'Sustainable development in Indonesia marred by constraints'
'Sustainable development in Indonesia marred by constraints'
Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia's efforts to implement sustainable development is
hampered by limited financial, technological and human resources,
according to the government's executive summary to be presented
to a preparatory meeting for the World Summit next month.
Spokesman for the Bali summit organizing committee Wahid
Supriyadi said on Wednesday that the limited funding for
sustainable development was the result of inappropriate budget
policies and a relatively high rate of debt servicing.
"Indonesia has limited knowledge and capacity to make maximum
use of the new institutional and financial opportunities, such as
debt swaps for sustainable development and clean development
mechanisms," said Wahid, who is a foreign ministry official.
The low budget allocation for education, and grinding poverty
were also factors leading to inadequate human resources for
development, the summary added. This was exacerbated by the under
utilization of existing qualified human resources as well as the
inappropriate placement of highly qualified people.
Indonesia will host the last preparatory meeting for the World
Summit in Bali from May 26 to June 7. During the event, ministers
of participating countries will hammer out a political
declaration on sustainable development and fighting poverty.
In terms of international constraints, the declining trend of
overseas development assistance (ODA) flows from developed
countries had raised concerns about less financial resources for
sustainable development in countries like Indonesia.
Similarly, developed countries had not fulfilled their
commitments to provide access to environmentally sound technology
and sound scientific research results for developing countries,
including information and communication technology (ICT).
"Being heavily dependent on external borrowing, the country
faced mounting debt problems when the financial crisis hit and
the rupiah declined in value against foreign currencies," the
March 2002 executive summary states.
"There is a risk that part of the debt may have to be repaid
by intensifying unsustainable exploitation of natural resources
or ignoring environmental standards in production processes."
The summary adds that a lack of good governance due to, among
other things, excessive centralization, unequal sharing of the
benefits of development and a lack of genuine participation on
the part of communities, was partly responsible for regional
sentiments that sometimes led to social unrest, thus hindering
sustainable development.
The summary further noted that environmental damage due to
unsustainable practices in the past, such as forest and
subterranean fires, the recent floods and unsustainable
agricultural practices, needed to be addressed. Otherwise, they
could adversely affect sustainable development in the future.
The summary's recommendations include the undertaking of
"sustainable rural development as the basis for sustainable
development since a large part of the population live in rural
areas. The three bases for building rural economy are food
security, health services and education."
It also urges the strengthening of diplomacy and the
development of negotiating strategies for Indonesian debt relief
using appropriate means, including debt swaps for sustainable
development on a bilateral or multilateral basis, and enabling
the government to repay the national debt without inflicting more
hardship on the poor.