Managing the environment

Managing the environment

In spite of the criticism it has drawn from environmentalists,
the proposed bill on environmental management now being
deliberated by the House of Representatives is a step in the
right direction. At the very least, the proposed law, which is to
replace a 1982 law, manifests an awareness on the part of the
government of the growing importance of proper environmental
management as this country prepares to enter the new century.

It is unfortunate indeed that, despite the rapid encroachment
of industrial and urban development projects, many people still
regard any talk about the environment as little more than
grandiloquent rhetoric that has little real impact on their daily
lives. Nevertheless, to those who are concerned about this
development it has in the past decade become clear that the
existing law offers insufficient guarantee that industrial and
urban development -- which are obviously unavoidable -- will not
leave us with living space unmarked by thoughtless industrial and
urban expansion.

The current law on the environment seeks to avert such
devastation by providing a judicial framework to ensure what
planners call sustainable development, which is, in essence,
development that does not deplete the resources that feed it. Its
great merit is that it is the first legal product dealing with
overall environmental management in Indonesia. On its foundation
a string of secondary laws were generated that have proven useful
in protecting the environment.

The 1982 law, however, is not perfect. A major objection
expressed by environmentalists is that it is difficult to enforce
because of the too-general nature of the phrasing in some of its
articles. In the view of some environmentalists it also leads
courts of justice to pronounce over-lenient verdicts. The
proposed new law seeks to remedy this by providing more specific
guidelines. Furthermore, it can make environmental auditing
compulsory for companies instead of leaving it to their
discretion, as is allowed under the present legislation.

Another amendment to the existing law is a stipulation which
makes it possible for environmental organizations to sue
companies for environmental offenses, although not for
compensation. This latter claim can be made only by those
affected by the offenses. Various articles of the present law
have been worked out in greater detail and more aspects of
environmental protection will be subject to regulation.

Indonesia is poised to enter the 21st century with the resolve
to maintain its competitive standing and join the family of newly
industrialized countries. Obviously, if the government is to take
the concept of sustainable development seriously, it will need a
"tool to clobber entrepreneurs who refuse to comply", as State
Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja explained in the
House of Representatives on Monday.

In the meantime, one objection to the proposed law deserves to
be noted. According to the Indonesian Forum for Environment, the
proposed law represents a step backward from the 1982
legislation. The draft, it said, seeks to "castrate" people's
participation in the management and supervision of the
environment. Although it recognizes a role for the public, the
draft law restricts such participation by making it subject to
prevailing laws. Given the growing importance of environmental
protection and management in the years and decades that are to
come, the environmental forum's call for the House of
Representatives to consider public input and opinion before it
endorses the bill should get the attention it deserves.