Who is to blame for green crisis?

By Sylvia Arifin

JAKARTA (JP): Over the last three months Indonesia's environmental image has been greatly tarnished by the burning of forests on almost all of its islands, with dire consequences not only to Indonesia, but to neighboring countries.

Criticism from all parts of the world was heard, some merely whispered, while others were deafening in their censure of Indonesia's lack of ability to care for its own environment.

The current situation will make it harder for Indonesia in the future to defend itself from accusations ranging from causing climate changes through deforestation policies, to allegations of exploitation of its rich environmental diversity.

To be fair and balanced, policies and real issues need to be viewed to see how much is truth and how much is gross exaggeration in the relentless accusations about Indonesia's seemingly uncaring attitude toward its environment.

If the yardstick to measure Indonesia's concern on its environment lay in policies, Indonesia would pass with flying colors. In forestry Indonesia has implemented distinct measures, dividing public forest into four categories; protected forest, nature reserves and national parks, production forests and convertible forest. In addition the Ministry of Forestry has used timber certification as well as ecolabelling as part of its policy.

On the matter of protecting its biodiversity, Indonesia has promulgated the Law on Conservation of Biological Resources and its Ecosystem as well as being party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

To encourage public interest in the environment, the government annually offers the Kalpataru Award to individuals who have made commendable efforts to conserve the environment, as well as awarding the Adipura Award to the cleanest, healthiest and most beautiful cities.

The importance of preserving the environment was perceived in the late 1970s with the establishment of the Office of the State Minister of Environment.

The State Policy Guidelines have also emphasized the need to preserve the environment since the Fourth Five-Year Development Program (Pelita IV) began in 1984. The Sixth Five-Year Development Plan which ends in March 1999, has ambitious programs, such as inventory and evaluation of natural resources; safeguarding of forest, land and water; development and management of the environment; control of environmental pollution; rehabilitation of critical land and development of coastal areas.

To enforce the law on the preservation of the environment, Environment Law No. 7 was passed in 1982. The House of Representatives passed a new bill on the environment in August this year, which the President signed last month.

The new Environment Law No. 23, which replaces the previous Law 7/1982, gives the State Minister greater power in handling environmental issues and greater clarity on who should be blamed for environmental deterioration.

Individuals or companies who can not prove themselves innocent of charges of using toxic materials, or producing hazardous toxic waste, can face a stiff penalty of 15 years in jail and up to Rp 750 million in fines (roughly US$230,000).

One of the most important aspects of the new law is perhaps the opportunity for the public to participate in the preservation of the surrounding environment with the right to state their views and objections on certain projects, as well as the right to file a lawsuit against those who are responsible for environmental deterioration.

The scale of the forest-fire catastrophe suffered by Indonesia and its neighbors was unprecedented, and Indonesia was quite unprepared to handle the immense repercussions.

To be fair, El Nio is partly responsible. The drought and severe heat caused by El Nio has made it very easy for fires to occur in all parts of Indonesia.

The peat soil in some areas which are susceptible to fires also contributed to the catastrophe. Indonesian peat soil reaches a depth of 3 meters to 6 meters, making fires hard to douse and it hard to prevent them from spreading to other areas.

With the scarcity of water caused by the drought even the means to put out the fires are difficult to come by, for only with massive rain and sophisticated technology can the fires be extinguished completely, especially on peat land. To make matters worse, unfavorable wind conditions caused the haze resulting from the fires to cling to the lower atmosphere, instead of moving higher up.

Nevertheless, the fires and haze were not only caused by natural phenomena but also by the activities of man. In recent weeks the government has revoked the licenses of more than 160 plantations and forestry companies, based on allegations of using the slash and burn method to open new areas or to clean waste land.

Pending reviews of further evidence, these companies face complete closure. But even with international aid and funds from UN agencies and dozens of concerned countries, fires still rage in Indonesia and haze is still choking the people.

Looking at environmental problems and policies in Indonesia, the question remains whether Indonesia has done enough to protect its environment. Looking at only the impressive policies, we can conclude that the government has enacted worthwhile regulations towards the preservation of environment.

But looking further, we see that the implementation of these polices is questionable. A quick example is the slow reaction toward the current fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra and their disastrous consequences for Indonesia and its neighbors, Malaysia and Singapore.

The weakness conceivably may lie not in the regulations, but rather in their enforcement. The Office of the State Minister of Environment does not have enough power to enforce the policies so preventing deterioration of the environment.

Additionally, if a lesson should be learned from the still raging fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia, as owner of one of the biggest tropical forests in the world, should anticipate such disasters and campaign more vigorously toward greater public awareness of the danger of the slash and burn method for opening up new areas.

Strict control of the forest and plantation companies should also be undertaken. In readiness for future forest fires on the scale that Indonesia is experiencing today, a clearer Standard Operating Procedure should be defined.

Another major consideration is the necessity for closer coordination, particularly between the Office of the State Minister of Environment, the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Office of the State Minister of Agrarian Affairs and the Ministry of Transmigration.

The fire and haze disaster also shows Indonesia its limited capability in handling massive problems.

In anticipation of future disaster, the Office of the State Minister for Research and Technology should also be consulted, and should devise new and more sophisticated technology, much needed in handling impending disaster.

Cooperation between these offices is essential for a comprehensive understanding of Indonesia's capability in preserving its environment and knowing where its weaknesses lie.

The environment will continue to be a major issue in the future. Indonesia needs to implement and advertise its policies locally to preserve and protect its environment.

Additionally, Indonesia needs to promote its policies internationally to prevent misunderstanding and false accusations about the country's aims for the environment.

The writer is a post-graduate from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.