ICEL paints bleak picture on environment

ICEL paints bleak picture on environment

Fitri Wulandari and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Environmentalists predicted doom on Thursday saying
Indonesia's environment would likely remain the primary target of
exploitation due to the government's desperate need to lift
itself out of the protracted economic crisis.

As a result, reform in the environmental sector remained
stagnant with no clear or genuine policies on long-term
conservation, environmentalists from the Indonesian Center for
Environmental Law (ICEL) said.

ICEL, in its year-end review, said officials still saw
environmental protection as a cost burden rather than an
investment, the returns on which could be beneficial.

"We did not see any effort to mainstream environment
(protection) in center policy. Not with the government nor the
legislature," ICEL executive director Wiwiek Awiati said.

ICEL focused its report on deforestation, running at a rate of
1.6 million hectares of rain forest per year due to illegal
logging, forest fires and mining activities.

In the case of illegal logging, the country not only lost its
most valuable resources, it also caused financial losses of Rp
30.4 trillion every year, the report said.

ICEL revealed in its report that the Gunung Leuser National
Park, straddled between Aceh and North Sumatra, for instance,
could produce a total economic value of US$17.6 million over 30
years if it was carefully maintained.

However, the value would plummet to $11.7 million for the same
period if it was further exploited.

State Minister of Environment Nabiel Makarim has proposed a
debt-for-nature-swap scheme which may help reduce the country's
huge foreign debts but this has yet to materialize due to the
government's lack of political will.

ICEL's founder Mas Achmad Santosa, now a senior researcher
with the watchdog, underlined the lack of an integrated action
plan on environmental issues, especially in anticipation of the
upcoming forest fire season next year as the El Nino-fueled dry
winds repeated its five-year cycle.

He said that many culprits of environmental destruction still
could walk free, while none of the criminals which have been
brought to trial had actually received adequate punishment.

Although there have been regulations issued to put an end to
illegal logging, ICEL said that officials and law enforcement
institutions did not implement them as environmental offenses
were still rampant.

Santosa urged the government to bring a member of the People's
Consultative Assembly, Abdul Rasyid, to trial for his alleged
involvement in illegal logging in Kalimantan.

"President Megawati Soekarnoputri has to become a leader who
takes firm action against any person who exploits regional
autonomy and the natural resources for easy money."

Santosa also stressed the need for public and the non-
governmental organizations to act as watchdogs to ensure
environmental laws were upheld.