Integrate a 'green GDP' into development: Scholar

SEMARANG (JP): An environmental expert has called on the government to include environmental costs in the calculation of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

However, Sudharto P. Hadi, a lecturer at Diponegoro University, said Tuesday that there would be difficulties, especially because the methodology necessary for the measurement of the so-called "green GDP" has yet to be established.

"There would be obstacles," he said.

The GDP is considered indicative of a country's wealth and its citizens' wellbeing, a measure currently questioned by many social scientists, including economists.

Sudharto added that the GDP only calculates production increases and sales revenue. It fails to include environmental destruction and pollution caused to produce the goods calculated.

Addressing a seminar on Sustainable Development in the Era of Globalization, at Diponegoro University, Sudharto said that over the period 1971 to 1984, Indonesia lost Rp 15.84 trillion (US$6.65 billion) from environmental destruction caused by land degradation and the oil and wood industry.

"My estimate of our economic growth, minus the cost of environmental degradation, is only 4 percent, not 7 percent as people have said," Sudharto said.

He said the developmental plans of most countries neglect environmental consideration, such as changing consumption habits that degrade the environment.

"Jakarta has been rated as the third-worst polluted city in the world. There's also the reduction of 13.4 million hectares of mangroves to only two million hectares in the capital. These are just some examples," Sudharto said.

The air-pollution rating was conducted by the United Nations Environment Program, which finds Mexico City to be the worst- polluted city, followed by Bangkok.

Seventy percent of all rivers in Indonesia have been polluted. Moreover, about 97 percent of residents' wells in Jakarta were said to be contaminated by sea water intrusion.

"Such destruction is primarily caused by our negligence to incorporate environmental matters into our development plan. Save the environment lest our grandchildren would have to inherit an unlivable environment," Sudharto said. (06/har)