Jakarta – The World Bank has warned that Indonesia's richest natural habitats could be completely obliterated by 2010 if significant measures are not taken to deal with the widespread degradation of the country's natural resources.
"Despite the dramatic increase in attention to biodiversity at the national level and among international donors over the past 10 years, natural habitats continue to be at risk throughout the country," the World Bank said in its most recent environmental report on Indonesia.
"The richest habitats, especially lowland forests outside protected areas, are likely to be completely cleared in Sumatra by 2005 and Kalimantan by 2010," according to the report, which is titled "Environment and Natural Resource Management in a Time of Transition."
The report, which was posted this week on the World Bank Web site, said areas rich in resources have been devastated by huge forest fires, made worse by indiscriminate clear-cutting, that frequently flare up in the country. The fires have caused forest loss rates in the chain of islands that are unprecedented in number and geographic scope, it said.
The latest forest-cover maps published by the Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture show that at least 1.7 million hectares of forested areas were destroyed annually from 1985 to 1997, significantly more than earlier estimates of 0.6 million to 1.3 million hectares a year.
A presidential decree issued by former President Suharto that gave mining activities priority over all other land uses is another factor behind the environmental deterioration, the report said.
Indonesia experienced a mining boom in 1990s, bringing unprecedented prosperity to a small sector of the population. The boom, however, also resulted in hundreds or thousands of hectares at each mine site being "bombarded," increasing the chance of costly accidents, exacerbating flooding, and contaminating rivers with pollutants that can take centuries to biodegrade.
The bank also determined that the 1997-1998 Asian economic crisis was another contributing factor to the chaotic deforestation.
The 80% drop in the value of the Indonesian rupiah by early 1998 resulted in the collapse of industrial sector, leading policy-makers and households alike to turn back to their traditional economic base – natural resources – to survive. The result has been widespread exploitation.
The plunder of the country's already compromised resources was exacerbated by the central government's virtual loss of control over regional affairs following the fall of Suharto's 32-year regime in May 1998. "A system of virtually no control emerged, leading to an upward spiral of illegal logging and mining," the report said.
The introduction of the decentralization law, which reduced the control of the central government and shifted more power to regions, has created both risks and opportunities, according to the bank.
"It offers an opportunity to move toward more local participation in resource allocation decisions, greater accountability by regional governments, a refocusing of central agencies on policy and oversight, and, ultimately, more efficient and more sustainable use of natural resources," it said.
"However, decentralization also carries a substantial risk of accelerating environmental degradation in the near term, which could block realization of its long-term benefit," it added.
"The formidable combination of factors behind this risk include the lingering economic crisis, political uncertainty, local natural resource agencies that have historically lacked authority and funds, official corruption and a partial breakdown of law and order."
To overcome the myriad of problems, the World Bank urges that environmental safeguards, including monitoring systems, be strengthened to ensure the sustainability of the country's economic recovery.
"Regions, not the center, are the critical nexus where natural resource utilization and governance issues will intersect in the post-Suharto era," it said.
Significant public and private expenditure on mitigating and preventive measures is also required, though it is possible to improve natural resource management at minimal cost through education, said the bank.