Report reveals rapid environmental damage
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia is facing unchecked environmental deterioration, ranging from heightening air and water pollution to the increase in critical land, the office of the State Minister for the Environment said in its report.
The Indonesia State of Environment Report 2002, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post over the weekend, details factors that contributed to environmental deterioration last year. Despite the government's efforts to address the issue, the condition was much worse last year than in previous years.
The publication of the report, which will be launched as a book, was financed by the United Nations for Environment Program (UNEP). The first environment report was issued by the state minister's office in 1992, but due to financial constraints, there was a ten-year gap until the next report was produced. The 2002 report is only the second environment report to be published.
A team of 13 experts at the office of the State Minister for the Environment conducted studies between 2001 and 2002 for the report.
The report discloses that air pollution in major cities across the country was mostly caused by an increase in the number of vehicles on the roads. Industries, households and forest fires contributed to the poor air quality in major cities. The report concludes that these three factors were responsible for 30 percent of the overall air pollution.
The number of motorized vehicles in Indonesia has soared from 18.22 million in 1999 to 18.97 million in 2000, and then to 20.78 million in 2001. Of these, 99.9 percent are powered by leaded gasoline and diesel fuel.
Massive forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan between July and October 2002 also contributed to air pollution and disrupting community health, as they caused respiratory illnesses, it said.
Water pollution has reached an alarming level due to industrial, household and farmland wastes.
"Many factories, notably in Riau and East Java, are still dumping their liquid waste to the river, so are thousands of households in Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan, while residues of fertilizer and pesticide have also damaged water resources in farmlands," the report said.
It also said official dump sites in major cities like Jakarta and Surabaya were not properly managed and thus contributed to water pollution.
Environmental damage was also reflected by the increasing area of critical land as a result of the swelling population, rampant forest fires and illegal logging.
The environmental office found that illegal logging could not be addressed properly because of the complexity of the problem stemming from the extensive number of involved parties.
Instead of contributing toward a solution to the problem, the police, the military, prosecutors, customs and excise officials and regional administrations has only added to it, the report said.
Data from the environmental office showed that damage to forests across the country has affected 23.2 million hectares, while damage to mangrove forests has reached 5.8 million hectares.
The environmental destruction caused by forest degradation, land conversion and pollution has resulted in a significant decrease in the country's biodiversity.
"Between 20 percent and 70 percent of species have vanished, according to data in 1993, and one species has disappeared every day in 1997 because of the environmental damage."
The report attributed the increase in natural disasters, such as floods and landslides, across the country last year to the worsening environmental condition, water and air pollution, forest fires and critical land created by illegal logging.
Sri Hudyastuti, an editor, said the 151-page book provided an objective overview of the real condition of Indonesia's environment.
"We want to draw the government's attention and incite a response from the government and, especially, the people, and ask them to participate in the environmental conservation movement," said Sri. She is also communication affairs assistant to the deputy state minister for the environment.
She claimed the government had set up several programs to salvage the environment, but it would be useless without concerted public participation.
.rm70 Natural disasters caused by poor environmental management ------------------------------------------------------------------- Place period disaster casualties
1. Jakarta Feb. 2002 floods 5 2. Medan/Deli Serdang, Dec. 2001- floods
North Sumatra Jan. 2002 3. Pacet, East Java Dec. 11, 2002 flood/landslide 26 4. Gunung Gemala, Dec. 2002 landslide
Lampung 5. Sumatra, Java, Bali, Apr.-July 2002 drought
Lombok -------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Indonesia State of Environment Report 2002