man cannot survive. A logical sequence as such
is life. One may ask, however, why this common knowledge isn't
implemented through conservation. What is logical about the
failure to protect suitable land for farming?

This only reflects upon our ignorance or lack of reasoning.

Data show that we have been converting our fertile rice fields
(sawah) -- mostly in Java, and by an annual rate of around 40,000
hectares -- into housing and industrial estates, and for other
uses.

With the loss of rice fields, irrigation networks and other
farming infrastructure also disappear. We lose the capital that
was invested by our predecessors.

We then try to farm rice in other places. One example is the
one-million-hectare rice project on peat land in Central
Kalimantan, which failed.

One of the most important reasons why such a grave mistake was
made is that we do not appreciate what nature has given to us --
a conducive climate and good soil. Nor do we take care of what
was provided by our ancestors -- culture, traditions and values.

The annual loss of 40,000 hectares of rice fields means that
we have forfeited approximately 340,000 tons of rice since at
least over the past two decades (25 percent of rice imports in
2000), which could have been made available to consumers.

We also stand by while upland areas are subject to soil
erosion. Soil erosion has reached a critical rate and safety
standards are of the bare minimum. Such erosion is not merely the
geological process of soil renewal. We don't need a sophisticated
survey to determine how much erosion has occurred. We need only
observe the rivers to imagine the rate at which our natural
environment is being destroyed.

There is almost no clean water in most of the country's
rivers. The water is brown, in some rivers a very dark shade of
brown indeed. Millions of metric tons of soil has been
transported from the uplands to the sea via the rivers. This
kills freshwater fish and marine life, increases the cost of
drinking water, destroys infrastructure such as dams and
irrigation networks, and caused other environmental damage.

We are destroying lives, perhaps even our own.

During the dry season, we have no water. Rivers are no longer
ever-flowing. We cry out for clean water; diseases spread.

Erosion is responsible for many hardships. At the end of the
dry season, the rain falls. Rain creates floods, which destroy
property and often cause material and human losses.

The cycle of life is constant. Erosion and environmental
destruction that is caused by man must be stopped.

This is just one problem among many that our community faces.
It is also a good example of the trap that we have made for
ourselves. This trap is formed from our acute lack of capacity
and willingness to harmonize self-interest with social good. It
originates in our preoccupation with today, and our lack of
foresight to perceive the potential problems of the next
generation. It stems from our preoccupation with internal
interests and our blindness to external ones.

We cannot control our own greed. We do not take care of the
legacy from our ancestors. Once, men protected forests and
wildlife, planted trees and took care of one another.

It is said that we live in the era of globalization. We are
taught that we must produce world-class goods and services to be
competitive.

Does world class imply that we must manufacture vehicles?

More important is that we produce good quality and
competitively priced products that there is an international and
domestic demand for.

However, companies or households can produce good-quality
goods or services with competitive prices only if they live and
work in a "good" community, which cares about the environment and
its natural resources.

The economy and the community should coexist like fish and
water. Clean water means healthy fish.

Caring for the environment, and taking an interest in social
welfare, is vital for a "good" community. Farming is symbolic of
the way in which we can care for each other and the environment
-- seeds are sown, crops are tended, new life is possible.

We must consider future generations, we must look forward with
both compassion and logic.