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Experts call for sustainable development in Indonesia

Jakarta, Ekuatorial – Experts on Wednesday (22/10) called for sustainability and environmental protection to ensure Indonesia’s development in the long run.

“Forests should not be turned into oil palm [plantations] but what should be done is by adding more values into the forests, such as for its medicines, using science and technology. Not destroying forests,” said Emil Salim, former environment minister between 1978 – 1993, in a national seminar held in Jakarta.

Salim, who is also an economist, warned that spatial planning was crucial to develop natural resources in accordance to environment carrying capacity. “The next strategy is to preserve water and lands for food security and to encourage bio-technology research using the country’s biodiversity,” he added.

Rokhmin Dahuri, a professor at fisheries and marine science faculty at the Bogor Agricultural Institute, said that economic growth had contributed to forests and environmental destructions because of unsustainable development.
“Deforestation followed by its negative impacts, such as flood, erosion, landslide, pollution, biodiversity loss, natural resources overexploit, marine and coastal ecosystem degradation, and climate change are problems that Indonesia need to address,” said Dahuri.

Furthermore, he said that these problems were resulted from lack of knowledge of policy makers and public on the importance of protecting environment and natural resources.

“All this time, environment management has been too focusing on its ecological aspect instead of its economic aspect,” he said. To achieve sustainable development, he said, conventional economic development must be replaced by also considering social and environment aspects.

“For areas which have been over-developed, then government need to shift its paradigm and development model,” he said. “Meanwhile, those areas still ‘virgin’ then don’t make mistakes in its development [planning].”

The national seminar was held by University of Indonesia’s Environmental Science Graduate Program cooperating with Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalist (SIEJ), Geospatial Information Agency, PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper, PT Astra, among other partners. Januar Hakam.

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