Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Indonesia has recently emerged as the "good boy" at the international level due to its positive role in global talks and its signing of many environmental agreements.
But the country has failed to translate most of these initiatives into action, and a string of natural disasters have hit the archipelago. Disasters have come one after another, mostly as a result of human activities ignoring the need to look after nature.
There have been floods, landslides, droughts, harvest failures and forest fires since the much-vaunted reform movement took its first steps 10 years ago. These disasters have not only claimed lives and belongings, but have made poverty levels worse. Data from the Indonesia Forum for the Environment (Walhi) show Indonesia spends more time than ever mitigating disaster impacts.
The green group recorded 840 ecological disasters from 2006 to 2007, leaving 7,300 people dead and 750,000 houses destroyed.
Founder of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law Mas Achmad Santosa, noted environmental activist Chalid Muhammad and environmental journalist Harry Surjadi agree that ecological disasters have intensified. They blame these calamities on environmental mismanagement, mainly in the last 30 years.
"We have signed so many documents related to environmental issues but the government fails to translate them into national policies to promote sustainable development," Achmad, a senior lecturer at the University of Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post.
Post-Soeharto administrations have apparently been unable to learn from the past. The reform era has not resulted in changes to the development paradigm, Achmad said. Development aims to boost economic growth, paying less attention to the value of ecosystems and social impacts, as evidenced by the small budget allocations for the environment.
The increase in forest conversion for commercial use in the last few years is a clear example of poor governance in managing the environment. "Forests can be easily reoriented to gain short-term economic benefits. The practice has been in place for a long time and has caused severe damage to forests and ecosystems," Achmad said.
Greenomics Indonesia data show that forest conversion in the country has reached an alarming level, with about 10 million hectares having been shifted to business purposes, ranging from plantations to office buildings.
Worse, the government has shown no willingness to empower the State Ministry for the Environment, the institution authorized to manage the environment. This has led to a gap in environmental management, so that ministry functions often only appear after a natural disaster has struck.
Chalid, a former Walhi executive director, said Indonesia lacked autonomy in managing its rich natural resources. "Many projects in forestry, mining as well as oil and gas sectors are dominated by foreign companies to meet the demands of Western nations, leaving communities vulnerable to conflicts, poverty and natural disasters," he said.
These things happen as the government bows to high consumption trends in rich nations and then exploits as many natural resources as possible to meet international demand.
About 90 percent of the country's oil and gas fields are controlled by transnational companies, of which 60 percent go for exports, Walhi said.
Despite the rich natural resources, Indonesia has been struggling to address poverty. About 15.7 million families comprising over 90 million people, or nearly 41 percent of the population, were classified as poor according to the Central Statistics Agency in 2005.
Chalid said national laws governing natural resources, including oil and gas, water and forests, benefited transnational companies more than local people, which runs counter to the Constitution, due to the government's commitment to international monetary and trade requirements.
"Laws have allowed government to issue more and more permits to extract natural resources in Indonesia. Overexploitation is the main cause of natural disasters," he said.
After decades of growth-oriented development at the expense of the environment, the post-Soeharto administrations are now harvesting ecological disasters.
"However, I haven't seen any breakthrough from the current and previous governments to improve environmental management. Many existing policies related to the environment tend to exploit natural resources, ignoring ecological and social impacts," said Harry, the executive director of the Society of Indonesian Environment Journalists.
Public participation in environment-related policy-making has remained low, but when ecological disasters strike it is the people that have to bear the brunt as happened with the mudflow in Sidoarjo, Harry said.
He feels the government has no other option but to revise all the policies that allow exploitation of natural resources.
"It is time for a phase of rehabilitation. The government has to stop issuing new permits, including mining and forestry projects, pending an audit of the existing policies that have spurred exploitation of natural resources," Harry said.
One of the actions should include reinstatement of the Environmental Impact Management Agency (BAPEDAL), which was closed under the government of Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Chalid suggested government should make radical changes in natural resource policies to prevent natural disasters. "Enough is enough. The government must have the courage to renegotiate all existing contracts and permits in mining and other projects," he said.
He proposed establishment of a special department dealing with natural resource assets and the environment. "The sensible suggestion is to create a coordinating ministry for natural assets that has the authority to decide whether or not to issue permits to projects deemed harmful for environmental resources," he said.
Achmad proposed the establishment of a one-stop environment enforcement system to boost enforcement of environmental laws. "Under the one roof system, violators would be investigated and prosecuted at one office."
He added that judges also need a special certificate on the environment to help enforce the law. There are currently about 1,500 judges who have undergone training on environmental issues.