'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.