Government moves to protect ozone
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
To get in step with a number of environmental conventions, the government will begin restricting the entrance of ozone depleting substances (ODS) into the country.
The Office of the State Minister for the Environment and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise signed a memorandum of understanding here on Monday to jointly control, prevent, detect and examine the documentation of ODS arriving in the country.
Under the eight-point agreement, the environmental ministry will train customs and excise officials to increase their capacity to identify these substances.
The deputy to the environmental minister, Masnellyarti Hilman, said the MoU was in compliance with Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which were ratified by Indonesia in 1992.
In April, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration ratified the Beijing Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, according to a government website.
"Since we are bound to the conventions, our duty is to decrease the importation of such substances," Masnellyarti said after the signing ceremony.
She said the country's consumption of ODS was under 0.3 kilograms per capita per year, but there was a large amount of illegally imported ODS circulating in the domestic market.
Sigit Edi Pratiknyo, the state ministry's program manager for sectoral planning, management and coordination, said 400 tons to 500 tons of ODS were imported legally each year, but at least 4,000 tons of ODS were being traded in Indonesia every year.
"That is all to meet the increasing domestic demand," he said, adding that people used ODS for items like air conditioners and refrigerators.
"From a dozen kinds of ODS, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are the most commonly used in daily activities," he said.
Sigit said he believed restricting ODS imports was the most effective way to reduce the circulation of the substances in the country.
"Only substances like methyl bromide are conditionally allowed to be imported because this is still used as a low-boiling solvent and as a refrigerant and fumigant, he said.
During the signing ceremony for the memorandum of understanding, officials from the environmental ministry presented 20 refrigerant identifier devices to the customs and excise director general, Eddy Abdurrachman, to be used to help identify ODS at entry points across Indonesia.
Eddy said he would install the US$2,000 devices in major airports and seaports across the country.
"We will place them in Jakarta, North Sumatra, Bali and South Sulawesi. But that does not mean we will not install similar devices in smaller ports," he said.
Eddy said his office eventually wanted to install the devices in at least 112 entry points throughout the country.