Most lakes' ecosystems under threat: Minister
Most lakes' ecosystems under threat: Minister
The Jakarta Post, Medan
Severe chemical pollution threatens most lakes in the country and
has the potential to create further environmental disasters, a
state minister says.
Citing an example, State Minister for the Environment Rachmat
Witoelar said that the Jempang, Semayang and Melintang lakes in
East Kalimantan province, home to the rare Mahakam pesut -- a
highly endangered freshwater dolphin species -- required urgent
attention if there was to be any chance of saving them.
He said that a similar problem had occurred in Lake Toba, North
Sumatra, where the carp population continued to drop following
the deaths of fish weighing thousands of tons due to koi herpes.
"Most of the lakes in Indonesia have been polluted by various
chemicals originating from pulp, oil and fertilizer plants. The
impact on the environment has been huge," said Rachmat on the
sidelines of a national seminar held at the HKBP Nomensen
University, Medan, on coping with the fish kills in Lake Toba.
Indonesia, he said, had a total of about 500 large and small
lakes -- both natural and artificial. Among the lakes, Toba was
the biggest in the country, covering some 110,260 hectares, while
the deepest lake was Matano, with a depth of 600 meters.
He told reporters after the seminar that his office had drawn
up a blacklist of 43 companies across the country, nine of them
state-owned, that were responsible for polluting lakes.
"I have reprimanded them, and if in six months time the
situation hasn't improved, we'll revoke their Environmental
Impact Assessment Permits," he said.
In relation to the problems being experienced at Lake Toba,
the minister said there was a need for proper management to
ensure that the lake's ecosystem was capable of functioning as a
life support system, guarantee the preservation of its various
biological components and sustain the benefits produced by the
lake.
Rahmat stressed that action was urgently needed bearing in
mind that greater attention was being paid to lakes as evidenced
by the setting up of World Lake Vision, which was launched by the
International Lake Environment Committee (ILEC) at the third
World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan, in mid March, 2003.
International commitments on the preservation of lake
ecosystems had been adopted by virtue of the World Summit on
Sustainable Development Plan of Implementation, the Biodiversity
Convention and the Ramsar Convention.
"To give effect to all these (commitments), the environment
ministry is preparing an Indonesian Lake Vision concept which
will serve as a guide for officials in attempting to achieve
sustainable lake management in Indonesia," he said.