Indonesia warned of more pressure on environment

Indonesia warned of more pressure on environment

JAKARTA (JP): The advent of free trade in Indonesia is likely
to put more pressure on the environment, the Indonesian Center
for Environmental Law (ICEL) says.

More competition could result in local businesses lobbying the
government to ease environmental regulations to give them an edge
over competitors, the group said in its annual report published
Saturday.

ICEL said pressure will come from foreign companies that
relocate their plants to countries which not only offer low wages
but also less stringent environmental regulations.

This does not bode well for Indonesia, said ICEL. Indonesia is
already experiencing serious environmental degradation, and it is
under pressure to attract as many foreign investors as possible
to maintain the momentum of economic development.

According to a World Bank report, by the year 2010, 85 percent
of the people on Java will suffer from respiratory tract problems
due to intensified industrialization.

ICEL has called on the government to strengthen the nation's
environmental laws and regulations, and to ensure their
enforcement.

ICEL executive director Mas Achmad Santosa is not optimistic.

"We will continue to have difficulties with law enforcement
because environmental conservation is not a priority on the
government's political agenda," Achmad told The Jakarta Post.

Environmental issues should be placed on the main political
agenda because next year the world will evaluate the progress
made since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The
evaluation meeting will be held in the same Brazilian city.

Indonesian environmental groups have criticized the Indonesian
government for failing to implement a number of summit
resolutions.

ICEL urged the government to integrate the recently drawn up
Agenda 21 Indonesia, touted as the national's sustainable
development strategy, into its various policies.

The agenda should also be included in the 1998-2003 Broad
Outline of State Policy (GBHN), Achmad said.

He called for tougher measures to ensure compliance, noting
that the current approach of encouraging voluntary compliance,
through incentive measures, has not produced results.

The government has introduced a system to rate the performance
of factories in ensuring zero or minimum pollution. No company
has earned the gold rating for zero pollution, nor has any action
been taken against the worst polluters rated black and red.

Government officials claim that market pressures are a more
effective means of ensuring industrial compliance than legal or
administrative sanctions.

ICEL doubts that public pressure in Indonesia is strong enough
to force companies to comply, unlike in the West where consumers
are more environmentally-conscious and often boycott products
that are not environment friendly.

Limited access to information makes it difficult for consumers
to be informed about the products they buy, ICEL said.

ICEL noted that the government this year issued 39 rules
pertaining to environmental conservation, which the center calls
useless as long as law enforcement remains weak.

In addition, it said, settlements of environmental disputes
have been unsatisfactory, which breeds further public skepticism.

The Indonesian media have not given enough coverage to
environmental issues, which receive less attention than politics
and human rights, it said. (06)