Despite sobering statistics about environmental degradation last year, the 2005 State of the Environment report also highlights some welcome news about the stratosphere above the archipelago and more findings of new species.
Citing observation data from the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, the report says the stratospheric ozone layer above Indonesia has improved to a level that could reduce the amount of harmful ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth.
Experts believe that the stratospheric layer of the atmosphere, where 90 percent of the ozone exists, blocks exposure to harmful ultraviolet rays, which could cause eye cataracts and decrease human immunity, as well as affect crops and sea plankton that would disrupt the marine food chain.
The report said that in the last few years, stratospheric ozone concentration ranged between 216 dobson units (DU) and 248 DU.
The ozone layer is considered normal when it measures about 300 Dobson Units (equal to three millimeters), while a hole occurs when its thickness reduces to 100 Dobson Units.
Decreasing usage of aerosol and other ozone-depleting compounds (ODS), due to the government's continuous efforts to phase out the use of such compounds in the country greatly contributed to the improved condition, the report said.
Deputy to the state minister for the environment Masnellyarti Hilman said the government had cut the use of ozone-depleting substances by around 4,100 metric tons since 1994, when ozone layer protection programs began in the country. "Our next challenge is to cut 6,325 metric tons of ODS (traded here) by the end of 2007," she said recently.
The government believes the biggest challenge it is facing is widespread smuggling and illegal trade in ODS. It is estimated that around 4,000 metric tons of ODS is circulating in the country, used mostly by air-conditioning servicing stations that service old refrigerators and outdated car air-conditioning systems.
Another heartening development indicated in the report is that more new species were discovered last year, placing Indonesia as the one of the world's richest countries in terms of biodiversity.
The report highlighted the finding of scores of new animal and plant species in Foya Mountain, Papua, by a group of scientists from Conservation International Indonesia, who dubbed the place "the closest place to the Garden of Eden you're going to find on Earth".
The scientists found 24 types of palm tree, of which five were declared new species, and another 550 species of plant. They also found dozens of rare species of animals including from kangaroo, amphibians, birds and butterflies.
However, rapid deforestation, which last year totaled more than three million hectares, threatened research in revealing the truth about the country's biodiversity.
"All that pride means nothing if deforestation and the destruction of the habitats that are home to those species is continually taking place, as it is at present," said Banjar Y. Laban, the Forestry Ministry's director of conservation areas, in a statement following the recent discovery of a snake with the ability to spontaneously change color in West Kalimantan province, called Enhydris gyii, or known locally as the Kapuas-Mud Snake.
The report also exposed imminent threats from diminishing wetlands areas on Java island, of which there are about 1,000 hectares in Greater Jakarta that have been converted into residential and industrial areas.
Citing Wetlands International Indonesia data, the report said the country's remaining wetlands stood at about 1,300 hectares last year, compared with over 2,300 hectares in 2004.
World Wide Fund for Nature executive director Mubariq Ahmad warned that such rapid disappearance of habitat could halt further the findings of new species across Indonesia.
He cited as an example that in Kalimantan alone, at least one new species of animal has been found every month in the last 10 years. "The country's worsening environmental condition is a threat to uncovering more knowledge about our biodiversity," he told The Jakarta Post. (Tb. Arie Rukmantara)