Jamboree causes environmental damage

Jamboree causes environmental damage

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): Environmental activists,
grouped in the Dynamic Forum for Nature Lovers (Fordik), blamed
the National Scout Jamboree 2001 on Friday for causing major
environmental damages to the 14-hectare Baturraden tourist
resort.

The group, in its statement, also urged the committee of the
National Scout Jamboree 2001 to immediately restore the condition
of the resort, which was used as the camping ground during the
ten-day gathering.

"We demand that the National Jamboree committee take
responsibility for the environmental damage and demand that they
immediately take action to rehabilitate the environment here,"
the group said in its statement made available to The Jakarta
Post.

The group consisted of university nature groups in Purwokerto
and other environmental non-governmental organizations.

In its statement, Fordik said that many trees had been felled
to clear the ground for the scouts to erect their tents.

The group estimated that each jamboree participant created
three liters of garbage daily, and with the total number of
participants being 10,700, at least 288,900 liters or 288.9 cubic
meters of garbage had been generated during the nine-day
jamboree.

"The amount of garbage created was not countered by an
equivalent number of garbage bins as the jamboree committee only
provided 33 garbage containers, with each can being able to hold
one cubic meter of garbage," Fordik said.

The group also regretted the sanitation arrangements which
they claimed were "unable to hold the amount of human feces
produced by the jamboree participants."

The jamboree committee had excavated a total of 400 two-meter-
deep septic tanks at the camping ground, with the interior of
each being plastered.

It was estimated that around 47,376 kilograms of human feces
were produced everyday, an amount that could not be easily
absorbed by the soil due to the thick concrete used in the
construction of the septic tanks.

"We are afraid the septic tanks will overflow and the
unabsorbed feces will pollute watercourses," he said.

The jamboree was officially closed on Wednesday by Vice
President Megawati Soekarnoputri and two days after the closing
ceremony, rubbish and the remains of tents are still to be seen
littering the campsite.

When asked to comment, the chairman of the committee's general
affairs section, Bambang Priyono, said the committee would take
full responsibility for the negative environmental impacts of the
national scout gathering.

"To restore the environment is our top priority. We have
scheduled cleaning and rehabilitation activities for the next
three months," Bambang told the Post.

Meanwhile after the jamboree was closed, dozens of prostitutes
were seen resuming their activities in the tourist resort. During
the 10-day national gathering, they were driven out of the resort
by security personnel.

"Not all of us have returned here. Maybe there's around 20 of
us," one of the prostitutes said.

A broker said that,"The pimps will hold a meeting on Saturday
at Pring Sewu restaurant to discuss the business prospects."
(45/emf)