Minister proposes environmental tax
Minister proposes environmental tax
JAKARTA (JP): Minister for Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications Joop Ave proposed yesterday the idea of
imposing an environmental tax, beginning with the tourist
industry.
The minister, however, did not elaborate on how the proposed
tax, long overdue according to environmental activists, would be
implemented.
The tax is expected to enhance the government's income from
taxes that could be used to rectify damage caused by industry
activities.
Speaking on the opening day of a three-day symposium on
Indonesian Tourism and Marine Ecology, Joop said that the tourist
industry is partly responsible for the increasing environmental
damage.
"It's deplorable how the tourist industry has turned parasite
to sources that are at the heart of its survival," Joop told
reporters after delivering his address.
Joop tossed out the idea of promoting tourism by hosting an
international summit on marine tourism by the year 2000.
State Minister for the Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who
officiated the symposium, lamented the public's ignorance of the
wealth contained in Indonesia's waters.
"As the largest archipelagic country in the world, Indonesia's
marine potential has not been fully utilized by its owners but
exploited by others who have left only 7 percent of our coral
reefs in good condition," Sarwono said.
In raising public awareness of Indonesia's marine world,
Sarwono said, agencies need to focus on the sustainable
development principles that emphasize the protection of marine
biodiversity.
Sarwono suggested three basic principles should be adopted to
promote ecotourism: drafting a zoning utilization where the
number of visitors to a site is limited, rotating the opening of
sites to allow them to recover and earmarking highly priced
tourist sites for international tourists.
Also speaking at the seminar was Emil Salim, a former minister
for the environment who said that Indonesia has many regulations
that were introduced to prevent any of the aforementioned
problems occurring.
"We are known as a soft country that doesn't enforce laws.
"We have much homework to do, such as actually implementing
regulations so that we are not seen as only being good at
talking," he said.
Wuryastuti Sunario, Managing Director of the Indonesian
Tourism Promotion Board, said the symposium would discuss
economic tasks facing the Indonesian tourist industry and the
preservation of Indonesia's maritime heritage.
"Hopefully this symposium will bring about concrete action for
managing sustainable marine tourism with environmental
conservation as well as business prospect," she said. (14)