Sumatra Leads The Way With Spatial Plan For Ecosystem

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakrata Globe 26 Jun 09;

All 10 of Sumatra’s provincial governors on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding in Jakarta to establish mutual cooperation to set up a spatial planning program geared to protect the island’s ecosystem.

“It [the signing] will become the benchmark for the island to set up its first spatial planning scheme and will also speed up the implementation of the national spatial plan,” Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto said at the ceremony.

Djoko said the national planning program had already earmarked protected areas and areas prone to disaster for having national value.

“It is the obligation of the local governments to be faithful to the national planning scheme and to also consider the rights of locals,” said Djoko, who also heads the National Spatial Planning Coordination Agency.

He said the agency had determined eight national strategic areas for Sumatra Island.

“They are Leuser National Park, Toba Lake, Berbak National Park, Mahato protected forest, Kerinci Seblat National Park, Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, Bukit Duabelas National Park and Bukit Batabuh National Park,” he said.

“The efforts to save Sumatran ecosystems will be closely connected to preserving river areas that are in a critical condition, of which there are 14 in Sumatra,” he said.

State Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, who also attended the signing ceremony, said spatial planning programs were vital and required good communications with local residents in order to succeed.

“We are trying to design an incentive and disincentive mechanism from the Environmental Law, which is currently being revised,” he told the governors.

“However, we warn you that the law will be very strict and there won’t be any room for violation.”

Meanwhile, Djoko said there were no specific guarantees that spatial planning would be implemented by the central government.

“We don’t call it a guarantee, but we will continue to guard the process so that local governments remain faithful to the agreement they have reached,” he said. “On top of that, local planning must automatically follow the guidelines of the national planning program.”

Environmental expert Emil Salim, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council, said there should be a shift from exploitative development to enrichment development.

“We desperately need to implement a different kind of development where biological resources have more value,” he said.