Keep our sky blue

Keep our sky blue

Without much fanfare, State Minister of Environment Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja launched the Blue Sky program in Semarang on
Tuesday which aims to improve the quality of air in Indonesia's
big cities. Two major sources of pollution are identified by the
program: industrial plants and motor vehicles.

With the country's industrialization program moving full steam
ahead, and with more city folks owning and driving cars, there is
every reason to be concerned about car exhaust and the emissions
from factory chimneys. The launching of the Blue Sky program, the
result of a four-year study by the Environmental Impact
Management Agency (Bapedal), could not have come at a more
appropriate time.

Though high in ambition and long on rhetoric about the harmful
effects of air pollution, the Blue Sky program is short on action
plans and targets. The measures it proposes are limited, casting
doubt on the program's ability to arrest the deteriorating air
quality in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya where it is
being implemented.

In the case of Jakarta, we should be talking about improving
the quality of air, and not simply arresting the current trend.
The air in the capital is already full of toxins, and in some
parts the sky is no longer blue due to thick layers of smog.

The Blue Sky program appears to be banking on the public's
initiative and participation. It refrains from introducing strong
regulations and means of enforcement. Its success in controlling
air pollution from industrial plants and motor vehicles also
relies heavily on the cooperation of provincial administrations.

In dealing with industrial pollution, the program has enlisted
43 companies, which have signed a commitment stating that their
emission levels will not exceed official standards. The program
calls for closer monitoring of industrial emissions and stricter
standards in the future.

In dealing with pollution from motor vehicles, the program
encourages motorists to switch to environment-friendly fuels such
as compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas; it calls for
contests among car manufacturers to tune up their engines; and
again, somewhere down the line, it hopes to see such noxious
beasts as the bajaj and bemo phased out completely.

While Bapedal must be commended for coming up with the
program, the measures it proposes once again reflect the limits
of this particular government agency in the face of big
industrial lobbyists. A relatively new agency with good ideas,
Bapedal has virtually no power to ensure that industries comply
with the government's environmental regulations. Its role has
been relegated to that of a toothless watchdog, which has been
Bapedal's biggest handicap to date. For example, the ongoing
Clean River Program, launched two years ago to control industrial
waste discharged into rivers, only rates companies in terms of
their performance.

While Blue Sky is a good start, the time has come to review
the role of Bapedal and the Office of the State Minister of
Environment. Both must be given more power to ensure that we
protect our environment, for our own sake.

It will take a lot more than mere appeals to the conscience of
factory owners and car owners to maintain the quality of the air
that we breathe. Stronger laws and regulations, in addition to
measures to ensure compliance, are what Jakarta and other big
cities need to keep the sky blue.