More environment consultants needed
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)