Integrate a 'green GDP' into development: Scholar

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)