Environmental Law Policy in dealing with Global Crisis An Indonesia Perspective
A paper by Kristianto P.H. Silalahi
Abstract
Environmental Law Policy has play important role in every countries. Today, most of human activities must consider the environmental aspect. However, Environmental Policy also brings pros and cons relating to its environmental law. For example : The increase of demand regarding natural resources as a result of population growth was seeing as an opportunity for some industry to gain profit like energy sector. On the other hand, some environmentalist wants better policy to control the use of energy especially the unrenewable ones.
Energy demand is projected to grow at least 50 per cent by 2030. This assumes that fossil fuels will be available to cover most of the demand increase. Unfortunately, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are projected to increase faster than energy use by 2030. Pollution from burning fossil fuels and the related impact of acid rain constitute serious problems for Asia, and other countries. Thermal and nuclear power and solar cells generate waste disposal problems that may result in heavy metal soil contamination. Natural resources are overexploitated by the increasing demand of human needs.
In recent year, international concern relating to the environment protection has increased, especially one relating to Global Warming. However since mid 2008, the world will no doubt experience a significant economic downturn. Of the many areas that will be impacted by the downturn, the environment stands out in particular. It’s closely tied to the tempo of resource consumption, and significant efforts to ameliorate environmental decline will prove very expensive and out of reach for already-stretched budgets.
This situation may give a good impact or bad impact to the environmental protection. People may drive less, fly less and consume less energy or people also able to exploitated more natural resources to survive from the crisis. In developing countries such as Indonesia, the crisis may cause more significant impact rather then the industrial countries. Even, before the crisis came, the environmental protection has face some significant problems such as the problem relating to monitoring system, the insufficient number of law enforcement officer and the lack of people concern and public participation.
Therefore, it needs a breakthrough to develop Environmental Policy to build sustainable development in Indonesian, especially in dealing with the global crisis. This condition has raise some question where we should bring our environmental policy to preserve the environmentalt slowing down the economic itself.
Introduction
Indonesia as one of the developing countries has long since established laws and formal governmental structures to address their serious environmental problems (since 1970’s). As a part of environmental legal system, they have promoting the use of economic incentives and other market-based strategies as the key to more effective environmental protection.
After decades of rapid urbanization, population growth, and industrialization, Indonesia is now home to many of the world’s most severe environmental and natural resource problems. Increasingly, they are crafting regulatory policies to address these problems, relying principally on conventional command-and-control (CAC) approaches: legal mandates requiring firms and farms to take certain actions (such as treating wastewater) and prohibiting them from taking others (like clearing forests). Although maybe in some sectors Indonesia have made enormous progress, the overall the track record is mixed at not good enough. The reasons are well known. Written regulations are often riddled with gaps and inconsistencies.
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In normal economy condition, Indonesia has already dealing with lots of difficulties in making their own environmental policy to protect the environment and to preserve conservation in order to support sustainable development. Moreover, since mid 2008, the condition of global economic was turn down, as an impact of high numbers of nonperforming loan from property industry in the United States. The result then Global Crisis in almost every countries in this planet. This condition had made significant impact for environmental management in most companies in Indonesia.
However, despite global crisis has cause more pressure in environmental management in Indonesia, from environmentalist perspective in Indonesia believes that this crisis still have the opportunity to pursue a better environmental management and protection in Indonesia. For example, As result of crisis some industries may collapse and the positive side of it is it will reduce pollution and with smaller number of industries left it will give opportunity for the government to make better monitoring system.
This paper will try to give Indonesian perspective of Environmental Law Policy in Indonesia as one of the developing countries, especially in dealing with global crisis which already made more pressure on environmental management in Indonesia.
