More environment consultants needed

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia needs more professional consultants to handle environmental impact analyses in support of sustainable development efforts, a cabinet minister said yesterday.

State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja emphasized that only "good and reliable" Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal) consultants can help ensure development without degrading the environment.

Speaking at the opening of a workshop on environment, Sarwono said truly good and reliable Amdal consultants are now harder to find.

Amdal is a mandatory prerequisite for developers to ensure that development projects will not have a damaging effect on the surrounding environment.

Sarwono pointed out that many companies considered Amdal only a formality in obtaining government endorsement for a project.

"It is generally assumed that environmental management is an additional burden to total costs. But actually environmentally- oriented programs, such as going by a 'clean production' concept, can cut down the resource-spending of the production process," he said without elaborating the criteria of "good and reliable" consultants.

The five-day workshop, attended by some 300 participants from across the country, will discuss the Clean River Program, the development of environmental laboratories nationwide and annual targets in environmental development.

Sarwono said that, similar to industries, many government agencies were also unaware of the importance of Amdal and therefore did not integrate the analysis into their local development strategy.

On the occasion, the ministry of home affairs' Director General for Regional Development Feisal Tamin in his opening speech called on government agencies, especially those dealing with ecological problems, to be more "environmentally sensitive" so industries will not exploit loopholes in the environment regulations.

"Regional governments should realize that the private sector may exploit loopholes or the absence of regulations for their business interests," he said.

"In many cases, the business sector is blamed for environmental damages, which is not always true. Very often, violations occur because the government -- with its arduous bureaucratic procedures that give rise to red tape -- is unresponsive and fails to provide them with the necessary services," he added.

Feisal also stressed the need for government officials, especially at top-level, to be more committed to the environment.

"Usually the impact of environmental problems cannot be detected immediately and therefore it is often ignored. Thus, only with a high commitment to the environment can environmental management succeed," he said.(pwn)